Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Albert Easton White was a professor of Metallurgical Engineering and Director of the Engineering Research Institute. The collection consists of about 75 items of correspondence and about 10 photographs from events throughout his career.

The collection consists of two series, Correspondence and Photographs.

Correspondence includes primarily letters two Professor White, especially around the time of his retirement in 1953. The series also contains a few reports on the research activities in engineering at the University of Michigan.

Photographs contains images from different stages of Professor White's career, including the groundbreaking of the Engineering building on North Campus, and social events associated with the American Society of Metals.

Records of the University of Michigan College of Engineering include histories, correspondence and topical files of deans; minutes of the executive and other committees; faculty records, including minutes of meetings and faculty biographies; miscellaneous student and alumni records; photographs, microfilm, digital files, and archived website.

The College of Engineering records date from 1860 to 2014 and measure 118.5 linear feet, 3 oversize folders, and 1,196 GB. The records document the internal activities of the College of Engineering, both administrative and academic, the role of the college as a unit of the University of Michigan, and research developments and trends over the years. Correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, financial records, and other material reflect changing research interests within the field of engineering as well as the curriculum development that has accompanied technological advances. Of particular interest are the files relating to outside work by faculty members, a question of enduring concern within the college. The records reflect the relations of the College of Engineering with private industry, especially through the documentation of funding from outside sources and the involvement of professors in outside research.

Electrical engineering was established as a department in the College of Engineering in 1895. In 1971 it was renamed as the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Department of Computer and Communication Science was transferred from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts in 1984. The faculties and courses were merged under new designation Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Departmental records include administration material relating to policies and budget, annual reports and reviews, topical files, photographs, and personnel files of inactive faculty and research scientists. Records describe the facilities, curriculum, and teaching and research activities within the department.

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science records contain correspondence, departmental review reports, committee minutes, faculty and student surveys, personnel records and photographs. The records span the years 1920-1997.

The records are arranged in seven series: Administrative Budget/ Financial, Department Review and Report, Histories, Topical, Photographs, and Personnel.

Correspondence and other papers dealing with departmental plans, reviews and organization, buildings and laboratories, staff recruitment, research, impact of World War I and personal affairs of various staff members especially when they were studying in Europe. Correspondence includes letters of John W. Langley, Robert A. Millikan, Harrison Randall, James M. Cork, Ernest Lawrence, Walter Stevens, John O. Reed, Henry Carhart, Karl Guthe, Fred Hodges, Horace R. Crane, and others. Also includes correspondence of chairmen Daniel Sinclair, Richard H. Sands, and Lawrence W. Jones. Efforts to locate a superconducting super collider in Michigan in the 1980s are well documented in these records.

The Department of Physics records contain budget sheets, clippings, committee minutes, correspondence, departmental review reports, organizational charts, personnel records, and photographs. The records are most informative in the administrative proceedings of the department. They are least informative in curricular and research areas. The records span the years 1873-1995 and are arranged into four series: Administrative Files, Undergraduate and Graduate Programs, Research, and Awards and Special Events and L3 Project. Although there are 19th century records present, the bulk of the records cover the period from 1954 to 1991.

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations, including the Department of Engineering Research, the Engineering Research Institute, the University of Michigan Research Institute, and the Office of Research Administration. Record types include correspondence, topical subject files, research grant files, meeting minutes, financial records, and photographs.

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass both the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations. The papers have been divided into seven major series: Governing and Oversight Bodies (1919-1964), Staff and Committee Records (ca. 1922-1979), Administrative Files (1922-1972), Correspondence Files (1943-1972), Willow Run Laboratories (1946-1966), Directors' Files, and several boxes of Research Grant Files on microfilm. There are also four smaller series: the Engineering College Research Council (1959-1961), Review of the DRDA - Report to Harold Shapiro, 1980, Engineering Research Institute - miscellaneous research reports, Photographs, and Programmed Research Information System at Michigan (PRISM) Reports.

Graduate School of the University of Michigan. Records include dean's topical files, 1892-1996; files of associate deans; minutes of the executive board; project and grant files detailing faculty and student research; lists of degrees granted; records of fellowships and awards granted by the graduate school and university; and files relating to academic departments and programs, including reviews of degree programs.

The records of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies document the administration of the school, its academic programs and research projects and fellowships funded by the school and outside sources. The records include Dean's Files, minutes of the Executive Board and Administrative Council, Academic Unit and Program Evaluation files, and grants administration records.

Records of the Graduate School have been received by the library in numerous accessions, some large others quite small. Some accessions represent continuations or complements to previously received materials. This finding attempts to intellectually integrate continuing or similar record series received in multiple accessions.

The records are organized into a number of series. Among the more significant are:

1. Deans' Topical File
2. Research Records
3. University Units
4. Program Evaluations
5. Faculty Research Grants
6. Degree Lists
7. Faculty Fellowships, Grants and Awards
8. Graduate School Executive Board and Administrative Council

In 2008, the Rackham School of Graduate Studies announced that it would become a 'paperless' office and that future accessions to the Bentley Library would be electronic. The materials from 1990 to 2003 were thus digitized by Rackham staff (from the original paper records) and saved as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. As of 2012, these digital accessions comprise two subseries within the Graduate School Executive Board and Administrative Council series and Program Evaluation series.

