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Nicholas Delbanco (1942-), came to the University of Michigan in 1985, from Bennington College and Skidmore College, and has served as Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and as Robert Frost Collegiate Professor of English Language and Literature.He has also served both as Director and Chair of the Avery Hopwood and Jule Hopwood Awards Program. He has published over twenty-four books (novels, short stories, non-fiction, and textbooks), as well as many essays, reviews, and articles, and edited selected works of his friends and mentors, John Gardner and Bernard Malamud. The Nicholas Delbanco Papers includes correspondence, manuscripts, personal materials, professional records, and clippings. The correspondence is a rich collection of personal and professional letters exchanged over many years with fellow authors, publishers, and literary agents. Several manuscripts in various stages are also included.

The Nicholas Delbanco Papers were acquired by the Special Collections Library, University of Michigan, in September, 2006. Five boxes were added in November, 2009. The papers span over 40 years and include a particularly rich collection of correspondence with nearly 800 authors, educators, family members, and friends. Well known authors include, among others, John Updike, John Gardner, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Dillard, and Raymond Carver. The correspondence traces the growth of friendships and professional relationships over many years. Other materials demonstrate the development and publication of Delbanco's manuscripts, articles, commentaries, speeches, and other writings as well as his professional careers at Bennington College and the University of Michigan. Delbanco's dedication to his students and the advancement of literature are demonstrated in his professional records, the depth of comments offered on student writings, and his active participation in associations and workshops. Personal materials include correspondence with family members, educational records, photographs, and journals from his early years.

The Nicholas Delbanco Papers are divided into six series: Name and Topical, Writings, Personal, Professional, Computer Disks, and Clippings. Books and serial publications have been separated from the collection to be catalogued individually.

The Name and Topical series contains 10 linear feet, Boxes 1-10, of mainly correspondence with fellow authors, academians, literary agents, and publishers. Topics relevant to the collection, such as university and organizational correspondence or special events are also included. Relevant photographs, clippings, ephemera, manuscripts are generally kept with related names and topics although there may be overlap in the Writings Series, especially when Delbanco and his fellow authors reviewed each other's work. The series is arranged alphabetically, and chronologically within. Incoming and outgoing correspondence are not separated. Each name or topic is given a folder as long as there are at least three letters of correspondence or if the person is of significant status. Names or topics that do not meet these minimum requirements are filed by letter in the alphabet, but are not arranged alphabetically nor chronologically within. The correspondence within these folders spans the years of the collection. There are also several folders that have unidentified correspondence in them because signatures are illegible or incomplete. Identified but undated material are generally placed in the back of related folders.

The largest segments of this series include correspondence with Frederick Busch, John Updike, Jon Manchip White, Andrea Barrett, Alan Cheuse, Richard Elman, Jim Landis, and publishers such as Brandt & Brandt, Warner Books, and Paul R. Reynolds, Inc. Although Jim Landis represented William Morrow as Delbanco's editor, the importance of his friendship with Delbanco appears greater than the business relationship; because of the depth of this friendship, the correspondence is arranged under Landis' name. Correspondence with John Gardner includes correspondence before Gardner's death and then with Gardner's family after his death in 1988, after which Delbanco was assigned to be his literary executor. Other notable correspondents include, among many others, Carly Simon, Joan Didion, Annie Dillard, George Garrett, and Wallace Stegner. Any photographs of correspondents or photographs of Delbanco by the correspondents that were originally with letters remain with those letters. Delbanco initially formed many of these friendships and professional relationships in college, graduate school, as a professor at Bennington College, and through writing workshops and conferences at Yaddo, Bennington, and Bread Loaf.

The Writings series is approximately 29 linear feet, Boxes 11-40, and encompasses many but not all of Delbanco's published writings. The series contains six subseries: Fiction, Short Stories, Nonfiction, Editorial Works, Other, and Writings by Others. Titles are arranged chronologically within the Fiction, Short Stories, Nonfiction,and Editorial Works subseries. Each title may contain a variety of formats which are noted – manuscripts, corrigendas, page proofs, typescripts, mock ups, galleys, penultimates, and unbound signatures, etc. These are arranged chronologically and often are titled as such by Delbanco in his notes. Correspondence that relates directly with manuscript materials that were originally with these manuscript materials, remains in this series, while there may be complementary information in Name & Topical.

The bulk of the material in the Fiction subseries, approximately 14 linear feet, is from The Martlet's Tale, News, Fathering, Small Rain, What Remains, and The Vagabonds. It is evident in the collection that some manuscripts were written under a variety of titles before the final decision was made as to the what the published title would be. Every attempt has been made to distinguish and attach these to the final product. One example is Fathering, which was written during the creative process under titles such as "Plague Year", "Times Fool", and "Leave Taking", before settling on the final title.

The Short Stories subseries contains approximately 1 linear foot of materials, Box 25, tracing development of About My Table and four folders, mainly reviews, on The Writer's Trade, and Other Stories. Individual short stories may be found in the Other subseries.

