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The A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (TC; also referred to as Taubman College) was established in 1931 as the College of Architecture. However, courses in architecture have been offered at the University of Michigan since 1876, and a department of architecture, formed in 1913, preceded the creation of the college. Since its formation, TC has offered courses and programs in several areas, including landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, real estate, and, of course, architecture. The record group includes dean's administrative files and correspondence, other administrator files, meeting minutes, department and program files, materials from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), lectures and other documentation on the Raoul Wallenberg lecture hosted by the college, and several photographs and negatives of the college and TC-related events.

The A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (University of Michigan), records document the teaching of architecture and design at the University of Michigan beginning in 1878. The records include administrative files, correspondence committee minutes, reports, photographs and architectural drawings. The records have been received in a number of separate accessions which may include material that continues or complements record series from a previous accession or may overlap chronologically with previous accessions. This finding aid reflects the intellectual structure of the records by bringing like material together across accessions. As a consequence, in the container listing box numbers will not necessarily be in consecutive order.

The records are organized in the following principal series:

1. Minutes of Meetings
2. Dean's Administrative Files
3. National Architectural Accrediting Board
4. Miscellaneous (correspondence and select files)
5. Raoul. G. Wallenberg
6. Dean's Correspondence
7. Doctoral Program Files
8. Topical Files
9. Administrative Files
10. Architectural Drawings
11. Photographs and Negatives
12. Art and Architecture Building Renovations
13. Department of Urban Planning
14. Audio-Visual Material
15. Articles, Reports and Speeches
16. Artifacts
17. Archived School of Architecture Website

The collection includes material documenting the site’s restoration process from DRLPs' inception until 2004, the DeTour Reef Cruise (2003-2005), the “Under the Stars” annual benefit dinner (2004-2005), DRLPS' work with Asbestos Management, 1999-2000, to clear the site before restoration, the official transfer of the site’s lease from the U.S Coast Guard to the DRLPS, financial reports and meeting minutes.

Materials covered by the DRLPS collection include the DeTour Reef Cruise (2003-2005), the “Under the Stars” annual benefit dinner (2004-2005), the group’s work with Asbestos Management, 1999-2000, to clear the site before restoration, the official transfer of the site’s lease from the U.S Coast Guard to the DRLPS, along with the group’s financial reports and meeting minutes.

The main focus of the collection is its material documenting the site’s restoration process from the group’s inception until 2004. Vital to the project was the securing of grant money, the collection including grant material from the Michigan Lighthouse Alliance for Preservation (MLAP), Michigan Coastal Management Program (MCMP), Clean Michigan Initiative (CMI), and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as specific grants to restore the site’s fog horn, windows, and to rent a deck crane for heavy lifting.

Box 1 of the collections includes organizational materials such as bylaws and articles of incorporation.

Other materials found in the boxes include photographs, pamphlets, fliers, magazines, and banded manuals.

Also included in the collection is a set of 140 oversized drawings dating, 1975-1982, detailing the light’s features. These drawings are located in oversized folders #1 and #2. Oversized folder #3 includes oversized materials, such as plans and charts, which were pulled from the binders.

Drawings 89-98 in Oversized Folder #1 included in set as packet of legal-sized documents.

All pre-1998 materials are photocopies from various sources made in 1998.

Processing Notes: .5 cubic feet of peripheral material and approximately 45 duplicate drawings were returned to the donor per his request. Items that were fragile or acidic were copied and their originals withdrawn from the collection.

Collection of research materials on Michigan topics, mostly photocopies, notes, drafts of articles, and correspondence.

