The Executive Director Files (Tom Bailey) Files series (4.5 linear feet) is important in supplementing the topical files with more information on the various projects of the LTC. The researcher will find it useful to cross-reference topics referred to elsewhere in the record group with items from the appropriate dates in this series. In addition, the series charts the development of LTC with Bailey at its helm and provide insights into the mind and personality of its longest-serving executive director. The series documents LTC affairs from late 1984 on from its executive director's perspective. The files are chronological and cover the period from Bailey's arrival in December 1984 through 2006. From 1984 to 1992, each annual file is divided into general headings of Correspondence, Memos, Meeting Notes, and News releases, with the additional "Activity Reports" in 1988, covering the span of 1986-1988. Items under this level are arranged chronologically. (An exception occurs in 1992, when letters and memoranda are merged into one "Correspondence" file.) From 1993 on, rather than being separated by form, all items are intermixed within one annual file and arranged strictly chronologically, with the addition of a separate "Policy development" file in 1993. The year 1995 saw the addition of e-mail into LTC's correspondence.
Included in the Correspondence files are many thank you letters for financial and land donations, along with leads on potential future donors, correspondence regarding projects and other LTC business, and some personal correspondence to friends and family members. The memos provide a clearer picture of project details and an inside look at LTC. Good summaries of LTC activities are provided in the Meeting notes files (which consist mainly of Executive Committee meeting minutes, with some additional handwritten notes) and the News releases files, when available.
Some important events and topics in LTC history that are referenced in the series include the Indian title claim and other Colonial Point business in 1985 and 1986, the development of a new personnel policy beginning in 1987, the Holnam cement plant deal in January-March of 1991 (and some limited follow-up to it in 1992-1993), a staff development workshop in April 1993, and some follow up on an earlier proposed name change to LTC (see the LTC name change file in the Horace Huffman, Jr. Files series) in November 1995. A topic of interest not discussed elsewhere in the record group includes Tom Bailey's growing concerns and thoughts about public policy, tax policy, and urban sprawl as expressed in a letter to James Richmond of the Frey Foundation in August 1992. The draft of a moving tribute to Huffy's memory can be found in a letter of condolence that Bailey wrote to Huffman's widow, Jane, on December 6, 1996.
Several instances of LTC's association with the area's local Ottawa (Odawa) Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands, come up. These include outgoing correspondence to Native American columnist Simon Otto from 1993 through 1996; LTC's official support of the Little Traverse Bay Bands (LTBB) in the latter's goal of federal recognition in August 1994; the drafting of policies in September 1994 allowing and regulating the gathering of plants growing on LTC preserves for medicinal and ceremonial use; and Bailey's efforts, beginning in September 1996, to include a representative of the bands on the LTC Board of Trustees (although some mention had been made to there being an LTBB representative on the board as early as 1995).
Some topics in the series fall outside of the realm of Tom Bailey's official role as executive director and represent his private efforts. In September 1995 there is correspondence regarding a recent testimony, in Bailey's private rather than organizational capacity, before State Senator George McManus' Senate Select Committee on Public Land Ownership, Purchase and Management, and subsequent correspondence in February 1996. Bailey had, in particular, opposed the raiding of the Natural Resources Trust Fund by the legislature for projects not related to the environment. From March 1995 to June 1996, Bailey was involved, along with Horace M. Huffman, in the bicycle pathway project of the Tri-County Bikeway Committee. From June 1996 to September 1997 Bailey corresponded with the directors and staff of the Holy Childhood Daycare Center, mainly in regard to the forced retirement, to which Bailey was opposed, of the elderly Sisters staffing the center. Throughout the series one will find references to Bailey's personal convictions, such as his pro-hunting, pro-gun ownership beliefs, as well as his interests, such as his newfound passion for guitar-playing in 1997.