The Nonfiction subseries, Boxes 26-35 with additional materials in oversize Boxes 45-48 and 50, contains material primarily from Beaux Arts Trio, and two textbooks, The Sincerest Form: Writing Fiction by Imitation, and Literature: Craft and Voice. The Beaux Arts Trio was inspired by Delbanco's father-in law, Bernard Greenhouse, a cellist for the original trio.

The Sincerest Form: Writing Fiction by Imitation, a teaching textbook, was a project undertaken with students from Delbanco's English 417 and Strategies in Prose classes. Materials for this textbook include student critiques, opinions, and exercises for the purpose of learning the basics of writing fiction through imitation, "to encourage the students to develop a much more careful and critical eye when reading" (Instructor's Manual, Box 31), and at an advanced level, "to develop what they learn in class into serious critical essays" (Instructor's Manual, Box 31). Student papers, their releases for usage, and Delbanco's comments in response to their writings are included with these materials.

Literature: Craft and Voice is a three volume textbook written in collaboration with Alan Cheuse, covering works of fiction, poetry, and drama by various masters and commentaries on them. The textbook includes "nonfiction accounts of the process of composition (memoirs by playwrights, letters by poets, essays by short story writers, etc.) in which the authors discuss the problems posed and artistic challenges met." (Prospectus, 2003, Box 33).

The Editorial Works subseries contains approximately 1 linear foot, Box 35, of materials for which Delbanco served as editor. These include works by John Gardner, a colleague at Bennington College, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1982, at the age of 55. Delbanco was a great admirer and good friend of Gardner and his family. There are only a few materials relating to Stillness and Shadows, but there is overlapping information and also correspondence in Name and Topical (Gardner, John), reflecting Delbanco's and Gardner's relationship and the trust held by Gardner's family for Delbanco's handling of Gardner's unfinished manuscripts.

In materials relating to Talking Horse: Bernard Malamud on Life and Work, which was a collaboration with Alan Cheuse, there are correspondence, drafts, and an introduction by Delbanco regarding published and unpublished prose by Bernard Malamud. Malamud was Delbanco's mentor at Bennington College; other materials demonstrating Delbanco's and Malamud's relationship are contained in Name & Topical.

The Other subseries, approximately 4 linear feet, Boxes 35-39 and oversize Box 50, contains a variety of materials such as essays, short stories, commentaries for a WUOM radio program with Alan Cheuse, early writings from the late 1950s and early 1960s, articles for various magazines and newspapers such as Travel Holiday and Harper's, reviews on Delbanco's writings, reviews by Delbanco, and unidentified writings. Autobiographical and biographical materials are also located here as well as interviews with, Kurt Delbanco, Bernard Greenhouse, and Amy Tan. This subseries contains some materials for which it is undetermined whether publication occurred.

The Manuscripts by Others subseries, 1 linear foot of materials, in Box 40, contains writings by Robert Boyers, an article by Thomas and Andrew Delbanco (brothers of Nicholas), Jim Landis (friend and editor at William Morrow), and Stewart O'Nan, fellow author. These writings were submitted to Delbanco for his professional review; the reviews are included here.

The Personal series encompasses 1.5 linear feet of a variety of materials, Boxes 40-41, that pertain to Delbanco's childhood, education, and family. There is correspondence with his brothers, mother, father, uncle, and grandmother; also, marriage telegrams, birthday cards, and get well cards addressing his hospital stay and surgical procedure due to heart problems in 2003. Materials collected while at Fieldston, Harvard University, and Columbia University include correspondence, yearbooks, publications, ephemera, and writings. There are limited marriage, financial, and selective service records. Fifteen folders contain photographs of family, friends, travel, and professional portraits. A diary and handwritten journals contain notes and writings dated 1958 through 1966, with some undated material also. In oversize Box 50, inside Sketchbook #2, is a story written and signed by Delbanco as a very young child.

The Professional series contains 3.5 linear feet of material, Boxes 42-45, divided into subseries: Bennington College, Skidmore College, University of Michigan, Associations and Workshops, and Ephemera.

The Bennington College and Skidmore College subseries' include mainly class notes, professional correspondence relating to his academic positions, clippings, and thoughtful, detailed reviews of student work by Delbanco.

The University of Michigan subseries includes class notes, professional correspondence relating to Delbanco's academic status, clippings, lecture notes, certificates of awards and honorary degrees, and over 40 folders containing Delbanco's commentaries on student works, both at undergraduate and graduate levels. Comments on students' works provided by Delbanco are referred to as "comments"; year end evaluations of classes by students are referred to as "class evaluations". Some students are Hopwood Awards winners. There is commentary in this subseries between Delbanco and Elizabeth Kostova regarding her work for the MFA Program and debut novel, The Historian, which won an award for best Novel in Progress through the Hopwood Awards Program, and went on to be purchased for 2 million dollars by Little Brown and Company in 2004.(See Fiction, Comments, 2002.) Also included are speeches and correspondence regarding the Hopwood Awards Program.

The Associations and Workshops subseries contains correspondence, applications, meeting and agenda documents, ephemera, judging and recommendations notes and documents, and fellowship and grant awards information. Bennington Summer Writing Workshops (with photographs), Bread Loaf Writer's Conferences, Pen/Faulkner, the National Book Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the NY Writers Institute are highlighted.

