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Collection

Lutheran Church in America, Michigan Synod records, 1917-1987

42 linear feet (in 46 boxes) — 2 oversize volumes — 1 oversize folder

President's correspondence, executive committee minutes, and minutes of annual conventions; also files on individual churches in the Synod, including clippings, reports, church histories and programs; and photographs.

The records of the Michigan Synod of the Lutheran Church in America include president's correspondence; executive committee minutes; and minutes of annual conventions; files on individual churches in the Synod, including clippings, reports, church histories and programs; and photographs. The records have been arranged into the following series: Organizational and Administrative Records; Archivist's files; Organizational units and programs; Lutheran Church Women; Printed material; Church files; Topical files; and Visual Materials. Most of the records prior to 1962 originally came from the archives of United Lutheran Church in America.

Collection

Mary Richardson photograph collection, circa 1920

1 envelope

Student nurse at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a health resort in Michigan. Consists of class pictures and other photographs depicting student life.

The collection consists of class pictures and other photographs depicting student life.

Collection

Mattie Azalia Willis papers, 1928-1970

2 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Battle Creek, Michigan, African American singer and music teacher, member of the Battle Creek Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other material relating to her professional career, diaries recording daily activities and personal thoughts, and photographs.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Personal / Biographical; Writings, speech notes, compositions; Community activities; and Diaries.

Collection

Michigan Bell Telephone Company Photographs, 1949-1983

63 linear feet (in 93 boxes)

Photographs (positive and negative), slides, and transparencies taken by the company's photographers to document company activities, products, services, employees at work and at leisure, company exhibits and commemorations, and the response of the company to natural disasters and civil disturbances.

In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.

The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.

The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.

More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).

In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).

Collection

Michigan Historical Records Survey records, 1936-1942

47 linear feet — 68 microfilms

Reports and administrative records of WPA project to survey historical records in Michigan; includes correspondence, drafts of guides to county archives, proceedings of county boards of supervisors, field reports of workers, and copies of land patents for some counties; also material relating to the history of Blacks in Michigan.

The Historical Records Survey record group documents the activities and the product of the legions of depression era workers who inventoried the records held in county courthouses, municipal offices some private repositories. The records include correspondence, drafts of guides to county archives, proceedings of county boards of supervisors, field reports of workers, and copies of land patents for some counties; also material relating to the history of Blacks in Michigan.

Originally the H.R.S. records transferred to the Michigan Historical Collections measured about 121 linear feet. After processing, the collection consisted of 26 feet of records relating to the H.R.S. and 65 feet of transcripts of county and municipal records. Of the remaining 30 feet, 29.5 feet of duplicate, extraneous, or insignificant materials were discarded (described in more detail further on) and approximately half of a linear foot of printed material was transferred to the library's printed collection.

The H.R.S. material has been divided into the following series:

  1. Survey of County Records
  2. Survey of Municipal Records
  3. Survey of Federal Records
  4. Survey of State Records
  5. WPA Project Files
  6. Manuscripts Survey
  7. Inventory of Negro Manuscripts
  8. Transcripts of County Records
  9. Transcripts of Municipal Records
  10. Photographs
  11. Historical Records Survey Correspondence
  12. Survey Forms of 1987 Survey of Records in Counties and Municipalities.
Collection

Milbourne family portrait album, [1860s-1880s]

1 volume

The Milbourne family portrait album contains photographs of members of the Milbourne family and other individuals, most of whom were related to the compiler. The volume includes cartes-de-visite, tintypes, and small prints mounted on thin cards.

The Milbourne family portrait album (11cm x 8cm) contains photographs of members of the Milbourne family and other individuals, most of whom were related to the compiler. The volume includes 5 cartes-de-visite, 5 carte-de-visite-sized tintypes, and 2 small prints (about 3cm x 3.5cm) mounted on thin cards (7cm x 6cm). Two of the tintypes, each cut into an oval, are loose in the volume, as are the two smaller card photographs. Many of the subjects are identified by manuscript captions as members of the Milbourne family and relatives of the album's owner; captions are also present for items that are no longer extant. With the exception of one picture of an infant, the portraits show men and women of various ages photographed individually and, in one instance, as a couple. One aunt is shown propped up on a pillow, and a Union soldier is identified as "General Sheridan." The album has a worn black leather cover.

Collection

Minnie C. M. Fay collection, circa 1850-1950

1 linear foot

Papers collected by Minnie C. M. Fay of Battle Creek, Michigan. Genealogical, and family records, and photographs.

The Minnie Fay collection consists of genealogical and family records, family photographs, and a diary, 1857-1858 probably of a Henry Chandler.

Collection

Nichols & Shepard Company records, 1873-1931

4 linear feet — 12 oversize volumes

Manufacturers of threshing machinery; company sold out to Oliver Corporation in 1929. Minutes of stockholders and directors meetings, journals, ledgers, balance sheets, correspondence, and photographs.

The Nichols & Shepard Company records date from the late nineteenth century to the time when the company sold out to the Oliver Corporation. There is very little material prior to the 1880s and thus the first thirty years of the company's history is without documentation. The minutes of the company's board of directors date back to 1886 and extend to 1931. A large portion of the record group consists of financial materials, reports, and ledgers.

Collection

Penrod/Hiawatha Company postcard collection, 1950s-2017

7.4 linear feet (in 10 boxes; over 5000 postcards)

The Penrod/Hiawatha Company collection is mainly comprised of postcards, although some supplemental photographic items directed toward tourists is also included. The postcards, numbering more than 5,000, primarily are of the Michigan landscape and its towns and cities, covering every region of the state. Typical postcard themes dominate, particularly natural scenery, outdoor recreation, and shopping districts. The postcards date from the 1950s through the opening decades of the twenty-first century, although very few display copyright dates. The collection is divided into the following series.

  1. Non-Postcard Items (calendars, brochures, booklets): Box 1
  2. Non-Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards: Box 2
  3. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, 1970s-1990s: Boxes 2-5
  4. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, mid- to late 1990s: Boxes 5-6
  5. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, late 1990s-2000): Boxes 6-7
  6. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, 2001-2004: Box 8
  7. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, 2005-2014: Box 9
  8. Oversize and miscellaneous: Box 10

As batches of postcards are received every years, it was decided to arrange the items in blocks of time according to the date of their accession. Thus for the researcher interested in a specific city, it will be necessary to examine the listing for each of the series.

Collection

Postcard Collection, 1890s-[ongoing]

14.4 linear feet (in 15 boxes) — 1 oversize folder

Postcard views of Michigan cities and the University of Michigan.

The Michigan Historical Collections postcard collection contains picture postcards of Michigan scenes. The collection was brought together by MHC staff. The postcards depict a large number of Michigan communities, with the largest number of cards relating to Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan, and Detroit.

The postcards are arranged by the name of the town shown in the picture. In cases where names have changed, or for rural places that might be identified with several surrounding towns, the postcards are filed according to the name used on the card. For instance, postcards of the Irish Hills region can be found under that name as well as under the nearby towns of Brooklyn and Onsted.

Outsize postcards are located in Box 12, and a few postcards too large for that box are located with the medium sized photographs in UCCm.