Collections

Various publications of the Washtenaw County Metropolitan Planning Commission, also includes publications of the predecessor organization Washtenaw County Planning Commission.

Miscellaneous publications of various Washtenaw County government offices and departments.

Miscellaneous publications of various Washtenaw County government offices and departments

Correspondence files of the county clerk, register of deeds, county treasurer, and other county offices; also township poll lists, political party enrollment books, list of Civil War volunteers, record of county soldiers and sailors during World War I, and miscellaneous welfare records.

The record group consists of records of some of the elected officials and departments of the government of Washtenaw County, Michigan. These include the county clerk, register of deeds, and the county treasurer. There are other records relating to elections and to the political party enrollments and to the work of county government in caring for the poor. Of interest are records pertaining to the service of Washtenaw County residents serving in the Civil War and in World War I.

The records of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District predate the formal establishment of the District in 1962. Most probably, these materials were transferred from individuals concerned with the history of education and schools in Washtenaw County or from other previous county units responsible for the schools. The records have been arranged into four series: Nineteenth Century records; Manuscript school histories; Annual Statistical Reports; and Maps. The Annual Statistical Reports were for the Washtenaw County Township Clerk. These volumes, dating from school year 1902/03 to 1924/25, provide detailed information about the schools in the townships of the county. Included is the name of child, name of parent or guardian, number of children by sex, attendance records, names of teachers, and budget and salary information.

Organization founded in 1995 to encourage increased visibility and acceptance and appreciation of the lesbian/gay/bisexual and transgender community in Washtenaw County through education and political action. Materials received by the Bentley Historical Library in 2001 contain records primarily from the 1990s while materials received in 2013 are made up of records mostly from the 2000s. This organization's records contain meeting minutes, staff communications through email, and other documents relevant to the operation of the organization as well as how they carried out events and projects that aided the organization's purpose.

The Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project records came to the library in two accessions, in September 2001 and July 2013. The 2001 accession material (3.5 linear feet, Boxes 1-4) includes the earliest records in the WRAP record group and date from the period when the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County chapter of the Michigan Campaign for Human Dignity was active in its opposition to the 1994 anti-gay ballot proposal. The bulk of the records in this accession, however, date from the period of 1995 to 2000 following the reorganization of MCHD-Washtenaw into the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project. They reflect well the day-to-day workings of the organization, its publicity efforts and the various events it sponsored.

The 2001 accession material (3.5 linear feet) is divided into four series: Michigan Campaign for Human Dignity - Washtenaw County chapter, 1993-1995; Administrative; Education and Outreach; and Political Action. Much of the communication done within the organization was handled through e-mail. This included correspondence and minutes of board meetings. As a result, casual and tangential matters often became part of the official record. To conserve space while preserving the integrity of a train of thought or "conversation," the processing archivists decided to retain the final copy of a message as it usually also contained a long string of previous forwards and replies. Much of the material in the record group, particularly meeting minutes and correspondence, was recorded by Jim Toy, an active member of WRAP's board of directors and onetime secretary.

The 2013 accession material (16 linear feet, Boxes 5-17) contains mostly documents from the early 2000s. Material in the 2013 accession is divided into four series: Administrative, Events, Finance, and Projects. A large portion of the WRAP records in this accession are staff communications through email, particularly in the Administrative, and Events and Projects, series.

Records of the Washtenaw United Way and its predecessor organizations, the Ypsilanti Community Chest, 1932-1971, and the Ann Arbor Community Chest, 1921-1971. Executive committee and board of directors minutes, manuals, reports, and scrapbooks containing clippings, photographs, and other organization papers.

The record group, as maintained, has two series: Ypsilanti and Washtenaw United Way. The Ypsilanti records cover the period, 1929-1971. The Washtenaw series includes material from the period, 1921-1971 when the organization was known as the Ann Arbor Community Chest, as well as material dated after 1971 when the organization broadened its geographic scope and merged with the Ypsilanti chapter.

The record group includes minutes of the board of directors and executive committee, agency manuals, and scrapbooks containing clippings, distributed campaign materials, and scattered photographs.

Microfilm of court journals, calendars, and case files; photocopy of court agenda, 1838; and miscellaneous case listings and indices; also selective photostatic copies of the microfilm.

The Wayne County Library System records consist of the records of the library board, an extensive collection of community records, and materials related to establishment and operations of the Braille and Talking Book library (formerly the Wayne County Regional Library for the Blind).

The Wayne County Library System records is organized into four series: the Library Board Files, Community Projects and Services, the Braille and Talking Book Library, and Photographs. The Library Board Files brings together board proceedings, agendas and meeting minutes from founding of the library system in 1920 through until the 1980's. It also contains information regarding library services, monthly reports, and plans to move the headquarters in the 1960's.

The Community Projects and Services series is an alphabetized series of folders related to the neighborhoods, townships, and cities covered by the services of the Wayne County Library System. Each set of records includes documentation of projects, promotional materials, and meeting minutes. Also included in this series are reference materials and meeting minutes.

The Braille and Talking Book Library series contains materials, statistics, and board proceedings related to the establishment and operations of the Braille and Talking Book Library, previously known as the Library for the Blind. Some of the materials in this series may overlap with the Library Board Files, as the Braille and Talking Book Library was a major service provided by the library system.

The Photograph series includes photographs of the headquarters construction and move in 1958-1960; photographs from libraries around Wayne County; and oversized portraits of county librarian, Loleta Dawson Fyan, and directors Leo T. Dinnan, and Walter H. Kaiser.

Wayne Dabney is a photographer, video producer and political activist from Ann Arbor. A personal friend of writer and activist John Sinclair, Dabney was active in the Rainbow People's Party. He resided at the Argus House commune in Ann Arbor in the early 1970s. In the 1980s, he produced and hosted "Wayne's Cultural Clinic," a public access television program that consisted of musical performances and interviews with people involved in arts and politics, which aired on CATV in Ann Arbor. This collection contains episodes and related episode notes, as well as a pilot for a different program entitled "People and Places." It also contains select issues of The Communicator, the newspaper of UAW Local 735, of which Dabney was the editor in the mid-1990s.

The bulk of this collection consists of 22 U-matic videorecordings of episodes of “Wayne’s Cultural Clinic,” (1981-1984) a public access television program that aired on Ann Arbor Community Access Television (CATV), along with notes associating various interviewees with specific episodes. A master tape is also included for the pilot of a different program produced by Wayne Dabney entitled “People and Places.” Episodes range from 30 to 60 minutes in length.

The collection also contains selected issues of The Communicator, a publication of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 735, of which Dabney served as editor in the mid-1990s. The issues are dated primarily between 1994 and 1996, with the exception of a single 2007 issue for which Dabney was not the editor. There is also a campaign flyer promoting Dabney for an office within his UAW chapter.

Often termed the father of Michigan archaeology, Wilbert B. Hinsdale developed and cared for the collections of the Great Lakes Division of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan from 1922 to 1944, after retiring from his position as Dean of the Homeopathic Medical College. The papers contain correspondence, topical files related to archaeological subjects, site files for archaeological sites throughout Michigan, and personal scrapbooks, diaries, and photographs.

The W.B. Hinsdale Papers consist of five series: Personal, Correspondence, Topical Files, Writing and Michigan Site Files.