Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

The Girls Friendly Society of the United States of America, Diocese of Michigan serves girls and women within the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. Their main function was to maintain several cottages, which were first used as vacation homes for working women in the 1890's and then slowly evolved into a summer camp for young girls. The record group includes meeting minutes, clippings, publications, and related materials.

The record group is divided into four series: Administration, Clippings, Photographic Prints, and Publications.

The Michigan Medicine (University of Michigan) publications contain materials from University Hospital, University Hospitals, University of Michigan Medical Center (UMMC), University of Michigan Health System (UMHS), C. S. Mott Children's Hospital, and the Women's Hospital. The publications include annual reports, bylaws, brochures, manuals, directories, reports, newsletters, and websites dealing with different aspects of the health system including administration, development, facilities, marketing and outreach, nursing, and services.

The Michigan Medicine publications contain materials from University Hospital, University Hospitals, University of Michigan Medical Center (UMMC), and University of Michigan Health System (UMHS). Though "University Hospitals" is an entity which has existed in the past and does exist concurrently with UMMC and UMHS, it is not treated here as a sub-unit, because it is often used interchangeably with "Medical Center" or "Health System" on publications.

The publications of the Medical School (part of the Health System) and the academic and research departments of the Health System (such as the Department of Surgery and the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Disease) are held in separate publications groups.

The publications collection consists of nine series. Six series deal with different aspects of the health system: Administration, Development, Facilities, Marketing/Outreach, Nursing Services, and other Services. Two series deal with additional hospitals within the University Health System: C. S. Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Health (Women's Hospital). An additional series contains an archived copy of the Michigan Medicine website.

The Arnold Transit Company is the longest operating ferry line on the straits of Mackinac. Founded in 1878 by George T. Arnold, the line continues to transport thousands of passengers and tons of freight every year. The record group consists primarily of early financial records, various property interests of Arnold Transit, and the estates of the Arnold family.

The record group consists primarily of early financial records, dating back to 1850, before the company was founded. Other records document the various property interests of the Arnold Transit Company (ATC), and the estates of the Arnold family. The vessels themselves are represented through various certificates, manifests, and logs. Historical advertisements of Arnold Transit have been preserved, as well as promotions of the straits of Mackinac and surrounding area in general. Architectural plans, documents of area organizations, information on competing lines, and a fair number of photographs round out the collection.

The record group is comprised of seven series: Administration, Union Terminal Piers, Topical Files, Area Organizations, People, Visual Materials, and Vessels.

Oldest African American church in Michigan; administrative records, papers of individual pastors, church publications.

This record group thoroughly documents Second Baptist's efforts to tend to both the spiritual and physical needs of Black Detroiters since the 1920s. The Administration, Pastors' Papers, Publications, and Photographs series reflect, respectively, the internal workings of the church, the private efforts of the pastors over time, and the publicly presented external face of Second Baptist. The microfilm (representing 6 linear feet of manuscript material) consists of annual reports, financial records, histories, minutes of advisory board meetings, pastoral correspondence, annual and quarterly publications, and weekly bulletins. There is also a scattering of photographs. The work of Second Baptist before the 1920s is visible retrospectively in histories and reminiscences sanctioned by the church in the 1930s. The records of the church for the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were evidently destroyed in the fires of 1916 and 1917.

Proceedings, treasurer's reports, committee reports, scrapbooks, and various administrative records.

The University of Michigan Faculty Women's Club record group contains materials from 1921-2008, which document the work of this organization to promote friendship and collegiality among women faculty and wives of faculty members. The record group contains information about the activities and administrative procedures of the club. The record group is arranged in five series: Administration, Newcomers, Interest Groups, Events and History.

Detroit based philanthropic foundation created by Senator James J. Couzens and administered by William J. Norton to fund organizations in Michigan involved in child health and child guidance; includes administrative records, correspondence, reports of field visits, and topical files.

In the period beginning from the start of the depression and continuing through the mid-1950s, the Children's Fund of Michigan (CFM) was the state's most important private source of funding for programs having to do with children's health and recreational needs. Established just as the depression was beginning, it is impossible to overestimate the contribution made by this organization in such areas as rudimentary child health and dental care, pediatric care, in the establishment of area children's clinics, in its grants to nursing associations and hospitals, in its sponsorship of research in areas pertaining to childhood diseases and ailments, and in the funding and support of such youth-related organizations as the Girls and Boys Scouts, the Green Pastures Camp for Detroit area African American youth, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The organization affected thousands of young lives at a time when help was most needed. The record of its contribution is fully documented through such records as minutes, correspondence, reports from the field, memoranda, and financial records. Topics documented within this collection include the condition of children and young people in mid-Twentieth Century America as the nation went through depression, world war, and the uncertainties of the post-war; the administration of a unique multi-million dollar charitable organization and how it allocated its resources; and, lastly, the activities during a twenty-five year period of the several statewide organizations begun or largely supported with CFM funding.

