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The last will and testament of Horace H. Rackham provided for the establishment of a trust fund to provide for the health and welfare of individuals, particularly the sick, aged, the young, the poor, and other underprivileged. Much of the trust money went to the University of Michigan to be used for a building for the graduate school and an endowment to be used for different kinds of research. The Fund also awarded grants to agencies involved in child welfare, community culture, education, health, philanthropy, and science. The Fund distributed money from 1934 until about 1941. The series in this record group consist of administrative and executive files, and project applications and grant files.

The records of the Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund document the continuing generosity of Horace Rackham and Mary Rackham to numerous charitable, educational, and scientific organizations and causes. The records contain the files of the Fund's trustees and directors and provide insight and information about such topics as the administration of a philanthropic fund-giving organization during the mid-1930s, the kinds of gifts made, the relationship among the Fund's trustees and officers, and the relationship between the Fund and the grant recipients. Because of the size of the gift, most of the documentation within the record group details the close ties between the Fund and the University of Michigan. These files concern not only the establishment of the Rackham endowment to the University, but also the different scientific and educational grants made. Additionally, these files detail the construction of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies building in Ann Arbor and the Rackham Educational Memorial building in Detroit.

The records of the Fund cover the period of 1929-1950 though they bulk largest for the period of the Fund's greatest activity, 1934-1940. The record group has been separated into two series: Combined Administrative and Executive Office Files and Project applications/grants.

Correspondence, photographs, directories, lists of members and other material concerning reunions of the University of Michigan class of 1899; and an article on student loan funds at the University of Michigan, 1927-1928. Correspondents include James B. Angell (July 17, 1909) and William A. Comstock. Visual materials include images of Bursley, and a childhood photograph of Bursley's wife, Marguerite Knowlton Bursley.

This collection documents the personal and business activities of Jospeh A. Bursley. Materials include correspondence--notably, with the University of Michigan president James B. Angell and Michigan Governor William A. Comstock,-- directories, information regarding reunions of the class of 1899, an article on student loan funds at the University of Michigan, and a selection of photographs which include a childhood photograph of Marrguerite Knowlton Bursley. The material spans from the 1880s to 1950.

Publications contain applications, brochures, flyers, pamphlets, newsletters, reports, and miscellaneous published items from the University of Michigan's Office of Financial Aid detailing the administration and disbursement of financial aid to students.

The Office of Financial Aid (OFA) Publications record group is divided into seven series: Application Forms and Instructions, 1973-1999; Brochures and Pamphlets, ca 1957-1999; Directions in Financial Aid, 1979/80-1984/85, 1990/91; Flyers and Information Sheets, 1986-1996 and undated; Miscellaneous, 1990-1997; Newsletters, 1971-2001; and Reports, 1977-1989. The researcher should note that there are complete print runs for none of the publications in the record group; holdings for each title consist of more or less scattered sets of issues within the date ranges given.

The Office of Financial Aid at the University of Michigan administers need- and merit-based financial support programs for students. The records include topical files detailing the operations of the office, its interactions with other university units and groups, and outside activities, as well as federal funding reports and applications and information on alumni scholarships.

The University of Michigan Office of Financial Aid record group consists of five series: Office of Financial Aid, University of Michigan, Outside Activities, Federal Funding Reports and Applications and Alumni Scholarships. Several accessions were brought together at the time of processing. The files include material mainly from three directors of the office, Tom Butts, Harvey Grotrian, and Judith Harper, as well as from several subordinate departments and staff. A small amount of older material from a predecessor office, the Office of Scholarships (which reported to the Dean of Men), is also included.