The Ephemera subseries contains flyers and pamphlets that relate to Delbanco's appearances, readings, and publications. There are also catalogues of trade publications and in oversize Box 50, 6 posters.

The Computer Disks series contains unidentified 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks.

The Clippings series is arranged by decade and contains articles and reviews written about and by Delbanco from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Ann Arbor News, etc. Reviews and articles can be found with related subjects as well throughout the collection in related files.

William Albright--organist, composer, and University of Michigan faculty member--was born in Indiana in 1944 and died in 1998. Albright earned three music composition degrees from the University of Michigan before becoming a member of the composition faculty at the U. of M. School of Music. Albright is probably best known for his piano and organ performance. He helped to bring about a revival of ragtime, and sought inclusion of ragtime and other types of popular music in many of his compositions. He composed for many single instruments--especially the organ--and ensembles, and for orchestra. He also composed hymns, and was the music director for the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He studied composition with Ross Lee Finney, George Rochberg, and Olivier Messiaen, among others, at Michigan and at summer workshops, and organ with Marilyn Mason. The collection includes biographical materials, correspondence, programs, professional files, University of Michigan School of Music files, and scores and recordings of William Albright works (including notes, sketches, and manuscripts) and works by his friends, students, and teachers.

The William Hugh Albright Papers consist of 77 boxes of musical scores, recordings, and textual documents such as correspondence and lecture notes. Albright's extensive collection of scores and recordings by his friends, students, and mentors is also included. His own works are represented by recordings, original handwritten scores and published versions, and by penciled notes and sketches. The William Hugh Albright Papers are divided into ten series: Photographs, Biographical Materials, Correspondence, Programs, Professional Files, School of Music, The Magic City, Scores, Recordings, and Videocassettes.

Records of University of Michigan office (and its predecessor administrative offices) responsible for external fund raising and development activities, including subject files of development officials Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock; staff files; and photographs.

The records of the Vice President for Development date from 1948 to the present and measure 39.5 linear feet. They reflect the basic concerns of the office for these four decades: preserving and improving the university's public image and planning major fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, both activities are incompletely documented. In the area of public relations the records tend to discuss how immediate problems will be dealt with, rather than overall conceptions of the university's image. The thought behind the innovative fundraising devices created or employed by the office is sometimes recorded through consultant reports, but in general is not well documented.

The manuscript records have been divided into two subgroups, one representing the records of the vice president (or senior staff person, for those years in which there was no vice presidency), the other containing records created by the development office. The Vice Presidents subgroup has been divided by the name of each person who has held the office: Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock. Researchers should note that since Nelson and Radock used their predecessor's files for some time before inaugurating their own records, the relationship between office tenure and file dates is not an exact one. The Development Office subgroup contains records of that office and its subsidiary units. Several accessions of Development Office records received in 1989 and 1990 have been grouped together as Development Office subgroup: 1989-1990 accessions.

Records of various officers of the Michigan Conference of the National Organization for Women collected by one-time state presidents Margot Duley-Morrow and Alicia Perez-Banuet. Presidential files of Duley-Morrow, Nan Frost-Welmers, Shirley Monson, Lynn Hierholzer, Gloria Woods, and Alicia Perez-Banuet; files of state chapter developer Rhonda Drinan, and Macomb County chapter president Doris Little; contain correspondence, newsletters, clippings, mass mailings, agendas and minutes, photographs, and other materials concerning the formal and personal aspects of this feminist organization. Topics covered include the Equal Rights Amendment, the Project for Equal Education Rights, Women's Assembly III, and other issues pertaining to women's rights.

The Michigan NOW record group includes administrative records, files of individual presidents, newsletters from local chapters, records of the Michigan NOW PAC (Political Action Committee), and topical files of subjects of interests to the Michigan Conference such as the ERA, educational equity, and abortion rights.

The organization of the collection is rather artificial, both because the documents were in extremely poor order upon their accession and because there is only the broadest unity to the collection's components. The records have been grouped under the name of the individual most responsible either for their creation or for their accumulation and preservation. There were two individuals primarily responsible for these records coming to the Bentley Library. They were Margot Duley-Morrow (two-term president, 1981-1983) who donated records in 1984 and Alicia Perez-Banuet (president, 1997-1998) who donated materials in three major accessions.

Modernist architect based in New York City, 1929-1950, and professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, 1950-1972, where he also carried on an active private practice until shortly before his death in 1990. A graduate of MIT, Muschenheim studied further with Peter Behrens at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and was strongly influenced both by a visit to the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany and by a period working in urban planning with Peter Korn in Berlin. Two major Muschenheim collections exist, one within the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University and another within the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. The Muschenheim collection at the Avery represents primarily his professional career from 1929 to 1957, and the Muschenheim collection at the Bentley concerns his later professional practice and teaching career at the University of Michigan, as of 1950. This finding aid describes both the Avery and Bentley collections.

