Jennifer Granholm papers, 1992-2010 (majority within 2003-2010)

Summary

Creator:

Granholm, Jennifer.

Abstract:

Granholm was the Democratic governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2010. Records are primarily arranged by office of origin and staff member and document Granholm's service as governor. The series in the collection are: Transition 2002, Legal Division, Policy Division, Executive Office, Communications Division, Economic Recovery Office, Northern Michigan Office, Other Executive Divisions, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Office of the First Gentleman, Archived Websites, and Memorabilia. The collection includes paper, digital materials, and audio-visual materials. Extensively documented topics include economic diversification, renewable energy, environmental issues, education, Michigan's response to the 2008 financial crisis, the Governor's Hearing on the Removal of Kwame Kilpatrick from the office of Mayor of Detroit, and Michigan soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Extent:

225 linear feet (in 227 boxes)
1 oversize folder
7 oversize items
260 GB

Language:

English

Call Number:

2011101 Aa 2

Authors:

Finding aid created by Alexis A. Antracoli, 2011; Michael Shallcross, 2012; Cherie Edmonds 2013

Background

Scope and Content:

The Jennifer Granholm papers document the activities, policies, and accomplishments of the executive branch of Michigan's state government from 2003 to 2010. The collection consists of twelve series and is primarily arranged according to office of origin. The series are: Transition 2002, Legal Division, Policy Division, Executive Office, Communications Division, Economic Recovery Office, Northern Michigan Office, Other Executive Divisions, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Office of the First Gentleman, Archived Websites, and Memorabilia. While the collection documents the full range of Governor Granholm's activities, it is especially strong in documenting the governor's efforts in the areas of economic diversification, renewable energy, education, and Michigan's response to the 2008 financial crisis. Also of note are the documents pertaining to the Governor's Hearing on the Removal of Kwame Kilpatrick from the office of Mayor of Detroit, the Legal Division files on the state's interactions with Michigan's Native American tribes, the administration's work on behalf of the University of Michigan in the Gratz and Grutter affirmative action lawsuits, the administration's response to Proposal 2, and dossiers kept on each Michigan soldier killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Biographical / Historical:

Jennifer Granholm was born February 5, 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia to Shirley Alfreda Dowden and Victor Ivar Granholm. At the age of four, Granholm's family moved to California; she grew up in Anaheim, San Jose, and San Carlos. Granholm earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1984 and continued her education at Harvard Law School. After receiving her J.D. in 1987, Granholm moved to Michigan where she began her career as a law clerk for Judge Damon Keith of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1990 she became a U. S. Prosecutor in Detroit, and served as corporation counsel for Wayne County from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the general counsel for the Detroit and Wayne County Stadium Authority.

Granholm entered statewide politics in 1998 when she ran for Attorney General on the Democratic ticket. She was the only Democrat elected to statewide office that year and served in the position through 2002. Towards the end of her term she had gained enough statewide recognition to enter the governor's race. Announcing her candidacy in March of 2001, she defeated both former governor James Blanchard and House Democratic Whip David Bonior to win the Democratic primary. In November of 2002, she won the general election, defeating Republican Lieutenant Governor Dick Posthumus to become Michigan's first female governor.

Granholm took office as Michigan's 47th governor on January 1, 2003. The beginning of her tenure as governor coincided with a difficult period in Michigan's economic history. As the rest of the country recovered from the 2001 recession, Michigan continued to struggle. In her first year as governor, Granholm faced a $3 billion budget deficit and a rising unemployment rate. Her administration's response to the challenges it faced reflected Granholm's moderate approach by focusing on reinforcing education, promoting economic diversification, and improving government efficiency through cost cutting and streamlining.

Despite challenges early in her first term, Granholm set about an extensive program of cuts to state expenditures in order to balance Michigan's budget. She continued to seek cost saving measures throughout her first term. Granholm also focused on education and, in 2004, established the Cherry Commission, headed by Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, to study ways to double the number of college graduates in Michigan. She also implemented rigorous K-8 standards through the State Board of Education, increased high school graduation requirements, and created the Early Childhood Investment Corporation.

After two years in office, as Michigan's economy began to stall, Granholm pursued a multi-pronged effort to spur job creation and increase the state's flagging tax base. In 2005, Granholm kicked off her economic revitalization program with the 21st Century Jobs Fund, a $2 billion program that used tobacco settlement funds to encourage diversification in the state's economy. Granholm also launched the Pure Michigan advertising campaign to promote tourism and Michigan's leisure industry. The administration viewed Google's choice of Ann Arbor for its AdWords operation as a victory for its diversification efforts. In addition to pursuing economic diversification, Granholm created the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit and signed bills that increased the minimum wage.

With the continued downward spiral of Michigan's economy, including the loss of Greenville, Michigan's Electrolux plant to Juarez, Mexico in 2004, Granholm faced a tough re-election bid in 2006. Despite a concerted challenge from Republican Dick DeVos, a concerted campaign effort from early September through Election Day led to Granholm's eventual re-election.

