Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

The Personal Series (6 linear ft) includes materials related to Ira Deutchman's work separate from production companies and film projects. This includes writing, such as articles, screenplays and short stories, and research related to them, from 1968 when Deutchman was in high school until the 1980s. Also included with his writing are the books prepared for his promotion to Associate Professor at Columbia University. The personal series also has correspondence, which is sorted alphabetically by the name of the sender, with other producers, directors, actors and others, including Robert Duvall, Roman Polanski, and a card from Robert Altman. There is a folder of resumes and cover letters over the course of his career, as well as a few photographs. Significant in this series are more than two decades of appointment diaries, the earliest from high school until the late 1980s, with doodles, notes, and ticket stubs taped in from all of the movies and performances Ira Deutchman attended in college. A large portion of this series are the materials from the courses related to film production and Deutchman teaches as a Professor of Professional Practice in the Film Program at Columbia University, of which he was chair from 2011-2012. Lastly in this series are press articles and clippings related to Deutchman and his work at various production companies, as well as a large collection of business cards arranged in sleeves and loose.

Personal: 1 linear foot, 1926-2002. This series documents Lee Walp's life beyond his book collection. There is a small amount of information about his education, with the rest pertaining to his adulthood. Correspondence, Family, and Marietta College comprise the bulk of the series.

Correspondence is arranged in chronological order, from 1950-2002. It is comprised of letters from friends, often with references to books they found they think Mr. Walp might wish to add to his collection, or questions about specific books that they own. There are also two letters from the Johnson White House, 1968 and 1969, thanking Mr. Walp for sending a copy of a book to the Johnson daughters, Luci Baines and Lynda Bird.

Family contains ancestral information and the items documenting the accomplishments of the Walp family. It includes a (disbound) scrapbook devoted to the athletic prowess of Esther Spargo "Sparkie" Walp. There is also material on daughter Esther Lee's activities in the book field as an employee for Houghton Mifflin, and also as a children's librarian. The family correspondence (1965-1997), is mostly from Esther Lee, who actively helped her father build the collection, but also includes letters from Mary and letters and drawings from the Walp's grandchildren. This subseries also includes autobiographical notes.

Marietta College documents Mr. Walp's time as a professor. It includes articles on his activities as a botany professor, a scientific article written by Walp, and another article that he illustrated. It also includes correspondence (1938-2002), both from college officials congratulating him for his work and from former students. It documents his participation in the Ohio Academy of Science, and being awarded a Ford Foundation grant for post-graduate study.

Photographs documents the Walp family throughout their lives, including a few photographs of a very young Lee and Sparkie. There are also photographs of Mr. Walp as a college student, a botany professor, and sharing his collection of children's literature with students.

Lee Walp was involved in many activities throughout the course of his life, not just botany and book collecting. A glimpse into his other pursuits is provided by the material from the Ohio Academy of Science, the Photographic Society, and material from his church, where he once gave a lecture on de Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince. Also of note are a botany notebook which includes many sketches by Mr. Walp, and two portraits of Lee and Sparkie, drawn in 1996.

The Personal series (0.5 linear feet) encapsulates material offering an insight into Madgett's personal history (not otherwise well documented in the collection), as well as material of special significance or rarity, or of particular use in gaining an overview of Madgett's life and career. Together with the Writings series, this series provides a glimpse into Madgett's childhood and adolescence. Comprising this material are correspondence, ephemera, interviews, photocopies (both of published material and manuscript documents), and several detailed statements that Madgett herself composed on various subjects (some of which are embedded in correspondence whose presence might be obscured if placed in the General Correspondence series). The largest subseries under the Personal series is the Biographical, which contains information about Madgett's family (primarily her father, grandfather, and brother), biographical and autobiographical summaries, interviews conducted with Madgett, and formal statements about Madgett by other writers.

The Journal Entries subseries includes a small sample of photocopied pages from Madgett's manuscript diaries from both her years at college (1944-1945) and the early 1960s. (The diaries from the early 1940s reside in the collection of Madgett's papers at Fisk University.) This materials is of a personal and narrative nature; photocopies of poems from her journals can be found in the Writings series.

In the Early Years subseries are school yearbooks, a literary magazine, and news clippings from Madgett's childhood and adolescence (1937-1945).

The Professional Activity subseries documents significant moments in Madgett's career as an educator and literary figure, covers activities not otherwise documented in the collection (see the Workshops and Events series), and includes a few recent annual summaries of Madgett's publications and public appearances.

Topical Files contain ephemera and other material on people and subjects in which Madgett had a special interest or to which she had a significant connection, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, and Boone House (a circle of Detroit-area writers who gathered for informal workshops in the 1960s).

The final subseries in the Personal series, Citations and Awards, contains certificates given Madgett by various organizations in recognition of her achievements as a poet and editor. More detailed information about Madgett's many honors can be found in the Workshops and Events series.

The Robert Altman Personal series (14 linear feet, 3 oversized boxes) is comprised of personal material ranging in date from 1945-2007. The material consists of correspondence, legal and medical documents, topical and award related material, early work, interviews and clippings, as well as photographs.

Personal Correspondence (1.25 linear feet, 1905-1934) includes correspondence between Harry Robison and his wife, mother and siblings. From 1905 to 1917, the majority of the correspondence reveals the courtship between Robison and Alma Voge (“Dimples”). There is also correspondence between Robison and his siblings. They wrote about the health of different family members and what they were doing as part of everyday life.

Most of the correspondence is from 1917 to 1924, between Robison and his wife while he was away working for the railroad company. They wrote about the health of family members, especially their daughter, what they did that day, the weather, and money issues. He also wrote about his job searches and how each job was. They wrote a few times every month when they were apart. Of special note are letters about their newborn daughter, Ione (1918), setting up their first home (1919) and the logistics of moving from Chicago (1920).

After 1924, Robison and his wife were able to settle down together in Illinois and the correspondence is between Harry Robison and his mother and siblings. They mostly wrote about the health and events in the lives of family members. Robison discussed taking on additional work as an electrician and the possibility of the whole family taking a trip on the Lincoln Highway together. In 1932 and 1933, he discussed moving west where the climate might be better for Ione’s health.