Staffs of the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library and the Bentley Historical Library have prepared separate finding aids for their respective William Muschenheim collections. These have been merged to provide one integrated finding aid. This integrated finding aid lists all Muschenheim materials held by both repositories. All of the drawings, papers, photographs and other materials for each project are brought together in a single job-number/chronological sequence. The physical location of each item/folder is indicated by "A" for Avery and "B" for Bentley. The combined finding aid organizes the Muschenheim papers into four series:

1. Biographical and Professional Material [Bentley]
2. University of Michigan Teaching Career [Bentley]
3. Publications and research [Bentley]
4. Project Files [Avery and Bentley]

The project files of William Muschenheim are described according to Muschenheim's original filing system in which he interfiled the drawings, correspondence, specifications, and other papers for each job/client. Muschenheim typically assigned each client a single job number no matter how many projects he may have done for the client. There are a total of 130 numbered jobs in the Avery Collection (#1-130, with gaps between jobs 11-17, 25-26, 28-29) and 63 numbered jobs in the Bentley collection (#132-193, there are no materials for 22 of the jobs). There are also nine unnumbered projects (4 Avery and 5 Bentley) and several folders of miscellaneous material.

Each numbered job consists of one or more projects and each project is subdivided by format of material into Drawings, Papers, Photographs, and Presentation Boards as appropriate. There is some variance in the manner in which the two archives have arranged and described project material. The Avery has described its drawings at the item level while the Bentley provides only folder level descriptions for most projects. For this finding aid item level descriptions are provided for selected Bentley projects. Photographs are found in the "Papers" in some Avery project files but are listed separately in the Bentley finding aid.

At both the Avery and Bentley the oversize architectural drawings have been removed from their original folders and stored separately.

The William Muschenheim Architectural Drawings and Papers at the Avery Library span 1929-1957, with bulk dates 1931-1950. Muschenheim's papers document 130 separate jobs, and the visual material consists of 3081 sheets of drawings. The projects mainly represent Muschenheim's work in New York City, but also include work in Albany (NY), Amenia (NY),Bridgehampton (NY), Chappaqua (NY), Hampton Bays (NY), Malverne (NY), Massapequa (NY), Nassau Point (Long Island), Washington (CT), Washington DC, Westhampton Beach (NY), and Woodstock (NY), among other locations.

William Muschenheim had numerous clients which included the following family members: Carl Muschenheim, Elsa Muschenheim, and Frederick A. Muschenheim. In addition to the many clients for whom Muschenheim did alteration work, he also worked with a wide variety of companies. Some of the companies include Bigelow Carpet Company, C.G. Flygare Inc., Excel Metal Cabinet Co., Inc., F. Schumacher & Co., Famaes Development, Hans Knoll, Howard & Schaffer, Inc., Kurt Versen Lamps, Inc., Ledlin Light Designers, Portland Cement Association, and Thonet Brothers, among many others.

The papers and drawings in the William E. Muschenheim collection at the Bentley Library span the years 1923 to 2004, however the bulk of the collection covers the years 1951 to 1985. The papers are primarily comprised of material documenting Muschenheim's research and teaching career from 1950 to 1973 at the University of Michigan, and the private practice he continued in Ann Arbor after leaving New York City. There are limited papers and drawings related to his life and professional work prior to 1950, although the Photographs Series includes beautiful black and white images of many of his important New York projects, and the Publications and Research Series is valuable for articles published in the thirties and the forties showcasing his work. Papers and drawings spanning the years 1929-1957 (bulk dates 1931-1950) are held at the Avery Library, Columbia University.

Muschenheim's early and lasting commitment to the modern movement and to an international view of architecture and architectural education is reflected in the collection, which consists of biographical and professional materials, research and course materials, publications related to his work, project files and drawings, and photographs and slides. The Muschenheim collection will interest researchers drawn to study the work of a pioneering modernist, well known for originality in working with color as an integral part of contemporary design, and those interested in the generation of architects involved in the fifties and sixties with legitimizing the modern period in an academic environment. Additionally, Muschenheim's efforts to illuminate the art of architecture as an important element and expression of culture to a broader segment of society renders the collection important to a wide range of disciplines and interests.

The papers are largely organized according to Muschenheim's original filing scheme, in which he interfiled material related to projects (including drawings) with professional papers, correspondence, and other documents, numbering them sequentially. The Bentley Library collection consists of material numbered 132 to 192. Many large original drawings were removed from folders, flattened, and are stored in drawers. Five series make up the collection: Biographical and Professional Materials; University of Michigan Teaching Career, College of Architecture and Design; Publications and Research; Project Files; and Digitization Project. Users should note that material related to a single project is often scattered throughout the collection. A Supplemental Guide to work produced after 1950 in the additional descriptive data portion of this finding aid. Also appended is Muschenheim's list of projects (numbered 1-189).

Enid H. Galler, owner and founder of Voice Treasures, conducted and recorded oral histories of local Ann Arbor persons, primarily faculty members of the University of Michigan. This collection contains audiocassettes and digital materials of recordings, including interviews and talks, done by Galler as well as supplemental materials including transcripts.

