Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

The Board of Regents is the governing body of the University of Michigan. The records include agendas for the Regents meetings, with included exhibits, and reports on university finances, promotions, and degree confirmations.

Since 1996 the archives has been receiving agenda books immediately following each meeting of the Board of Regents. These agendas are published volumes which serve as a public record of the meetings. They contain detailed agendas for each meeting as well as some exhibits from the meetings and reports on university finances, promotions, and degree confirmations. Those agenda books comprise this collection.

These records include various items: Regents communications, reports, recommendations, and other documents presented to the Regents for consideration at their meetings. They form the most complete record of the Regents' actions. As the official governing body of the university, the Regents deal with virtually every aspect of university policy and life. The records of the Regents reflect this broad range of interests and authority. But while the documentation is wide-ranging, it is not continuous. Certain types of records are continually before the Regents, particularly information regarding salaries, leaves of absence, appointments to faculty positions, and formal approval of degrees conferred upon students. More often, however, the Regents are presented with a specific problem and asked to resolve it through the creation of policy. After the creation and successful implementation of a policy, the situation which caused the issue to arise is usually no longer a matter of Regental concern. The Regents' records reflect this pattern of action. Issues arise, are resolved, and then are supplanted by new concerns.

The Proceedings of the Board of Regents (1837- ) are accessible online at the following URL: http://www.hti.umich.edu/u/umregproc/

The University of Michigan's highest governing body is the Board of Regents. The Regents deal with virtually every aspect of university policy and campus life. The records of the Regents reflect this broad range of interests and authority. This record group contains exhibits from meetings beginning in 1899. These exhibits are the most complete record of the actions of the Regents, supplementing and detailing the published minutes Proceedings of the Board of Regents. Additional documentation in this record group includes manuscript minutes, 1837-1870, correspondence, material by and about the Regents, photographs, audio recordings of meetings, 1977-2011, and material on recent presidential searches.

As the official governing body of the university, the Regents deal with virtually every aspect of university policy and life. The records of the Regents--which includes exhibits of Regents' meetings, topical files, correspondence files, audio and visual material, and archived web content--reflect this broad range of interests and authority. But while the documentation is wide-ranging, it is not continuous. Certain types of records are continually before the Regents, particularly information regarding salaries, leaves of absence, appointments to faculty positions, and formal approval of degrees conferred upon students. More often, however, the Regents are presented with a specific problem and asked to resolve it through the creation of policy. After the creation and successful implementation of a policy, the situation which caused the issue to arise is usually no longer a matter of Regental concern. The Regents' records reflect this pattern of action. Issues arise, are resolved, and then are supplanted by new concerns.

Founded in 1841, the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA) is the liberal arts college of the University of Michigan, encompassing over 100 academic departments and non-departmental centers, programs, institutes, museums, and laboratories. The record group includes correspondence, meeting minutes, memoranda, reports, proposals, subject files, and program materials from the administrative offices of the dean and the academic units that make up the college.

The records of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA) of the University of Michigan date from 1846 with the first meeting of the literary college's faculty. They now span more than a century and a half and comprise 549.4 linear feet (in 550 boxes), 3 volumes, and 169.9 GB of minutes, correspondence, memoranda, reports, and subject files detailing the activities of the college from its early beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century to its present status as the largest of the university's colleges.

The administrative records of the college have come to the library in six major accessions beginning in 1942 with small periodic accessions thereafter. In addition, the college has periodically deposited bound record copies of the minute books of the meetings of the LSA faculty. Covering the years 1846 to 2007, the minute books (oversize volumes, boxes 204 to 209, and box 388) are the most important source of information about the college, especially for the period before World War I because few other extant records document the activities of the university's liberal arts college.

Central administrative office responsible for financial management of the University of Michigan and fiscal policy with oversight for the general fund and trust budget. Unit has undergone several name changes: Vice President in Charge of Business and Finance (1935-1966); Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (1966-1993); Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (1993- ). Includes administrative records reflecting oversight of the university's financial assets, preparation of annual budgets, fiscal policy, investments and expenditures, and various financial issues. Documentation includes topical files, university budgets, and trust fund records. Includes files of office holders Shirley Wheeler Smith, Robert P. Briggs, Wilbur K. Pierpont, James Brinkerhoff, and Farris Womack, Chandler Matthews, Robert Kasdin, and Timothy Slottow.

