Wilbur Thornton photograph collection, 1955
1 folder
The collection consists of publicity photographs from the 1955 General Motors Motorama, a car show held by General Motors from 1949-1961. Featured in the collection is Harlow Herbert Curtice.
1 folder
The collection consists of publicity photographs from the 1955 General Motors Motorama, a car show held by General Motors from 1949-1961. Featured in the collection is Harlow Herbert Curtice.
0.6 linear feet (in two boxes, one of which is oversized)
This collection contains black and white prints of photographs taken by Russ Marshall between 1966 to 2005. The majority were captured in the 1980s and include images of Michigan and Rust Belt factories and workers. Notable photographed companies include General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. 4 photos document the 1980 Houdaille strike in Ontario, Canada.
Also included are four self-published books of Marshall's photographs: Violet Anna Swartzentruver: A Remembered Life (2011), Thumb Run (2016), Detroit Doc (2016), and This Working Life: Photographs of Labor and Industry Works by Labor Writer and Poets (2011).
Oversize materials include photographs from 1958 to 2010 of Detroit's Michigan Central Railroad Station, judges of the U.S. District Court of Eastern Michigan, and Violet Anna Swartzentruver. Additoional materials include a collection of press passes.
3.5 linear feet
The Otis M. Smith papers contains speeches, correspondence, examples of work produced in various offices, and photographs. This collection documents the career of a dedicated public servant and the many posts he held.
The Otis M. Smith papers are divided into eight series: Personal, Speeches, Michigan Public Service Commission Papers, Auditor General Papers, General Motors Papers, Regent Papers, Campaign Files and Supreme Court Papers.
63 linear feet (in 93 boxes)
In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.
The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.
The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.
More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).
In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).
2 linear feet
The Gorman papers reflect the relationship between a local newspaper and the community it served. The collection comprises two linear feet of correspondence and topical files from the period 1928 to 1958. Representing but a selection of Gorman's original files, this remnant appears to include correspondence which Gorman considered to be most important. The correspondence includes substantive material as well as letters of autograph value only.
17 linear feet — 3 oversize volumes
The collection has been divided into the following series: Correspondence, 1900-1920; Masonic Papers, 1909-1920; Railroad, 1919-1920; Law Materials.
5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 1 film reel — 5.6 GB (online)
This collection highlights a portion of the projects that Jack Kausch completed during his photographic career. A range of subjects is covered and both original and historical photography is included. The collection is divided into two series: Photographs and Other Visual Materials.
1.03 GB (online) — 2 archived websites (online)
Motors Liquidation Company bankruptcy website is evidence of the automotive industry crisis of 2008-2010, caused in part by the confluence of the global financial turndown of the late-2000s recession, record oil prices, a severe global automotive sales decline due to the global financial crisis of 2008--2009. This collection of archived websites contains court documents and a claims register for the company left to settle past liability claims from General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization, and is arranged in a single series, Archived Websites.
0.75 linear feet — 1 oversize folder
The papers of Frederic G. Donner consist of .75 linear feet of materials dating from 1921 to 1983. The collection is arranged by type of material, and then chronologically. The series of the collection include Biographical Material, Addresses, Writings, Savings-Stock Purchase Program, and Photographs.
19 linear feet — 2 oversize boxes — 1 film reel — 1 oversize folder
The Edward Nicholas and Dollie Ann Cole papers contain materials from influential automotive exectuive Edward Nicholas Cole and his wife Dollie Ann Cole. The collection has been organized into two series:
The Edward Nicholas Cole series contains correspondence, business records, reports, photographs, audiovisual materials, transcripts, and blueprints. The series has been divided into four subseries: the Correspondence subseries contains personal and professional letters, the Project Files subseries includes documents related to Cole's career with General Motors, Chevrolet, Checker Motors Corporation and other projects. The Speeches and Appearences subseries chronicles Cole's public speaking engagements in the early 1970s and the Personal Materials subseries contains photographs, audiovisual materials and other materials related to Cole's family and recreational interests.
The Dollie Ann Cole series contains correspondence, papers, photographs and scrapbooks. The series has been organized into two subseries: the Correspondence series which contains letters dated between 1968-1976 and the Topical files series which includes materials related to Cole's charitable and community work, her media appearances and other pursuits.
2 linear feet
The record group is comprised of scrapbooks, topical files, and photographs. The scrapbooks consist of clippings, programs, press releases and related material. Among the topical files is material relating to the visit to Detroit in 1976 of Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden. The photographs are of the mortgage-burning at Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, Detroit, and photos of the visit of King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden to the General Motors Proving Ground, Milford, Michigan.
7 linear feet (263 papers)
The student papers are organized alphabetically by author in two series, which are similar in date range and topics covered. Topics of papers concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; local community history and University of Michigan history. A topical index to the papers is available in the first box of the collection.
5.25 linear feet
8.8 linear feet (in 9 boxes)
This collection documents Gates's personal and professional life. Material is dated from 1910-2016 and includes his student notebooks, personal and professional journals and notebooks, correspondence files, and subject files.