The Galler papers date from 1987 through 2007. They are arranged by project and/ or school. Within each series, materials are arranged alphabetically by name of the interviewee. Materials for interviewees may include Interviews, Transcripts, and/or Supplemental materials. Interviews are the audio recordings of the interviews themselves, and may consist of several audiocassettes or digital materials. Transcript folders include typed transcripts of interviews and may also include an index of subjects discussed during the interview. Supplemental materials folders may contain correspondence, notes, interview questions, newspaper clippings, pictures, and other miscellaneous materials related to the interview.

University of Michigan professor of Germanic Language, Literature, and Culture, scholar and translator of East and Central European literature, poet. Correspondence with authors, scholars, poets, and editors; manuscript and printed versions of poetry printed by George's Kylix Press; notes, drafts, typescripts, and proofs of articles, reviews, and the major editorial works "Contemporary East European poetry," and "Husbanding the golden grain: studies in honor of Henry W. Nordmeyer."

Correspondence with authors, scholars, poets, and editors; manuscript and printed versions of poetry printed by George's Kylix Press; notes, drafts, typescripts, and proofs of articles, reviews, and the major editorial works "Contemporary East European poetry,"(Ardis Press, 1983; Oxford University Press, 1993), and "Husbanding the golden grain: studies in honor of Henry W. Nordmeyer," (University of Michigan, 1973). Also includes large series on Friedrich Holderlin and Miklos Radnoti, reflecting George's primary subjects of research and translation.

This collection is composed mostly of financial and business records, as well as some minutes, agreements, and reports, of numerous Michigan railroad and railway companies.

This collection consists mainly of various types of accounting and financial records, as well as some legal records (copies), of the Chicago and West Michigan Railway (CandWMRy) and the DLandNRR, and similar records of smaller Michigan railroads that were eventually purchased by the larger RRs. These records came from the office of J. E. Howard, Esq., who worked as the Assistant Treasurer and Paymaster of the larger RRs from 1886 through 1893. He was also the Assistant Treasurer and Paymaster of the Saginaw Valley and St. Louis RR between 1889 and 1897, and by 1894, the Paymaster of these three major railroads. Beginning in 1901, he was the Chief Clerk of the PMRR, so records of the PMRR and the Flint and Pere Marquette RR are also in the collection. Miscellaneous coupons of various street-railroad companies, mostly of Michigan, but also including other nearby states, are also included in the collection, as are Miscellaneous Railroad Materials, including records of railroad-related companies, and truly Miscellaneous Materials.

Please note that “Way Bills” is spelled several different ways throughout the collection finding aid, just as it is on the various types of way bills in the collection.

Series 1) the Bay City Belt Line RR, includes Bills, Proxies, 1889-1892, undated; and Correspondence re: a contract, 1892 (1 folder total, letter-size).

Series 3) the Chicago and West MI Railway (CandWMRy) is one of the largest series in the collection. It consists of approximately 12.5 cubic ft. of letter-size records, approximately 1 cubic ft. of legal-size records, and 136 oversized volumes. The main sub-series of the CandWMRR include: Audits, 1898; Bill for Lawyers, 1890; Books of Stock Certificates, 1879-1898 (approximately 4 cubic ft.); Correspondence, 1878-1898 (Scattered); Dock Pay Rolls, 1899; Garnishees, 1889-1900 (approximately 7 cubic ft.); Letter Pressbooks, 1890-1898 (1 cubic ft.); Notices of Meetings, 1899; Proxies, 1882-1884; and Stock Certificates, 1881-1899 (7 folders). Oversized volumes (136) include: Bill Registers, 1880-1891; Cash Books, 1879-1883; Cash Received Books, 1883-1898; Collection Books, 1892-1896; Daily Remittance Books, 1897-1899; Disbursements, 1883-1898; Index to Bill Register, undated; Paymaster’s Drafts Issued, 1888-1889; and Pay Roll Books (the bulk of the oversized volumes), 1881-1899 and 1905. Pay Roll Books include Detroit, Lansing and Northern RR (DLandNRR) from August 1889 on, and the Saginaw Valley and St. Louis RR from 1891 on.

Series 4) consists of materials that have the combined letterhead of the Chicago and West MI Railway and the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western RR (DGRandWRR). This includes [letter-size] Pay Orders, 1898 (1 folder), and Receipts for the salary of Charles Merriam, Treasurer of the CandWMRR and DLandNRR, 1877-1890 (Scattered) (1 folder). Also included are [legal-size] Deductions from Pay for the CandWMRR/ DGRandWRR, 1897-1898 (24 folders).

Series 5) is [letter-size] Correspondence, 1895-1899 (approximately 2 cubic ft.), written or typed on the combined letterhead of the CandWMRR and the DLandNRR.