Granholm's second term focused primarily on Michigan's economy. She launched the term with No Worker Left Behind, a program designed to give unemployed and under-employed workers the opportunity to receive training for high-demand jobs. The governor's other efforts at job creation included emphasizing the clean and renewable energy industry and incentives for the production of auto batteries. In April, 2008, Granholm announced a set of film incentives. The incentive package was designed to both create jobs immediately and spur long-term growth. After the financial crisis of 2008, Granholm redoubled her efforts on behalf of Michigan's economy, speaking out on behalf of the state's beleaguered auto industry during the federal bailout and pursuing increased efforts at diversification. In addition to her work on behalf of Michigan's economy, Granholm also signed the Promise Zone legislation in 2008 to give students in high-poverty communities the opportunity to attend college, presided over the hearing regarding the removal of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and reorganized and shut down several state departments in the interest of increased efficiency and budgetary restraint.

Governor Granholm's tenure ended on January 1, 2011. She is currently a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law and Public Policy at her alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI), a senior advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts' Clean Energy Program, and founder of The American Jobs Project at UC Berkeley. In 2011, she served on the Board of Trustees of the Dow Chemical Corporation. On September 6, 2012 Granholm delivered a passionate speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. In her speech Granholm focused on the automotive industry crisis of 2008--2010 and the beneficial effect of President Obama's decision to bail out General Motors and Chrysler on the U.S. economy. At the same time, Granholm underscored the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's opposition to the bailout. Granholm served as a direct "surrogate" for Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. In December 2020, President Joe Biden nominated Granholm to be the next Secretary of Energy. Granholm married Daniel Mulhern in 1986. They have three children.

Acquisition Information:

Donated by Jennifer Granholm (donor no. 10483 ) in 2011.

Processing information:

Box 180 was eliminated during reprocessing.

In preparing digital material for long-term preservation and access, the Bentley Historical Library adheres to professional best practices and standards to ensure that content will retain its authenticity and integrity. For more information on procedures for the ingest and processing of digital materials, please see Bentley Historical Library Digital Processing Note. Access to digital material may be provided either as a direct link to an individual file or as a downloadable package of files bundled in a zip file.

Arrangement:

Summary Contents List

1. Transition 2002 -- Box 1
2. Legal Division -- Boxes 2 -- 123, Outsize, and Online
3. Policy Division -- Boxes 124 -- 147 and Online
4. Executive Division -- Boxes 148 -- 169 and Online
5. Communications Division -- Boxes 170 -- 196 and Online
6. Economic Recovery Office -- Boxes 197 -- 199 and Online
7. Northern Michigan Office -- Boxes 200 -- 205 and Online
8. Other Executive Divisions -- Boxes 205 -- 212 and Online
9. Office of the Lt. Governor -- Boxes 213 -- 216 and Online
10. Office of the First Gentleman -- Boxes 179, 217 -- 222, and Online
11. Archived Websites -- Online
12. Memorabilia -- Boxes 223 -- 227 and Outsize

The Jennifer Granholm collection consists of paper records, analog audio-visual material (photographs, audio and video recordings), and digital files (word processing documents, spreadsheets, .PDF files, image files, digital audio and video files, and archived web pages). The digital files were received on hard drives, DVDs and other media, and through website capture. All digital files have been transferred to the University of Michigan servers and in some cases reformatted according to accepted preservation standards. The original file structure has been maintained to the extent possible and is reflected in the arrangement of the contents list. For storage and management purposes the digital files have bundled into compressed ZIP files. Typically the ZIP file will include multiple files or one or more folders, each containing individual files or nested sub-folders. The "download ZIP file" links in the contents list will download a ZIP file that includes all of the subordinate items in the contents list hierarchy. Contents of the ZIP file must be un-zipped before they can be viewed.

In utilizing the collection, researchers should be aware of the following details. First, there is often an overlap in the subject matter of paper and (where extant) digital files of a given series. Researchers should therefore be sure to check both formats. Secondly, the collection contains very few physical photographs as the majority of the images taken of Governor Granholm and her administration were digital. These images are usually located in the "General Office Records" subseries (but may reside elsewhere) of the following series: Communications, Economic Recovery Office, Northern Michigan Office, the Legislative Affairs subseries of Other Executive Divisions, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, and Office of the First Gentleman.

Accruals:

Periodic additions to the papers are expected.

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Conservation of natural resources -- Michigan.
Diversification in industry -- Michigan.
Financial crises -- United States.
Governors -- Michigan.
Renewable energy sources -- Michigan.

Formats:

Digital file formats.

Names:

Democratic Party (Mich.)
Michigan. Governor (2003-2011 : Granholm)
Granholm, Jennifer.
Kilpatrick, Kwame M., 1970-
Mulhern, Daniel Granholm.

Places:

Michigan -- Economic conditions.
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 1951-
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 2001-2010.