The collection consists mostly of photocopies of newspaper articles, magazine articles, information from websites, the Congressional Record, and chapters from reference and other books, on topics of interest to Barnett. Also included are his correspondence and email to various institutions and people asking for information and material, his notes, and typed articles he wrote on various topics. Topics documented in depth include: Ash, Center Line, John Farmer, Upper Peninsula railroads, Magnet Truck, Michigan railroads, the Mackinac Bridge, music and singers who sang songs about Michigan and or cars, the longstanding oleo versus margarine debates and laws, Michigan Central Railroad Co. Head Lights (a publication), Michigan jazz, traffic lights, with biographical materials on W.L. Potts, and Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad Co. maps (oversized transparencies). The materials (photocopies)on Headlights or Headlight Flashes includes: an advertising publication of the Company, which describes the comfort of traveling via the Company's trains and provides city histories with biographies of important families and individuals, as well as photographs of those people, expensive homes, businesses, public buildings, and pastoral scenes. Towns described include: Michigan City (Ind.), 1894; and the Mich. cities of: Albion, 1895; Pontiac, 1897; Benton Harbor and Flint, 1896; and Saint Joseph, 1898. Also included are microfilmed newspaper articles (photocopies), in which the Headlights of various cities were advertised, 1895-1896 and 1941, and 1997-2000 typed transcripts of other similar newspaper advertisements, 1895-1898. Additional subjects include: Agricultural Demonstration Trains of Michigan State University, 1906-1937; buying Michigan, 1795-1796; counties, name changes/considered creation of new counties; the history of county names; dandelions [as an emergency source of post-World War II rubber]; highway lighthouses [precursors to traffic lights]; lynchings; prisoners building Michigan roads during the 1920s; reflectors (roadside); roadside parks [Michigan had the first]; stagecoaches; broadcasting; homestead lands; Hollywood; the Port Huron and Milwaukee Railroad; Sabbath blue laws; Ludington (Mich.); swamp lands; centroids; Iron Range and Huron Bay Rialroad; ferries; population centers; Oldsmar, Florida; David Ward, Deward (Mich.); the Detroit and Charlevoix Railroad Company; Cigar Industry in Detroit, including strikes, unions, and women employees; Cigar Store Indians; crops of Flax and Gingseng and flax industries in Michigan prisons; Michigan Indians mentioned in county histories; Michigan Road Construction Train; Michigan World War I fruit and olive pit gathering campaign to create gas masks; Ragweed and hay fever and the Northern Hay Fever Resort Association, Topinabee, and the Western Hay Fever Association of the U.S., headquartered in Petoskey; General Philip H. Sheridan 's warhorse Rienzi; St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal Company and its subsidiary units, the Canal Mineral Land Company and the Michigan Pine Land Association; and Windmills in Detroit. Also included is a draft of a book by Graydon M. Meints on lumber baron David Ward that Barnett reviewed. The major topics found in 2021 Addition, Boxes 63-75, include: American Tract Society, Bloomers, Colporteur, Graphite Mining in Michigan, Medical Quacks, Michigan Iron and Land Company, Samuel Geil Maps of Michigan, and Whipping (Military corporal punishment). The 2022 Addition, Boxes 76-79, includes the major topics of Vigilance Committees against German Americans during World War I and Ski Trains. Other topics include: Buffalo Bill Train Accident, Carbon Works in Detroit, Detroit’s Streetlight Towers, Grand Duke Alexis A Romanov Visits Detroit, ‘Hello Girls’ [U.S. Army Signal Corps, World War I], Lindbergh in Michigan, Michigan World War II Veterans Bonus, Wetzel (Antrim County, MI, village), Bomb Mackinaw (which were 1925 practice maneuver plans to prevent enemies from crossing into the straits by dropping bombs from airplanes), and Crawfish. The collection is ongoing.

Processing Note: Abbreviations used by Barnett on folder labels were used and copied by Clarke processors exactly. Acidic materials were copied in 2014.

Professor of Geology at the University of Michigan; reprints of articles on various geological topics including his research and exploration in Greenland.

The Hobbs collections consists of pamphlets and reprints of articles on various geological topics including his research and exploration in Greenland.