Measuring 227 linear feet, 1 oversize folder, 51 oversize volumes, and 283 GB (online), the records of the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer document the fiscal history of the university beginning from 1909. At least since the 1950s, the vice president has taken responsibility for the creation of university policy in areas requiring special fiscal knowledge as well as for the preparation of the university's general fund and trust budgets. Other activities, such as policing actual expenditures or the day to day operations of specific service units within the university reporting to the vice president, have been delegated to subordinate offices.

Reflecting this division of responsibility, the records of the vice president document major fiscal issues facing the university and the preparation of the university's annual budgets. Some of the records are office files. However, the office also retained many key bound financial documents including an official set of the university's annual budgets.

The records are organized into six series: Central Topical Files; Supplemental Files; Assistant to the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Associate Vice President for Finance; University Budgets, Accounts and Reports; and Photographs. Most series are further divided into several subseries, reflecting different accessions. There is considerable overlap in date span of the topical files of the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Files created by one Vice President were sometimes retained for use by his successor(s) and transferred at a much later date than the bulk of his records.

Nuclear engineer, professor and eleventh president of the University of Michigan (1988-1996), leader in efforts to transform the University of Michigan, and higher education generally, into a culturally diverse, financially secure, and technologically advanced institution. Collection consists of both paper and digital documents, including speeches, presentations, writings and images. Portions of the collection are restricted. This collection represents the "personal papers" of president Duderstadt. Other material relating to his presidency is located in the record group "University of Michigan. President."

The James J. Duderstadt papers span the years from 1963 to the present, although the bulk of the material covers 1970 to 1996. The collection, consisting mainly of Speeches, Position Papers, and Presentations, effectively documents Duderstadt's vision, agenda, and planning process. There are two subgroups in the collection: Paper Documents and Digital Documents.

The Paper Documents subgroup is comprised of thirteen series: Biographical / Background Material, Speeches and Accompanying Material, Computer Printouts of Speeches, Position Papers, Publications, Presentations, Correspondence, Research, Topical Files (Pre-Presidency), Teaching, Presidential Transition Files, Strategic Planning, and Diaries and Notebooks. It includes a few papers from his years as engineering dean and his term as provost, along with a substantial amount of material from his years as professor of nuclear engineering and as president of the university.

A second subgroup, Digital Documents, is comprised of material created and maintained in electronic form (utilizing a number of software programs), and is particularly strong for representing Duderstadt's entire term as president of the university. The subgroup includes eight series: Speeches, Idea Files, Strategy, Position Papers, Presentations, Write Files and Legacy Files. The digital files of speeches and position papers frequently contain various and well-organized iterations of key documents. Of particular note are the Strategy Files, which hold substantial planning documents, many designed to encourage and promote vigorous response to change at many levels within the university. The subgroup also contains a series of Digital Images, most of which appeared in the 1996 publication Rebuilding the University: 1986-1996.

School records consisting of executive committee and faculty meeting minutes, subject files concerning in part promotion and tenure decisions, teacher certification, programs in Detroit Public Schools, the School's accreditation review in 1973-1974, and the University's review of the School in 1982-1984. Topical files of various deans and administrative officers, notably James B. Edmonson, Willard Olson, Carl F. Berger, Frederick W. Bertolaet, Cecil Miskel, Joan Stark, and Charles F. Lehmann; and information on programs and departments at one time administered by the School, including Department of Physical Education, Fresh Air Camp, Bureau of School Services, and vocational education.

The School of Education records consist of executive committee and faculty meeting minutes, subject files concerning in part promotion and tenure decisions, teacher certification, programs in Detroit Public Schools, the School's accreditation review in 1973-1974, and the University's review of the School in 1982-1984. Topical files of various deans and administrative officers, notably James B. Edmonson, Willard Olson, Carl F. Berger, Frederick W. Bertolaet, Joan Stark, and Charles F. Lehmann; and information on programs and departments at one time administered by the School, including Department of Physical Education, Fresh Air Camp, Bureau of School Services, and vocational education.

The University of Michigan's first professional school; the Medical School record group includes historical and administrative records related to the school and its faculty and administrators, 1850-2010.

The records of the Medical School span over 160 years, beginning in 1850 and continuing through 2010. They include 389.7 linear feet of material, 10 oversize volumes, 9 oversize folders of miscellaneous documents, and 3.3 GB of digital material stored online. The records include dean's correspondence and subject files, executive committee minutes, faculty minutes, annual reports of departments, school accreditation and review files, a variety of special reports and studies, and extensive files on the Replacement Hospital Project (Taubman Center). The record group also contains photo prints depicting faculty, students and facilities, including a remarkable series of photographs taken by J. Jefferson Gibson circa 1893.