Series 6) the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western RR (DGRandWRR) includes: Audits, 1898-99, Books of Stock Certificates, 1897-1899; Discharge Tickets, 1890-1900 (examples); Drafts, 1897,1899; Mortgages Certificates, 1897; and Garnishees, 1897-1900 (the bulk of the series) (approximately 1 cubic ft. total.) The Garnishees are filed in numerical order, and include those for both the DGRandWRR and DLandNRR (.25 cubic ft.), which were originally interfiled. The Garnishees for CandWMRR are a completely separate numerical sequence, and not part of the DGRandWRR Garnishees. Oversized volumes (6) include: Cash Received Book, 1897-1898; Daily Remittance Books, 1897-1900; and Disbursements, 1897-1898.

Series 7) the Detroit, Lansing and Lake MI RR includes an Indenture, Second Mortgage, 1874 (1 v. in 1 folder, letter-size) and Mortgage Foreclosures, 1876-1877(1 folder, legal-size). Oversized volumes (22) include: Bond Transfers Books, 1873-1876 and 1897; various Cash Books, 1871-1876; Ledgers of Second Mortgage Bonds, 1873-1876; Pay Rolls, 1871/2 and 1874/5; Vouchers, including an Index and Register, 1873-1878 and undated.

Series 8) the Detroit, Lansing and Northern RR (DLandNRR), includes various financial records (totaling approximately 6.5 cubic ft.) including: (letter-size) Accounts, 1877-1878; Audits, 1891, 1893, and 1896; a Bill for Layers, 1887; lists of Board of Directors/ Stockholders, 1884-1890 (Scattered); Bond Coupons (Examples), 1897-1895; Books of Stock Certificates, 1877-1898 (8 v.); Correspondence, 1889, 1891-1892; Drafts, 1889-1890s; and Garnishees, 1892-1897 (approximately 2 cubic ft.). Also included are a Plan of Reorganization, Subscribers, 1896-1899, and undated, (13 folders); Promissory Notes, 1874-1889; Proxies, 1884-1894 (Scattered); Receipt of Salary, 1894 for J. E. Howard; Reorganization Receipts and Receipt Books, 1894-1897 (9 folders); Reports of Work Done by Working Train, 1890-1891, 1900; Stock Certificate, undated; Vouchers, 1899 (approximately 1.5 cubic ft.). Legal-size materials include: Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, 1880 and 1883 (Scattered); and an Annual Meeting Announcement, 1891; and Mortgage Foreclosures, 1895-1896, and 1898. Oversized volumes (38) include: a Bond Transfers Book,1878-1896; Cash Received Books, 1877-1896; Collection Record Books, 1882-1896; Disbursements, 1883-1896; Ledgers of Bonds, 1877-1881 and 1907; Pay Master’s Bank Account, 1888-1892; and Vouchers and related Index, 1878-1884.

Series 9) consists of correspondence and bills re: damaged freight (fruit/candy), 1887-1888 (1 folder, letter-size) on the combined letterhead of the DLandNRR and the Saginaw Valley and St. Louis RR.

Series 10) is the Detroit, Lansing and Northern System, which includes Reorganization Receipt Books (3 v., in 3 folders, legal-size), 1896, and oversized volumes (4) with the same title, 1894-1899.

Series 11), the Flint and Pere Marquette RR (FandPMRR), includes: [letter-size] Broken Rail Reports, 1899-1900; Correspondence, 1878 and 1901 (Scattered); Pay Orders, 1899 (very scattered) (1 folder each); [legal-size] Monthly Report Ties Received, 1900-1901 (scattered) (1 folder) and Way Bills, 1880 and 1895 (3 folders). Oversized folders include Bonds and Coupons, 1860-1891. Oversized volumes (16) include: Bonds, for the FandPMRR and Flint and Holly RR (FandHRR), 1860-1891; Dividend Book, 1881-1884, Interest Coupons Paid and Canceled for various bonds including the FandHRR, 1863-1891; and Bond Registers, 1868 and undated.

Series 12) the Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit RR (GRLandDRR) includes: a list of the Board of Directors, 1889; Bond Coupons, 1884; a Bond Receipt, 1887; Proxies, 1889; Subscribers Information, 1887 (7 folders total, letter-size). Also included are Board of Directors’ Meeting Minutes, 1880 and 1888, and Mortgage Foreclosures, 1895-1896 (1 folder each, legal-size). A Transfer Ledger and Register, 1887-1896 (1 oversized v.) completes the collection.

Series 13) the Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lake Shore RR, consists of Cash Books, 1871-1877 and 1881 forward (3 oversized v.).

Series 14) the Grand Rapids, Northern and Lake Shore RR, consists of Accounts, 1888-1890 (Scattered, 1 folder, legal-size).

Series 15) the Ionia and Lansing RR, includes Bond Coupons (Examples), 1881-1889 (Scattered) and Bond Transfers, 1897-1900 (2 folders total, letter-size). Oversized volumes (9) include various Bond, Cash, and Mortgage Books, and a Pay Roll, 1867-1899.

Series 16) the Michigan Central RR Company (MCRR), includes an Agreement with the CandMLS RR and the MCRR, 1876 (legal-size), and a Preliminary Survey of the Paw Paw Valley Railroad, undated, which was part of the MCRR. Oversized volumes (4) include: Account Books, 1846-1875 (2 v.), Cash Totals Book, 1866-1870, and a Ledger, 1878-1880. Other Oversized materials include Telegraph Reports from the Allegan Division, 1912 (1 Oversized folder) and #7 Jackson County Right-of-way and Track Map, 1918 (a rolled, torn item).