The Institute for Social Research (ISR), an interdisciplinary center for social science research, was created in 1949 when the Research Center for Group Dynamics (founded at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) joined the university's Survey Research Center. ISR houses the Center for Political Studies (CPS), Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Population Studies Center (PSC), Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD), and the Survey Research Center (SRC). Records document the founding and development of ISR and its related centers and programs and include audiovisual materials, minutes, correspondence, topical files, reports, and proposals. Administrative records include governance committees and director's files. Records of the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) consist of grant proposals, survey instruments, focus group transcriptions, correspondence, bulletins, and internal governance records created under the auspices of PRBA and its various projects. Records of the Research Center for Group Dynamics are primarily the papers of director Kurt Lewin, including manuscripts and talks. Survey Research Center records consist largely of proposal and project files, although they also include faculty oral histories. The records of the Population Studies Center consist of lectures from its founder, Dr. Ronald Freedman, while the Center for Political Studies contains one binder of material from the American National Election Survey conducted in 1980.

The Institute for Social Research (ISR) records are dated from 1936-2017 (scattered) and consist of 143.8 linear feet (in 146 boxes) and digital files (online). Materials in this record group include audiovisual material, committee files (which include minutes and agendas), correspondence, directors' files, oral histories, publications, reports, and topical files. These records document the founding and subsequent development of ISR as well as its centers and programs, particularly the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) and the Survey Research Center (SRC). The records also provide an overview of ISR's administration and the evolution of social science survey research methodology.

There are gaps in the records, which can be addressed in part through the papers of Rensis Likert, Angus Campbell, Dorwin P. Cartwright, and Philip E. Converse—all of which are held at the Bentley Historical Library (BHL). When viewed in conjunction with other ISR-related personal papers in the Bentley Historical Library, a rich and detailed picture of the growth of ISR as a center and the social science research discipline emerges.

Professor of mechanical engineering at University of Michigan. Correspondence concerning University and departmental business, World War II research projects, the American Society of Civil Engineering, and research projects of the Hamilton Watch Company and Hayes Wheel Company.

The collection consists of correspondence and other professional materials, most relating to his research and other responsibilities at the University of Michigan. Of note are his Reports on automobile wheel tests for Hayes Wheel Company, 1923-1926, and a report on high strength aluminum alloys written during World War II.

Serves as media relations office and disseminates information about university programs, research, events, and faculty activities. Includes correspondence, press releases, newspaper clippings, and other papers concerning the activities and work of the University, notable campus events, research, and teaching.

The News and Information holdings document how the university is portrayed in the media and the efforts of the university to promote itself. Although there is some correspondence from 1900-1903 and the 1930s, the bulk of the records date from 1946 to the present. The value of the files is as a source of ready information (on a yearly basis) about the activities and research accomplishments of university faculty and staff, departments, colleges and schools, libraries, centers, and other units. The records also chronicle notable events and visits by famous scholars and celebrities through yearly topical files, press releases, and correspondence. News and Information Service holdings also contain extensive photographic material (prints, negatives, slides, and transparencies) generated by the photography unit in addition to non-photographic records. The substantial photographic holdings are described in a separate finding aid.

The non-photographic News and Information Services records include some correspondence of the unit's administrators, although the bulk consists of news clippings, published materials, press releases, and other background information collected by NIS and arranged topically by year. The records are organized into eight series: CORRESPONDENCE, PRESS RELEASES, MISCELLANEOUS, TOPICAL FILES, GERALD R. FORD, UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS, and ARCHIVED WEBSITES.

Officially established in 1959, the Office of Research supports and administers large interdisciplinary projects called research centers and administers research institutes. The record group includes individual vice president's files, central office files, staff files, financial records, administrative files, committee and task force documents and reports, special event files, and project and institute files.

The records of the vice-president for research date from 1911 to 2013 and measure 323.5 linear feet, 1 oversize box and 157 MB of digital materials. The records document the activities of the office overseeing grant funded research at the University of Michigan and offer some insight into the range of research undertaken at the university. Records include administrative files of vice-presidents, including correspondence, memoranda, and budgetary material relating to research projects and grants of university units and departments; and photographs.

The organization of the records, particularly the early accessions, reflects the tenure of the successive vice presidents for research. Later accessions included files of associate vice-presidents and senior staff officers as well topically organized files that spanned the tenure of several vice presidents. The records are organized into the following series:

1. A. Geoffrey Newman -- Boxes 1-15, 70-71
2. Charles Overberger -- Boxes 15-69
3. Charles Overberger/Warren Sussman -- Boxes 72-87
4. Linda S. Wilson,-- Boxes 88-100
5. William C. Kelly -- Boxes 102-105
6. Central Files -- Boxes 108-127, 180-210, 266-275, Boxes 277-301, Boxes 311-322
7. OVPR Staff Files -- Boxes 128-134
8. Julie Ellison -- Boxes 135-136
9. Marvin Parnes -- Boxes 137-146
10. OVPR Financial and Administrative Files -- Boxes 147-148
11. Administrative Files -- Boxes 149-150, Boxes 323-324
12. Committees and Task forces -- 151-164
13. Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project and Ford Nuclear Reactor -- Boxes 165 --166, 218-219
14. Special Events, Symposiums, and Promotional -- Boxes 167-170, 275
15. Presidential Initiatives Fund -- Boxes 171-179
16. Contractual Restrictions Requests (PAF-R's) -- Boxes 213-216
17. Michigan Life Science's Corridor -- Boxes 216-218
18. Discretionary Fund -- Boxes 220-264
19. Indirect Waivers -- Boxes 265
20. Research Faculty Appointments -- Boxes 276, Box 322
21. Washington D.C. Office -- Boxes 302-310