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A. Alfred Taubman was an entrepreneur, real estate developer and philanthropist. The Taubman collection consists of business and personal records documenting his development of retail and mixed-use real estate projects, his role as a leader in the real estate industry in Michigan and nationally, his transformation of Sotheby's, his investments and business interests, his contributions to the arts, to American educational institutions, and to the city of Detroit.

This collection documents the business and philanthropic activities of A. Alfred Taubman. While this collection is not a comprehensive archive of Taubman's business and personal activities, it offers a rich and abundant resource for researchers interested in the history of commercial real estate development and those interested in Taubman's varied business concerns and philanthropic work. The bulk of the materials date from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s and include both records created by Taubman and a number of staff members of The Taubman Company. The collection is organized into eight series:

1. Shopping Centers/Commercial Development
2. Industry Leadership
3. Detroit Development
4. Business Investments
5. University Endowments
6. Topical
7. Personal
8. Athena Azerbaijan and Russia Development Projects

Organization of Detroit African American business and professional men and women; scattered records of the organization including newsletters, directories, and topical files of some of the group’s presidents.

The record group has been arranged into four series: Background/Informational; President's Files; National Business League, and Wallace Williams File. Included are scattered business and membership directories, newsletters, and annual meeting programs; records of organization presidents Homer D. Waterman, Joseph W. Williams, and Wallace Williams; and files relating to its relations with the National Business League, 1968-1970.