The Medical School records have been organized into five subgroups: Dean's Records, Subordinate Administrative Officers, Faculty Records, Audio-Visual Materials, and Miscellaneous records. Within each subgroup there are a number of series and these series may be further subdivided to reflect the date span of the records received in each accession.

The Medical School records have been received in several accessions and the physical arrangement of the records (the number order of the boxes) reflects the various installments in which they were received. The accessions sometimes reflected the tenure of a particular dean or other administrator, but frequently appear to have been somewhat arbitrary transfers of files. Records from individual subgroups, series and subseries often continue across multiple accessions--sometimes with consecutive date ranges, but often with overlapping date spans.

In this finding aid the records are described in their intellectual order -- subgroups and series are brought together irrespective of the particular accession in which they were received. As a result, in the detailed contents listing the box number order will not always be consecutive.

The Office of University Audits University of Michigan Organizational Charts record group contains comprehensive sets of organizational charts on paper (FY 1970 -- FY 2003) and digitally (FY 1997 -- FY 2013) as well as a few scattered additional organizational charts including the Business Office (1918), the University (1933), the University Library (1968), and the College of Literature Science and the Arts (early 1970's).

The Office of University Audits University of Michigan Organizational Charts record group contains comprehensive sets of organizational charts on paper (FY 1970 -- FY 2003) and digitally (FY 1997 -- FY 2013) as well as a few scattered additional charts including the Business Office (1918), the University (1933), the University Library (1968), the College of Literature Science and the Arts (early 1970's).

Beginning in FY 1970 the organizational charts were updated annually as part of the Standard Practice Guide. (or SPG. See the Office of University Audits records finding aid for more information.) They provide a snapshot of the University's structure at particular moments in time. Regent's proceedings and University human resource records provide authoritative evidence of when particular people filled specific roles, or when those roles were created.

The digital files consist of PDF files, ordered by year and then by the unit identification number of the unit represented. To find the unit identification number, researchers should consult the accompanying table of contents files or review the current version of the organizational chart online at http://spg.umich.edu/org-charts/organizational-structure (2013). This website is also captured periodically as part of the University Web Archives since September 2012 and archived versions may be viewed by accessing https://archive-it.org/organizations/934.

The record group of the University Audits Office consists of reports of internal and external auditors, and files documenting the amendments of Standard Practice Guide provisions.

The University Audits record group consists of reports of internal and external auditors, and files documenting the amendments of Standard Practice Guide provisions.

Central academic administrative unit of the University of Michigan which functions as chief executive assistant to the president, responsible for appointments and promotions with oversight for schools, colleges, educational units and programs; including budget planning, legislative relations, institutional research, and affirmative action policies. The Staff Files subgroup contains the files of individual of vice-presidents, associate and assistant vice-presidents, and other staff members within the vice-president's office.

The Staff Files subgroup of the record group Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs consists of 570 linear feet and spans the years from 1947 to 2013. The Staff Files subgroup is comprised of the records of the associate and assistant vice presidents for academic affairs. Whereas the records of the Central Files subgroup often contain finished products, such as reports and policy statements, the Staff Files subgroup tends to document the process of policy formation and other decision-making functions. Scattered through the associate and assistant vice presidents' papers, for example, are frank statements of opinion regarding various schools and programs, candidates for promotion, and the relationship between the branches of the university, as well as notes on meetings with faculty members, committee activities, and other subjects.

The Staff Files subgroup includes the records of the following past and current associate and assistant vice presidents, listed in the order in which their records first appear in the boxlist: Ernest R. Zimmermann, Carolyne K. Davis, Edward A. Dougherty, Richard A. English, Robert L. Williams, John H. Romani, Mary Ann Swain, Robert S. Holbrook, W. Allen Spivey, Robert B. Holmes, Niara Sudarkasa, Robin Jacoby, Robert Sauve, E. Kay Dawson, Susan Lipschutz, Paul Courant, Marilyn Knepp, Pamela A. Raymond, Katharine Soper, Karen Gibbons, John Godfrey, Nancy Cantor, A. Lawrence Fincher, Ralph P. Nichols, Valerie Castle, Glenda Haskell, Linda Gillum, Janet Weiss, Ben van der Plijm, Sharon Schmidt, Kathleen (Kati) Bauer, James Hilton, Stephanie Riegle, Catherine Shaw, Philip Hanlon, Teresa Sullivan, Anne Berens, Brian Konz, John King, Lester Monts, Martha E. Pollack, Lori Haskins, and Ron Fitzgerald. The records of an individual, while still in office, are received by the archives on an ongoing basis.