Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Assistant director of men and director of housing at the University of Michigan. Collected materials largely relating to student housing at the University of Michigan; also files on student activities, including problems of transportation.

The Peter A. Ostafin Papers consist of both personal and official (University of Michigan) records that reflect his professional career in housing at the University of Michigan from 1955 to 1977. The records cover a range of subjects that include housing developments at the university, transportation issues, student governance, a variety of student activities, and administrative activities and issues. Materials found include minutes, reports, proposals, memoranda, newspaper clippings, and a variety of background and source documents relating to housing, transportation, and student affairs. The original order of the collection consisted of topical folders and loose documents in a random order. Scattered throughout the collection are documents created by and for both John Feldkamp, director of Housing, and Barbara Newell, vice-president for Student Affairs. Outside the strengths of the collection, much of the remaining material is scattered throughout the topical files and is of limited importance. Included are materials that mostly serve to illustrate sources consulted by the various groups on which Ostafin served. These reference materials form the majority of the early records, some dating back to the early 1940s.

Although the papers touch on many aspects of both students' lives and housing, the strength of the collection lies particularly in several specific areas: Housing (including both University and non-University), Student Activities, Transportation, and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

The Office of the President records group includes the records of University of Michigan Presidents Robben Fleming, 1968-1978 and 1988 (interim); Allan Smith, 1979 (interim); Harold T. Shapiro, 1980-1987; James J. Duderstadt, 1988-1996; Homer Neal, 1996-1997 (interim); Lee C. Bollinger, 1997-2001; B. Joseph White, 2002 (interim); Mary Sue Coleman (2002-2014); and Mark Schlissel (2014-present). The record group includes annual files from the Office of the President, which include topical files and schools and colleges files. Other series in the record group include supplemental files for each president, search files, committee appointment files, audio and visual materials, development files, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) files, and ephemera.

The records of the University of Michigan President contain the central files created and collected by the President and members of the President's staff. There is some content inherited from earlier presidents, but the record group effectively begins in 1967 with the administration of Robben W. Fleming and continues through successive administrations. (Records of Presidents prior to Fleming are cataloged under the name of the individual office holder).

The University of Michigan President's records are organized into the following series: Topical Files; Schools and Colleges Files; Supplemental Files; Search Files; Committee Appointment Files; Development; Facilities; Freedom of Information Act; Audio-Visual Material Files; Ephemera; Archived Website. Three first three series are major recurring series (Topical, Schools and Colleges, and Supplemental Files). The additional series (Committee Appointment; Searches; Development; Facilities; Freedom of Information Act; Audio-Visual Material Files; Ephemera; Archived Website) are not consistently created or predictably transferred.

Although the series are collectively described, the actual ordering of the boxes in the contents listing are not necessarily consecutive given the timing and sequence of transfers. For a summary bringing all boxes together under a particular series, see the Summary Contents list for a collective representation of boxes.

The Rackham Student Government facilitates student-faculty communication, provides funding for student activities, and appoints graduate-student representatives to university committees. The organization has operated under several different, earlier titles, including the Graduate Student Council and Graduate Assembly. This record group includes minutes, grant requests, correspondence, reports, and publications.

The Rackham Student Government record group consists of minutes, grant proposals, correspondence, publications, and reports. The record group is divided into four series: Minutes and Supporting Materials, Elections, Grant Requests, and Topical Files. All series are arranged chronologically, except the Topical Files series, which is arranged alphabetically.

Physician and professor of anatomy at the University of Michigan. Files relate to police-student relations, 1968-1973, to the review of the Division of Research Development and Administration, 1980, and to research policy and Department of Defense sponsored research at the University.

The Kahn papers consists of a single Topical file relating primarily to Kahn's participation in various University of Michigan reviews, surveys, committees, and task forces. Much of the collection concerns police-student relations at the University and Kahn's participation in a review of the Division of Research Development and Administration in 1980.

Student at University of Michigan. Leaflets, flyers, newsletters, and campaign materials concerning Campus Action, the mayoral campaign of Robert J. Harris in 1969, Interfaith Council for Peace, Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign in 1968, Mobilization, Resistance, Socialist Labor Party, Student Peace Union, Students for a Democratic Society, Vietnam Summer, Young Americans for Freedom and Young Socialist Alliance.

The collection consists of leaflets, flyers, newsletters, and campaign materials concerning such organizations and events as Campus Action, the mayoral campaign of Robert J. Harris in 1969, Interfaith Council for Peace, Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign in 1968, Mobilization, Resistance, Socialist Labor Party, Student Peace Union, Students for a Democratic Society, Vietnam Summer, Young Americans for Freedom and Young Socialist Alliance.

Businessman from Detroit, Michigan and New York City; regent of the University of Michigan, 1969-1984. Topical files and correspondence relating to his service as regent; subjects include regental reaction to the Black Action Movement in 1970, and the debate over the proposed divestiture of the university's financial interests in South Africa, 1977-1979.

The collection consists of files pertaining to Robert Nederlander's service on the University of Michigan Board of Regents from 1969 to 1984. It does not include materials relating to any of his other activities. The collection is arranged in two series: Topical Files and Board of Regents Correspondence.

Surveillance-type and other photos of student demonstrations at the University of Michigan.

Photographs and negatives, 1969-1970, showing student unrest on the University of Michigan campus and nearby. Includes protests over interviews conducted on campus, Black Action movement, the ROTC takeover, vandalism and other demonstrations of protest.

Catholic chapel (later parish) ministering largely to University of Michigan students. Council minutes, correspondence, topical files, chapel bulletins, and financial records; also files relating to the Gabriel Richard Foundation, the Newman Club and the Newman Student Association; and photographs.

The records of St. Mary Student Parish are divided into seven series: (1) St. Mary Chapel administrative files; (2) Gabriel Richard Center records; (3) Newman Club records; (4) Topical files; (5) Newsletters; (6) Photographs, Scrapbooks, and Albums; and (7) 2011-2014 Accessions.

Photos of student and faculty activities, research, the campus, athletics, and individuals, used in University publications.

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.