This record group consists of files from the CFM office in Detroit. The files are of CFM executive director and secretary, William J. Norton, and various other division directors, in particular Maud Watson and John M. Dorsey of the Child Guidance Division and Bernard W. Carey of the Child Health Division. They cover the period of 1929-1954, the twenty-five year life of the Fund, although there are included some papers dating up to the early 1960s. The presence of this later dated material is easily explained. As someone who was involved in social welfare organizations other than CFM, Norton continued to use the files (as he had in the past) for those papers relating to his other philanthropic and charitable organization activities. This filing practice, in addition to the fact that Norton (after 1954) continued to receive and file reports and memoranda from organizations and facilities that had received CFM funding, accounts for post-1954 materials in this record group. Norton was so closely identified with both CFM and the numerous local and state charitable organizations of the time that it is not feasible to divorce the two kinds of records - especially as Norton chose to file them as one. The researcher should note that the library has a separate William J. Norton collection that was received separately from the CFM records and which was most likely maintained in a different location. This Norton collection includes more personal materials not necessarily relating to the Children's Fund.

University of Michigan office responsible for programs to help students adjust to college life. Records include reports from various university offices and organizations with responsibility for orientation; correspondence and pamphlet material; and printed works directed toward incoming students and their families.

The Office of Orientation records document, somewhat unevenly, the efforts of the administration of the University of Michigan to ease the transition from high school student to university undergraduate. These records consist of correspondence and published materials sent to incoming students and reports of the various offices involved in orientation. The strength of this record group derives from the face presented by the university in these first documents given to its students. It is illuminating to note what advice the university deems essential for new students, but the tone of presentation is more telling.

The Office of Orientation records span the years 1925-1990, but primarily cover the years 1928-1946. The records came to the library in good order and are organized into three groups: Administration, Orientation Period, and Printed Materials.

Researchers interested in visual images of the orientation process should consult the University of Michigan News and Information Services collection for negatives on freshman week in 1930 and orientation in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA) was founded in 1933 to administer high school forensics contests throughout the state of Michigan. The policies and activities of MIFA are determined by a Forensic Council, and records pertaining to the council are included as a subseries in this collection. There are four main speech activities that are sponsored by MIFA: debate, individual events, drama/theatre, and legislative debate. Materials pertaining to specific components of these general activities form the bulk of the collection. Overall, the records largely span the years 1974-2004, although older items are scattered throughout the collection, including materials from two legacy organizations.

The records of the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA) document the organization's growth from the 1930s to the 2000s, but most of its records concern the years after 1964, and in particular, the period from 1974 to 2002. The records are divided into eight: Administration, Publications, Photographs, Scrapbooks, Multimedia, Activities, Michigan High School Oratorical Association, and Files of Jon Fitzgerald, Executive Director of MIFA. The Forensic Council Minutes (in the Administration Series) and the Publications Series are the most useful parts of the collection for the researcher to gain an understanding of MIFA. The Activities, Photographs, and Multimedia series provide the best accounts of student participation.

Unit within the College of Literature Sciences & Arts at the University of Michigan established 1961 to conduct research and training on economic development in underdeveloped parts of the world. Papers document administration of the center and its research activities, most notably on West African countries.

The Center for Research on Economic Development record group is comprised primarily of the records of the research proposed and conducted by the Center and the administrative work required to conduct the research. The bulk of the materials covers the years from 1977 to 1993. Some of the documents in this collection are in the French language, since much of their research and work was conducted in and concerned Francophone countries in Africa.

Legally-certified collective bargaining agent for the graduate student teaching and staff assistants at the University of Michigan. Includes minutes of meetings, announcements, newsletters and other materials concerning, in part, its activities to gain recognition and its strike against the University in 1975. Also includes material related to the organization's bargaining and negotiations with the University.

The records of the Graduate Employees Organization consist of agendas and minutes of meetings, correspondence, newspaper clippings, newsletters, contract negotiating proposals and notes, and membership lists. These materials document the struggle of GSAs for recognition, fair wages, and good working conditions at the University of Michigan since 1974. The records of GEO came to the library in a series of accessions beginning in 1985. These accessions were arranged into five series: Administration, Bargaining, Office Files, Original Artwork, and Archived Website, reflecting the core structures and functions of the union. Some of the materials in different accessions overlap in dates and information with the prior accessions to this collection.