Court records include annulments, chancery cases, chattle mortgages, debt cases, divorces, estate settlements, foreclosures, gas and oil cases, guardianship cases, indentures, injunctions, calendars and proceedings, mortgages, prartnerships, pensions, petitions, poll lists, tally sheets, election returns, school reports, censuses, etc., support cases, tax assessments, other records, a tintype, miscellaneous.

The collection is one of the government records collections that came to the Clarke as part of a regional archives depository agreement with the State Archives. The collection was not processed at the State Archives.

Processing Note: Duplicate printed materials, miscellaneous and illegible items, and those non-permanent records that had far surpassed their records retention schedule were withdrawn from the collection during processing.

Instructor and professor of physical education, 1930-1977, and first director of women's athletics, 1972-1976, at the University of Michigan. Papers document the history of physical education and recreational sports for women and the development of women's varsity athletics at the university as well as Hartwig's involvement in various professional associations and her work with recreation programs at Interlochen Music Camp.

The papers of Marie Hartwig consist of 6 linear feet of material and one oversize volume concerning the career, activities, and thought of Marie ("Pete") Hartwig. The papers document Hartwig's wide range of activities as educator, coach and women's athletics administrator at the University of Michigan and her work with the recreation program at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.

The papers contain material relating to the history of women's physical education, recreation and athletics at the University of Michigan from the 1930s to 1980s; the history of recreational activities and the Camper Education Program at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan from the 1940s to 1980s; and the evolution of Hartwig's ideas about instruction in sports, the training of counselors and management of recreational camps, and recreational programs for children and adults.

The Detroit Observatory, an astronomical observatory on the campus of the University of Michigan, was the vision of University of Michigan President Henry Philip Tappan. He recognized the need for institutions of higher education to pursue scientific endeavors. Built in 1854, the Detroit Observatory was named after the Detroit residents who helped finance the building project. Extensive restoration work of the Observatory was completed in 1999.

The Detroit Observatory record group includes administrative materials of the Observatory's later years (post-1994), including documentation on the Observatory's restoration project and materials encompassing the Observatory's publicity and outreach efforts. The collection also contains various historical documents and artifacts such as logbooks and records, photographs and other visual materials, motion pictures, architectural drawings, and publications. The collection includes all of the documents, artifacts, and records transferred to the Bentley Historical Library in 2005. Materials not physically transferred to the Bentley that remain in the Observatory (such as telescopes, clocks, and associated astronomical devices) have not been identified here, but documentation can be found listed in the various inventories and databases found in the administrative series.

This collection contains the following series: Administrative, Publicity and Outreach, Research, Historical, and Publications.

University of Michigan professor of anthropology; professor of botany; curator of ethnology; and former director of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. Well-known for his innovative research in archaeology, ethnobotany, and paleoethnobotany, as well as a long and distinguished teaching career and dedication to public and professional service.

The Richard I. Ford Papers document the professional and personal life of one of the country's most prominent paleoethnobotanists, curator and former director of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, and longtime University of Michigan professor of Anthropology and Botany. The records in this collection measure 27 linear feet, and date from 1968 to 2005, with the majority of the records from the period 1970 to 1990. The Ford papers are primarily comprised of correspondence, legal filings and consulting materials, lectures and conference presentations, publications, committee and service records, administrative materials, teaching files, and mixed media. The records are arranged into seven series: Correspondence, Legal Consultations, Professional Service and Activities, Teaching, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Audio-Visual Materials, and Research, Publications, and Projects.

General secretary of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan and editor of the Michigan Alumnus; correspondence, drawings and etchings, photographs and other visual materials

The Shaw collection is an assemblage of personal materials such as correspondence, essays and student notebook, and of Shaw's work as an artists including drawings, etchings, and other examples of artistic expression that he used in connection with his work with the University's Alumni Association and its publications. Records of Shaw's activities with the university will be found in the record groups for the Alumni Association and the Bureau of Alumni Relations also located at the Bentley Library. The collection has been divided into five series: Correspondence, Essays, Drawings and Etchings, Miscellaneous, and Photographs and other Visual Materials.