Series 17) the Milwaukee, Benton Harbor and Columbus Railway, consists of 1897 Consolidation Agreements between the St. Joseph Valley Railway Company and the Benton Harbor and Southeastern Railway Company.

Series 18) the Pere Marquette RR, includes various Accounts, Reports, Requisitions, and Way Bills, largely for the Collins Station. Many of the Reports were required, standardized forms used by the US Railroad Administration, which nationalized the railroad companies during World War I. The records total 13 folders (letter-size) and 12 folders (legal-size), 1900-1902, 1905, 1916-1920, and undated. Oversized volumes (4) include: Collins Station Local Sales Record, 1920; Check Stubs; 1903-1905; Detail of Collection Account Book; 1900-1901; and Record of Remittances, 1900.

Series 19) the Saginaw and Grand Rapids RR, includes Board of Directors/ Stockholders Materials, Lists, a Bill of the published notice of a meeting, Proxies, and Stock Transfers, 1879, 1884-1891 (Scattered) (5 folders total, all but one of which is letter-size).

Series 20) the Saginaw and Western RR (SandWRR), includes the same subseries as the SandGRRR, 1883-1890 and 1892 (4 folders total, all but one is letter-size). A Voucher Transfer Ledger and Register, 1885-1896 (1 Oversized v.) completes the collection.

Series 21) consists of Mortgage Foreclosures, 1895-1896 (1 folder, legal-size) which have the combined letterhead of the SandWRR and the GRLandDRR.

Series 22) the Saginaw Valley and St. Louis RR, includes some Board of Directors/Stockholders Materials, Lists, Proxies, financial information, and Mortgage Foreclosures, 1883-1896, but the majority of the subseries is Pay Rolls, Time Sheets, Pay Orders, Receipts of Pay, lists and accounts of Boarders, and Pay Roll Totals of RR employees, 1871-1878 (approximately 2.5 cubic ft.). Oversized volumes (5) are either Cash or Coupon books, 1879-1896.

Series 23) is materials of unidentified railroads, including a Statement of Engineering Expenses on the West Branch, 1880 and a Railroad Mileage /Tickets Account Book, 1875-1876 (Indexed).

Series 24) the White River RR, includes various materials, mostly related to its dissolution, including Stock Certificates, Stockholders Lists, Pay Orders of Dividends, Accounts, and Bills for the lawyers, 1879-1884, and undated (4 folders of letter-size and two of legal-size materials).

Series 25) Miscellaneous RR Materials, include: the Detroit and Grand Rapids Account Books of J. E. Howard concerning the Estate of Albert S. Austin (d. 1888?) (3 v., letter-size); the Central Traffic Association, General Expense Statement, February 1889, which statistically documents the financial status and business of many different railroads (1 folder, letter-size); and Check Stub Books of the Charlevoix Improvement Company and the Michigan Equipment Company, Limited, both of which were probably holding companies for railroad companies. The books of the Charlevoix Improvement Company include Canceled Checks at 4th National Bank, 1897-1899 (6 v., legal-size), and those of the Michigan Equipment Co., Ltd., include blank checks with Old Colony Trust Co., Boston, or 2nd National Bank, Boston, 1892-1893 and 1902 (two v., legal-size). Lastly, the West Michigan Lumber Co. is represented by vague By-laws, 1879, and Board of Directors’ Meeting Minutes, 1879-1881 (1 folder, legal-size).

Series 26) truly Miscellaneous Materials, consists solely of the Notary Public Certificate of Melancthan D. Woodford, 1876 (letter-size). His relationship to the collection is at present unknown.

Processing Notes: Howard grouped materials by format, record types (ex. Audits, Drafts, etc.), in numerical and chronological order, and by the name of the railroad, keeping loose papers together, usually tri-folded in office boxes. Oversized volumes were apparently filed in a similar manner, separately from the papers.

The collection is organized first by loose manuscript materials in boxes (letter-size records first, then legal-size records), and Oversized volumes. Within each of these size formats, materials are organized alphabetically by the names of railroad companies, then alphabetically by type of record, and then chronologically.

For example: Box 1: CandWM RR Accounts; Agreement; Books of Stock, 1895, 1896, 1898. Pay Roll Box 2: DLandNRR Accounts; Bills; Correspondence. Oversized Volumes: CandWMRy Accounts Pay Rolls; DLandNRR Accounts Pay Rolls Stock Certificates

Fire Damage: At some point, the building housing Howard’s records must have burned because many of the records are scorched. A substantial number of records in the collection are quite yellowed, brittle, and acidic. Some of the volume covers have bird poop on them, while others are detached from the volumes, as are some of the spine covers.

There is a lot of financial and business correspondence between Howard and C. L. Gunn, Esq., who was the Assist Treasurer of the CandWMRy, and U. B. Rogers, who was the Auditor of the CandWMRy, the DLandNRR, and the SVandSLRR. There is also some material related to Charles Merriam who was the Treasurer of the RR in Boston.

