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The records of the Women's League of the University of Michigan contain the League's constitution and articles of incorporation, reports, correspondence, minutes of the League and of women students' governing bodies, scrapbooks, presidents reports, and photographs; letters from Ella Wheeler Wilcox and William Dean Howells; also papers of Edith M. Wheeler and Sarah Mills Gayley Browne.

The records of the Women's League date from 1890 to 1965 and measure 33 linear feet. The records are divided into eight series: Women's League (records of the organization), Michigan League (records of the building), Administrative, Students, Union-League Merger, Photographs, and Scrapbooks and Architectural records. The records span the life of the organization and are especially strong for the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however many of the subseries include records for only a year or two. The bulk of the records are President's Reports, which consist of two to five large bound volumes for each academic year. The subseries in the last five series are arranged alphabetically by type of material, and many are continuations of subseries from the first two series which were from an earlier accession.

Records, 1905-1962, of the Women's Athletic Association of the University of Michigan. Include constitution, minutes, reports, and other materials; also record books detailing administration of Michigras and Spring Weekend, social and fund-raising activities jointly sponsored with the Michigan Union.

The records contain the original constitution and those of 1953 and 1959, officers reports (1955-1961), executive committee record books (1905-1929), record books (1917-1960), lists of officers, and annual reports of activities. Newsletters, scrapbooks, and photograph detail the activities of the W.A.A., including those of the Michigras Committee and the Spring Weekend Committee.

Researchers interested in the Women's Athletic Association should also consult the records of the Department of Physical Education for Women, which include a history of the Women's Athletic Association.

University of Michigan administrative office, established as the Dean of Student Affairs in 1921, responsible for overseeing many aspects of non-academic student services and activities including at various times: counseling, financial aid, student housing, student activities and organizations, health services, student discipline, and fraternities and sororities. Records provide extensive documentation of student life.

The records of the Vice President for Student Life provide a unique perspective to the extracurricular life and customs of students at the University of Michigan and an insight to the development of the office of the Vice President. The records span the years 1908-2005 with the bulk of the material covering 1941-1995. The material from the early years is especially rich in documenting student life from the 1920s to the 1950s. The strongest feature of this collection is in documenting the administration's response to the needs and to the demands of student, ranging from disciplining drinkers during Prohibition, dealings with fraternities up to 1960, reacting to student protests in the 1960s to the 1988 debate over the Student Code for Non-Academic Conduct, and the 2000 protest against Michigamua. The records also contain materials related to students' health, housing, organizations, and activism. The coverage of these areas varies across administrations as office reorganizations altered the focus and functions of Student Services.

This uneven documentation reflects the fact that, over time, different offices were created to handle more narrowly-defined areas of responsibility. Areas which had originally been handled by Dean Bursley under his broad conception of control over non-academic student life came to be administered by separate offices. Frequently the records of these administrative units were not included with the Vice President for Student Life records. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of student life, as refracted through the lens of University Administration, one should also refer to the records of the Housing Office and Student-Community Relations Office, and the papers of Peter Ostafin, director of housing.

The Vice President for Student Life collection consists of correspondence, reports, memos, minutes, and financial reports generated by both the University Administration and students. These materials are arranged in chronological series by the administrative head in charge of students' extracurricular affairs. Nine series represent records of Vice Presidents of the office: Joseph A. Bursley, 1913-1950; Erich A. Walter, 1925-1959; James A. Lewis, 1908-1964; Richard L. Cutler, 1950-1969; Barbara W. Newell, 1965-1970; Robert L. Knauss, 1962-1973; Henry Johnson, 1950-1985; Mary Ann Swain and Maureen Hartford, 1990-2005; and E. Royster Harper, 2000. In addition, the collections includes a Topical Files series, 1953-1995 (records of several Vice Presidents that have been received by the Bentley in various accessions); as well as a Printed Materials series. This organizing scheme required some manipulation of the files, but it best enables the researcher to trace the changing nature of the student body concerns and the development of the office itself.

The researcher should note that the strict chronological sequencing of the series was not possible. This was due in large part to a series of office reorganizations which resulted in some files created during Bursley or Walter's tenure ending up in later series. The most significant move here resulted in Lewis' series containing a good deal of Bursley and Walter materials on fraternities and student organizations. Lewis created the fraternities subseries in 1959 and compiled the student organization subseries during a May 1963, office reorganization. The researcher should also be conscious that early series contain a variety of materials which may not reflect the full scope of Bursley, Walter, or Lewis' responsibilities. Gaps are also discernible in the later series, but these are more readily fleshed out by referring to other University collections.

Detroit-born, amateur photographer and Navy veteran who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1941. Nims’ photographs document student life in Ann Arbor during the late 1930s, with particular focus on the popular student hangout The Pretzel Bell; and life in the Navy and the South Pacific during 1944-1945 and 1951-1952. The collection consists primarily of photographs and negative with some mixed material such as diaries, newspaper clippings, correspondence and ephemera.

The collection consists primarily of photographs and negative taken by Richard Nims with some mixed material such as diaries, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and ephemera. The collection contains the following series: Photographs/Negatives, Other Papers, and Motion Pictures.

