The Wallace C. Williams Papers document various professional and personal activities and concerns of Wallace C. Williams, most notably those during his career at the Michigan Department of Commerce, Office of Minority Business Enterprise. The collection is comprised of a wide variety of materials documenting Williams' activities in a number of organizations and occupations concerned primarily with minority business affairs. The collection is divided into four series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Michigan Department of Commerce, Office of Economic Expansion, Minority Business Development; and Miscellaneous/Organizations.
Of particular interest is the Michigan Department of Commerce series which documents Williams' activities during his tenure at the Michigan Department of Commerce, Office of Minority Business Enterprise. The material in that series reflects Williams' activities directly associated with his position in that office, and other projects in which Williams was active.
Wallace C. Williams was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, in 1921. He attended the Boro-Hall Academy, New York (1946), Pace College, New York (1947-48), Columbia University, New York (1948-50), Detroit Institute of Technology, Detroit (1957-58), and Wayne State University, Detroit (1969-70). Williams holds a B.S. in Business Technology from the Detroit Institute of Technology.
Throughout his life, Williams was involved in a variety of professional activities concerning primarily minority business affairs. Most notable is his career as director of the Michigan Office of Minority Business Enterprise of the Michigan Department of Commerce, from 1959 to 1978. During that time, Williams was employed by the University of Michigan as a consultant and then was later appointed to the position of research associate at the Special Projects Division, Director of Minority Business Programs.
In addition to his work at the Michigan Department of Commerce and the University of Michigan, Williams has served as chairman of the board and president of the Booker T. Washington Business Association, has served as a charter member and vice president of a University-Government-Business Committee that formed the Minority Technology Council of Michigan, Inc. (MTCM), has been a special consultant to the University of Michigan's Economic Development Administration (EDA) Center for Management and Technology Transfer, and has been a representative to the White House Conference on Small Business. Williams has also lectured at the University of Michigan Business School on several occasions under the auspices of Professor Alfred Edwards.
Other organization and activities in which Williams was involved include Detroit East, Inc. Community Mental Health Center, Made in Detroit, Cotillion Club of Detroit, Detroit Renaissance Center Project, Detroit Mayor-Elect Committee, Entrepreneur Training Program, and as Democratic candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives (1978).