The collection includes the following series: Kurt P. Oppermann and family papers; Oppermann Fur Company records; collected materials on historic preservation, miscellaneous, Saginaw, Michigan history, and collected papers of others including Bude Volusin, Mabel C. (Scott) de Fere, Marion C. Weir, and Frank Selzer.

The collection is divided into the following series: Papers of Kurt P. Oppermann and his family, the Oppermann Fur Company Records. Materials Kurt largely collected include: Historic Preservation Materials, Miscellaneous Materials, Saginaw Michigan, Materials, and the Papers of Other Saginawians, including: Bude Volusin; Mabel C. (Scott) De Fere; Marion C. Weir; and Frank Selzer.

The collection provides detailed, personal information about Kurt and his family who were pivotal in the fur and newspaper business, as well as in the musical and social life of Saginaw in the late 19th and early 20th century. His interest in history prompted him to collect photographs, blueprints, and other information on Saginaw history, families, and buildings. This is a valuable collection to study family letters and relationships, Germans in Saginaw, Saginaw history, Saginaw buildings, and the fur business in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Papers of Kurt P. Oppermann are divided into the following subseries: Biographical Materials (.5 cubic ft. in 1 box), including obituaries, funeral cards, published histories on the family, and Kurt’s Account Book, 1939-1941; his Diaries, 1920, 1926, 1936, 1946, and 1970; high school class notes, 1911-1912, and a Seemann and Peters stock certificate, 1946.

Photographic Materials (2 cubic ft. in 4 boxes), includes a wide variety of photographic materials with images of the extended Oppermann, Nerretes, and Peters families and their friends from the 19th century through 1973. Twentieth century reproductions of 18th and 19th century images of Oppermann ancestors are also included. The subseries include an ambrotype, cartes-de-visite, daguerreotypes, glass-plate negatives, various types of film negatives, positive prints, tin types, and both photographic and negative albums. Many of these photographic materials are partially identified. Images show family members in formal poses, in the family yard at 130 N. 6th Street, Saginaw, on fishing trips, at Kurt’s Arrowhead Farm, various trips Kurt took throughout Michigan and Germany from the 1930s through the 1960s, the interior and exterior of the Oppermann family mansion, and Dr. and Mrs. Karl Kangler richly dressed in Arabic costumes for a costume party. The 19th century Cartes-de-visite Album contains images of Oppermann, Nerretes, and Peters family members. Some of the photographs were taken by the Goodridge Bros. and by Armstrong and Rudd’s Gallery. A photograph album, late nineteenth century, is also included with the volumes at the end of the collection.

Personal Correspondence to Oppermann Family Members (approximately 3.25 cubic ft. in 7 boxes) is the next series. The Oppermanns wrote extensively over decades to each other. They loved each other very much and wrote fairly long, detailed letters covering a wide variety of family news such as illnesses, deaths, weddings, homework, bumps and bruises, as well as religious, social, musical, and fur business news.

All correspondence within each subseries in this collection is in chronological order.

Kurt’s letters to his family are divided into: Letters to One or Both Parent and/or Siblings, 1914-1934, and undated (approximately 1 cubic ft. in 1 box); Letters to Friends and Family, 1914-1916, 1918, 1926, 1929 (1 folder); and letters to Letto (Lydia), 1929-1930 (2 additional folders).

Letters to Kurt from his parents are next and include: Letters from both of his parents, 1917; Letters from his Fathers, 1912-1930 (Scattered) and undated (2 folders); and from his Mother, 1914-1935 (approximately 1 cubic ft. in 1 box). Letters between Kurt’s Mother, Nettie (Peters) Oppermann, and her family and friends before her marriage, 1887-1890, and between Nettie and her new husband, Gustav Oppermann, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Peters, Sr., and her siblings, 1891-1894 (4 folders) are next. These letters are particularly affectionate and tender, proving that her family embraced Gustav into their family and that they loved each other very much.