Paul Cutler Showers was a journalist and freelance writer. His writing and editing days began through involvement with The Gargoyle and The Michigan Daily while attending the University of Michigan. Showers's papers document his lengthy journalism career through his writings, recollections, and correspondence regarding the Detroit Free Press, the U.S. Army's Yank Magazine, and the Sunday New York Times. Family history played an important role in his life and can be seen through his collection of family photographs, recollections, and stories. In his later years, Showers became a prominent children's author known internationally for his work with the "Read and Find Out" series of science books for beginning readers.

The Paul Cutler Showers Papers document the life of a writer and editor, a University of Michigan alumni, an avid genealogist, a World War II veteran, and a prominent children's author.

The arrangement of the papers maintains their original order of four series including Correspondence, Family History, Personal and Professional Papers, and Visual Materials. These are in alphabetical order except for the Personal and Professional Papers series, which follows its original chronological organization according to Paul Showers's career. The papers contain very little information about his work as a children's non-fiction author. This portion of his papers are within the Kerlan Collection, which is part of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota.

Attorney, regent of the University of Michigan; state attorney general; justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. Correspondence with Adams' family concerning his activities as a student at University of Michigan and as Supreme Court justice; also topical files, speeches, and miscellaneous legal records.

The papers of Paul Adams concentrate on his years as a student at the University of Michigan,1926-1936,and on his years as a Michigan Supreme Court Justice, January 2,1962-January 1,1973. These papers include detailed letters to his family and topical files on his various interests and affairs. The correspondence file contains letters from former Governor Williams, Senator Philip A. Hart, Mrs. Chase Osborn, and other leading Michigan figures and politicians. His speech file includes topics on law, crime, politics, and religion.

University of Michigan office established in 1973 to counsel students in matters of faith and morality, successor to several organizations concerned with student religious activity. Records are mainly of predecessor organizations, the Student Christian Association (1860-1937) and the Student Religious Association (1937- 1956), but does include some records of the Office of Religious Affairs (1956- 1973) and of successor organization, the Office of Ethics and Religion (1973- 1991); also records of component and related organizations, including the University of Michigan chapters of the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association and the Association of Religious Counselors.

Although the name given to this group of records is the University of Michigan Office of Ethics and Religion, the researcher should note that the records consist primarily of predecessor organizations, the Student Christian Association (SCA), the Student Religious Association (SRA), and the Office of Religious Affairs, as well as component and ancillary organizations such as the University of Michigan Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Association of Religious Counselors, and the Christian Federation Advisors.

The record group begins with a summary history of the organization written by C. Grey Austin and entitled A Century of Religion at the University of Michigan (1957). Covering the period up to the establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs, this history provides solid information about the role of religion at the university and the activities and restructuring of the SCA and the SRA. Written by the same individual who wrote the sections on the two organizations in The University of Michigan; An Encyclopedic Survey, this volume is more detailed than those summaries and should be consulted first for background information.

Records, 1932-1943, of the Michigan Cooperative Boarding House of the University of Michigan, a cooperative eating club for students that was reorganized in 1937 as the Michigan Wolverine Student Cooperative. Include minutes, reports, correspondence, financial records and print materials.

The records are organized in two main series: Records of the Michigan Cooperative Boarding House and Records of the Michigan Wolverine Student Cooperative, both of which comprise minutes, reports, correspondence and financial records. A third series, Miscellaneous, comprises a single oversize print of a tree of knowledge.

University of Michigan student organization formed to build and manage a student union, sponsors a variety of social and service programs and activities, includes records of building and financial committees and various activity/organization files including the University Mimes and the Union Opera (later renamed MUSKET) and scrapbooks and photographs of Union activities.

The records of the Michigan Union measure 21 linear feet and 13 oversize volumes. The records date from 1890 to 1983, although there are some collected photographs dating as early as 1884. The collection has been divided into six series: Central Files, Activity/Organization Files, General Files, Photographs, Songs, and Board of Representatives.

The Martha Cook Building (MCB) opened in the fall of 1915 as the second all-women's dormitory on the University of Michigan campus. It was a gift of Mr. William Wilson Cook, a lawyer-philanthropist from New York City who was born and raised in Hillsdale, Michigan. The Martha Cook Building records are dated from circa 1913-2016 and include blueprints; chronological files; clippings; correspondence; financial records; minutes, particularly of both the MCB's Board of Governors and House Board; publications; reports; scrapbooks; subject files; and visual materials, such as negatives, photographs, and photograph albums.

The Martha Cook Building records (circa 1913-2016) document the activities of those involved with the Martha Cook Building and include blueprints; chronological files; clippings; correspondence; financial records; minutes; reports; scrapbooks; subject files; and visual materials, such as negatives, photographs, and photograph albums.

Significant people and groups featured in this collection include William. W. Cook; various House Directors, such as Sarah Rowe, G.J. Diekema, Olive Chernow, Josette Allen, and Rosalie Moore; the building's Board of Governors and House Board; and Martha Cook Building students and alumnae. Other notable topics include the construction, furnishing and remodeling of the Martha Cook Building; various scholarships; and activities, such as various anniversary events and the Messiah Dinner.