Significant topics in this collection include his presentations to various organizations, such as Sigma Xi chapters; research interests, particularly related to the University of Michigan's Biological Station; professional involvement with organizations such as the Missouri Botanical Society and General Motors; and extracurricular involvement with organizations such as the National Audubon Society and the National Science Foundation.
48 linear feet
The papers of David E. Cole document his activities as the Director of the Office for the Study of Transportation (OSAT) and his consulting work. This collection contains nine series: University of Michigan; Associations and Government; Company Files; Correspondence; Research; Speaking Engagements; Publications, Papers and Clippings; Topical Files; and Audio-Visual Material.
2 linear feet
The papers of Craig Marks document his involvement with various engineering companies and organizations, such as General Motors, and his contributions to the development of the hydrogen fuel cell. This collection contains the following series: National Academy of Engineering (NAE); General Motors; Publications and Reports; Organizations, Companies and Conferences; and Personal.
23 archived websites (online; multiple captures)
The Web Archive of Michigan's Commerce and Industry collection contains archived websites created by various businesses and industry driven organizations of the State of Michigan. The websites have been archived by the Bentley Historical Library, using the California Digital Library Web Archiving Service crawler from 2010-2015 and the Archive-It web archiving service beginning in 2015. Access to all websites archived by the Bentley Historical Library is available at: https://archive-it.org/organizations/934.
Web Archives include websites of corporations, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations who call the state of Michigan home. The collection is especially strong in documenting economic development efforts in Detroit and all of Michigan, historic businesses and industries, and distinguished individuals who belong to these communities.
The year that appears next to the website title in the contents list indicates the date that the website was first archived. Archived versions of the site from later dates may also be available.
9 linear feet (in 13 boxes)
The Stoner collection contains about 3,600 photographs and negatives collected by Stoner, relating primarily to Michigan railroads. The collection also contains related manuscript materials.
Stoner's major collecting interests were in the Ann Arbor, Grand Trunk Western, and Pere Marquette Railroads and their predecessors, and in logging railroads, especially Ephraim Shay's railroad and others using Shay locomotives. Along with these lines, the collection contains photos of dozens of other railroads, not all in Michigan.
The photographs most commonly depict locomotives, often with their crews posed beside. Other common subjects are railroad stations (exteriors only), train wrecks, trains in motion, logging operations, carferries, railroad bridges, the Detroit-Windsor railroad tunnel, and street railroads.
Dozens of Michigan cities and towns and a number of places in other states are represented in the collection. Places depicted most often in the photos include Ann Arbor, Cadillac, Detroit, Durand, Frankfort, Harbor Springs, and Howell, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.
The collection is organized into seven series: Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, Unclassified negatives, Papers, Classified negatives, and Duplicate material.
Appended to this finding aid are two indexes, one for railroads and company names, the other for subjects. The indexes contain references to all items in the Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, and Unclassified negatives series.
The index to railroads and company names indexes logging and industrial companies that operated railroads, as well as railroad lines themselves. It does not index locomotive manufacturers, nor does it index the names of railroad museums where some of the photos were taken.
The index to subjects indexes place names and topical subjects. It does not index the term "locomotives" since the majority of the photos in the collection would be indexed under that heading. Place names are indexed if the photo includes a view of some part of the place or of some event at the place. Close-up views of locomotives that do not show any background are not indexed by place, even if the description of the photo identifies where it was taken.
1 linear foot — 2 oversize folders
The collection consists of scrapbooks relating to his career, to the activities of the police department, and to civil defense activities. The photographs in the collection are of Detroit, Michigan buildings, streets, people, and activities, especially as they relate to the work of the Detroit Police Department; group and individual portraits and photographs of Detroit Police, and photos of police training; photos of war bond drives and other war work during World War II; and photos of WJR radio broadcasting during the 1930s.
3 cubic foot (in 3 boxes, 1 Oversized flat box)
The collection includes miscellaneous materials from vertical files, advertising materials, black and white photographs, catalogs, manuals, newspaper clippings (copies), and other materials documenting car companies, trucks, racing, racecars, motorcycles, and the general history of automobiles.
1 linear foot
The Arthur Pound collection includes correspondence, drafts of works, research notes, and copies of articles written by Pound. The material dates from 1928 to 1968. The correspondence, almost exclusively incoming, relates primarily to Pound's professional career and includes letters relating to the publication of Lake Ontario, They Told Barron, and More They Told Barron. The collection also contains a complete early draft of Lake Ontario and a manuscript of a work apparently submitted to Pound for his comments. This manuscript was labeled as "Senator Downey's MSS" and is probably the work of Sheridan Downey, U.S. Senator from California, 1939-1950. The work gives Downey's analysis of American society and appears to have been written in 1941.
The research material generated during Pound's work on the history of the RCA Corporation has been retained to illustrate his research techniques. An early draft of a chapter titled "Broadcasting" is included in the collection. A folder of photographs showing RCA facilities and personnel has been transferred to the library's photographic department. The collection also contains incomplete notes from Pound's works Johnson of the Mohawks, More They Told Barron, and a history of General Motors. There are also in the Pound collection research and travel notes from 1936, a notebook containing newsclippings and acknowledgments of gift copies of Detroit: Dynamic City, several contracts, and a small amount of financial material.