Letters to and from Kurt and his siblings are next and in general are quite affectionate and full of news of jobs, family members, and the health and accomplishments of their children and grandchildren. The only negatives in the letters occur in the late 1930s over concerns the siblings had that Art was ruining the family fur business and what Kurt should do to save it. Clearly Kurt was believed by his siblings to be the only one with a chance of saving the business, the family reputation, and Art. A description of the letters of the Oppermann siblings is as follows:

Letters of Arthur “Art” P. Oppermann and his wife, Hulda with Kurt, 1910-1927 (Scattered), and undated, and a letter Art sent to the editor of the Saturday Evening Post rebutting insults about Germans and American neutrality, 1915. The letters between Art and Kurt end in 1927. Before 1927 many of the letters talk about family news and the fur business. After 1927, their relationship deteriorated. This was in part due to the other siblings’ widely held view that Art had ruined the family fur business and Art’s bitterness towards Kurt as a result of Kurt’s actions to try to save the business. (5 folders).

Letters with Eugene “Gene” P. Oppermann and his wife, Stella, 1916-1942 (Scattered, 1 folder). Gene and Kurt were quite close and lived together in the old Oppermann family home from 1936 until Gene married. In his letters, Gene encouraged Kurt by November 16, 1936 to push Art onto “the right track” to avoid the disgrace and destitution of the family and for Kurt to impose a system on the business to get it going. He supported Kurt in staying in the family home because he was the only single sibling and had been shunted for years between Saginaw and New York on family business. The letters document a positive, close brotherly relationship between Kurt and Gene.

Letters with Helen “Letto” (Oppermann) Edgerly, 1916-1964, and 1974, and undated (5 folders). She maintained a pleasant relationship with Kurt all her life although they were often physically separated by thousands of miles after 1925.

Letters with Paul “Barney” P. Oppermann, 1916-1975 (Scattered), and undated. (4 folders) These letters like the ones between Kurt and Pat are affectionate, but not unusual.

Letter with Peters “Pat” Oppermann, 1916-1974 or 1975 (Scattered, 1 folder). Like the letters between Barney, these letters are affectionate, but not unusual.

Letters with Robert “Bob” P. Oppermann, and his wife, Stella, 1916-1974. (Scattered, 5 folders). Included here are weekly reports to Bob from Kurt from January through March 1937 that mention the strikes and shutdown automobile plants and the effect of that and the generally poor economy on the Oppermann business. In March 1937 Bob mentioned Kurt’s 18 acres and Kurt mentioned how he needed the good air there.

The subseries concludes with Personal Correspondence [with] Extended Oppermann Family Members. This includes Kurt’s aunts, uncles, cousins, and a niece, 1916-1961. Most of this correspondence consists mainly of family news, with some holiday or birthday greetings. Some of the correspondence with his cousin, Helmut Oppermann, in Germany is in German and some is about family genealogy.

Political Correspondence consists of one folder each of correspondence with Charles “Charlie” Koehler, a Saginaw City Councilman and friend of Kurt’s, 1947-1960; a letter from Kurt to Adolph (surname unknown) protesting his being treated as a city employee, 1942, in regards to being in or helping to organized an orchestra; and correspondence with Stephen J. Roth, the Attorney General of Michigan, 1949-1950.

General Correspondence between Kurt and his friends covers a wide variety of general family and personal news. Like all the correspondence in this collection, it is filed chronologically. It is divided in two sections. First, correspondence with Kurt’s friends with whom he had regular but sporadic correspondence, perhaps one or two letters a year for a decade or so (approximately 1.75 cubic ft. in 4 boxes). The correspondence is fairly regular, 1909-1942, and particularly good during World War I. It is more scattered, 1943-1974, and undated. Some of his good friends that he had extensive correspondence with during the 1920 and 1930s include: Dick Townsend, Jo Polak, Van George, Ben Bartlett, Hazel McMullen, Helen and Jane Runyon, Kate Wolf, Marguerite Geoffrey, Lucile Whitman, George Long, J.W. “Wes” Harrison, Howard “Howdy” Ewen, and Mabel (Scott) de Fere.