Republican congressman form Michigan's Eighth District, 1952-1960, candidate for U.S. Senate, 1960; member U.S. Foreign Service, 1942-1950, delegate to 1962 state constitutional convention; University of Michigan regent and philanthropist. Papers include diaries, correspondence photographs and other material his political career and other varied interests.

The Alvin M. Bentley collection includes correspondence, speeches, subject files, and other materials relating to his political career and public service activities. Included are his files while serving as a member of Congress and as a delegate to Michigan's Constitutional Convention in 1961-1962, his campaign files from his race for the U.S. Senate in 1960 and his bid to be elected Congressman-at-large in 1962. Other series in the collection relate to his interest in issues of education, particularly higher education, as reflected in his service on the Citizen's Committee on Higher Education, his campaign for the State Board of Education and his tenure as a member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents. Of value in documenting the various phases of Bentley's career are series of diaries and journals, scrapbooks and clipping files, and photographs.

The records of the National Microfilm Association concern the work of the organization between 1944 and 1973, with scattered materials documenting some activities as late as 1990. The materials consist of correspondence, constitutions, by-laws, handbooks, meeting minutes, membership lists, biographical information, financial records, company publications, and articles and scholarly presentations.

In December 1982, Dr. Vernon Tate donated a large collection of manuscripts and publications documenting the history of microphotography and his own career as a historian, archivist, librarian, and microfilm pioneer to The University of Michigan Libraries. This donation provided the impetus for the creation of the Power Collection for the Study of Scholarly Communication and Information Transfer in the Special Collections Library. The Power Collection is named in honor of Dr. Tate's long-time friend, Eugene B. Power, the founder of the micropublishing firm University Microfilms, Inc.

Dr. Tate's donations to the Power Collection contain over 140 linear feet of manuscripts, including his own personal and professional papers, an extensive collection of records of the National Microfilm Association (NMA), and the Microfilm Pioneers Collection which contains the papers of several of Dr. Tate's colleagues concerning microphotography and the activities of NMA. In addition, Dr. Tate donated an extensive collection of serials and monographs relating primarily to the fields of photography, microphotography, and archives.

The earliest records concern a meeting held in 1944 to discuss the creation of a microfilm trade association and the subsequent NMA founding convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, in March 1945. Included in the collection is the correspondence of Franklin Morgan, one of the organizers of these two meetings and the first president of NMA, covering June 1944 to October 1945.

Morgan resigned as president in October 1945 and vice president Eugene Power succeeded him. At about the same time the board of directors hired Wilfred Knighton as secretary. He served in this position until September 1946, when the board replaced him with Vernon Tate.

The records covering the first years of NMA's existence are fairly substantial. For these years the files contain extensive correspondence of the presidents and secretaries of the organization, along with minutes of annual meetings and board meetings and scattered materials on committees and finances.

After the first few years, NMA declined in strength and activity and the quantity and quality of the records reflects this. There apparently were no annual meetings after 1946 and no board meetings after 1947. The president and secretary continued an active correspondence through 1948, although many of the letters from 1947 and 1948 concern attempts to revitalize the organization.

Between 1949 and 1951, NMA was completely dormant. The only records consist of occasional letters inquiring about the organization or specific questions on microfilming techniques. Vernon Tate continued to answer letters addressed to NMA, even though the organization was inactive.

With the revitalization of NMA after a meeting at the Library of Congress in 1952, extensive files on all aspects of the organization's work appear once again. One major difference in the records, however, is that the correspondence file no longer contains a complete record of the president's correspondence. It consists of letters received and sent by executive secretary Vernon Tate, with occasional copies of presidential letters sent to Tate for his information.

The records grew in quantity and complexity as the years passed, especially during the 1960s when NMA underwent tremendous growth in membership and activities. It was at this time that the organization established much of its committee structure, founded state and regional chapters, and began a Fellows organization for individuals who had been awarded that honor.

In 1969, NMA hired a professional executive vice-president who took over some of Vernon Tate's duties. The following year the organization moved its headquarters from a building owned by Tate in Annapolis, MD, to Silver Spring, MD, closer to Washington. The files for succeeding years reflect Vernon Tate's increasingly limited role and no longer include the files generated by the headquarters staff.

Tate left his positions with NMA at the end of 1973 and the scattered materials in the collection dating from later years relate mainly to his continuing role with the Fellows organization. Included are correspondence and minutes of Fellows meetings.

Researchers should be aware that some NMA-related materials also appear in Tate's Personal and Professional Papers. Included in that collection is Tate's correspondence concerning the organization for the years 1944 to 1946, before he became an officer, and scattered correspondence from the years after Tate left his positions with NMA in 1973.

Additional materials on NMA appear in the Microfilm Pioneers Collection. Several officers of the organization donated their papers to that collection.

Special Collections Library

Power Collection for the Study of Scholarly Communication and Information Transfer

The University of Michigan

(Forms part of the Vernon D. Tate Archive of Micrographics Collection)