Kurt’s brother, Barney, with whom Kurt was very close, also knew and was friends with most of Kurt’s friends of this period. Harriet, Dorothy and Lucile, possibly nurses or patients are sometimes referred to as “the three maidens”. Many of these friends also spent time recovering from illness at Castle Point, and many of them knew each other.

The second section is General Correspondence of friends with whom Kurt extensively corresponded over long periods, on specific topics of research, and with whom he exchanged multiple letters monthly (1 cubic ft. in 2 boxes.) Kurt was friends with all the women, but they were mostly just penpals. His correspondents include: Catherine Ditzler, 1916-1934 (the correspondence ends after she married in June 16, 1934); Dr. W. W. Florer, 1950-1954, and undated, with whom Kurt discussed historic settlement near and in Saginaw; William D. Fueher, 1953, re: German Language in public schools and German communities in Michigan; Jenny Heyne, 1914-1925; Dr. Carl Ibershoff, 1919-1951 (Scattered) and undated (some materials in German); Mollie Jensen, a friend of Kurt’s ex-girlfriend, Christine, who wrote to Kurt through a third friend to avoid scenes with her jealous husband, Norman, whom she finally divorced in 1929, 1927-1934, and undated (2 folders); Myron E. Leppy, 1926-1930; Rita Moloney, 1930-1932, 1939; and Sinfonia Fraternity at the University of Michigan, 1915-1931 (Scattered). Also there is correspondence with Dorothy Miller, 1921-1922, 1925, and undated. Dorothy’s letters indicate that she was Kurt’s girlfriend, but this may have been a long-distance emotional relationship only.

The second largest series in the collection is that of the Oppermann Fur Company Business Records. The records are divided by format into loose papers and smaller volumes that fit into the boxes, and then oversized volumes.

The papers, 1915-1937 and undated (4.5 cubic ft. in 9 boxes) are filed alphabetically by the type of material, and then chronologically. A wide variety of financial records is represented here, including accounts, a ledger, inventories, job receipt books (documenting customers and work they wanted done or items created), mailing lists, lists of prospective customers, publications, sales records, tax receipts, and work notes, among others. It is clear that Kurt examined these records in his effort to try to save the business and that he inherited them when the business closed.

A great strength of this series is the Business Correspondence, 1918-1925. It is divided first in to Business Correspondence with Companies, and then with Customers. Kurt kept the records in roughly alphabetical and chronological order for 1920, 1921, and 1919-1925. The companies include suppliers of furs, leather, beadwork, embroidery silk, buttons, tanning and curing supplies, as well as stationery, food, tools, and office supplies. Companies with whom they conducted extensive or specialized business, such as women’s clothing, and Charles F. Wagner, a fur merchant with Wagner, Jodie and Co., 1919-1924, and with G. Gaudig and Blum Corp., 1923-1925, are filed separately. Many of the fur related businesses had beautiful stationery with various animals and furs, as well as images of their establishments. Filed with some of the correspondence are catalog books, fliers, business cards, and swatches of material.

Sixteen Oversized Volumes of business records, 1888-1934 (approximately 5 cubic ft.), document both the Saginaw and Flint Oppermann fur stores. The volumes are physically located at the end of the collection. The volumes include an Account Receivable Book, Day Books, a HUGE, very heavy Scrapbook of advertising and fur business information on the Oppermanns, A. J. Jaeckel and Company, and other fur companies mainly in New York City, Job Receipt Books, and Ledgers, two of which are indexed, and two others which include inventories of the Flint Store. Many of the advertisements in the Scrapbook are from various Saginaw newspapers.

A third series in the collection is Historic Preservation Materials (.5 cubic ft. in 1 box). This consists of materials Kurt accumulated or generated to create public interest and organizations, including the Heritage Foundation Association, the Saginaw Historical Building Foundation, and the Saginaw Historical Heritage Committee, all of which Kurt helped found, to save old Saginaw buildings, 1949-1962. Among the buildings of interest to him and his friends were the Webber House, which is extensively documented here, the Saginaw Civic Center, the Old Saginaw Auditorium, and the Arthur P. Hill High School. Unfortunately for Kurt, many people in Saginaw had little money or interest at the time to save the buildings which were destroyed. Also documented here are the efforts of white people in historic areas of Saginaw to prevent their property from being purchased by African Americans in the early 1960s. This effort is documented in the Johnson-Lapeer-Janes Neighborhood folders. At first Kurt created an advertising draft that was blatantly racist to get supporters. The draft was amended after advice from a friend of Kurt’s who was on the city commission.

The Miscellaneous series (.5 cubic ft. in 1 box) includes mostly Kurt’s correspondence with various people, including his apartment manager, letters to the editor of the Saginaw News, 1936-1957 (Scattered) on a variety of topics, and a collection of lovely, undated greeting cards, as well as one folder of Kurt’s miscellaneous poetry, 1911-1973, and undated.

The Saginaw, Michigan, Materials (1 cubic ft. in 2 boxes) consists of advertising fliers on auctions, 1960-1965; and meeting minutes and attachments of various Saginaw committees and boards, including the Christian Business Men’s Committee; the Saginaw Board of Appeals on Zoning, 1955-1960 and 1968; Saginaw City Council, 1953-1959 (Scattered); and information on Saginaw Schools and the Saginaw Sewer Construction Progress Reports, December 1955-February 1959.

A few legal-size items, mainly legal items, are found in Box 30 due to their size. Items of particular interest include correspondence regarding Kurt’s tuberculosis claim, 1924-1969 (Scattered); legal papers of Kurt and other family members, 1936-1968; and Oppermann Fur Co. Advertisements, Sketches, and Fur Business related Materials, 1920-1939, and undated.

The last series in the collection is Papers of Other Saginawians. Mabel C. (Scott) De Fere’s papers came to Kurt after she died. Other papers, including those of the family of Bude Volusin Kurt either collected or people gave the papers to him knowing of his interest in Saginaw history. Included here are some letters of the family of Bude Volusin, a Saginaw architect and builder, 1853-1871 (some in German). The papers of Kurt’s longtime friend and Saginaw teacher Mabel C. (Scott) De Fere (April 10, 1899-March 15, 1968) include her Correspondence, Biographical Materials, Certificates, a Diploma, and Teaching Materials as well as numerous Photographs and other materials documenting her family and friends in Bergland, Michigan. Mabel married Tom De Fere by 1926. They divorced by June 4, 1936. One letter notes that Kurt and Mabel became engaged on January 5, 1939, but they apparently never married. Mabel loaned Kurt over $700 by 1942, at which time Kurt considered her co-owner of Kurt’s Arrowhead farm. The papers of Marion C. Weir consist mostly of his published and unpublished poetry and correspondence with Kurt, 1917-1959. His published poetry was published by the Oppermann Fur Company. Lastly, in the Oversized Volumes there is an account book of Frank Selzer, a Saginaw artist and probably a lithographer, 1930-1941, documenting companies, people and newspapers for which/whom he did artwork.

Due to size, a few items have been placed in Oversized Folders immediately before the Oversized Volumes. These include Folder #1, Webber House Blueprints (copies, 2), 1960; Oppermann Fur Co., Advertising, Sketches, etc., 1926, 1933-1934, and undated; and Certificates and a Diploma of Mabel C. (Scott) de Fere, 1914, 1916-1917, and 1936.