The MAHPERD records consist of files and photographs relating to the administration and activities of the organization as it sought to promote the expansion of physical education and recreational activities in schools and communities across Michigan. The records were received in several accessions beginning in 1982 (boxes 1-7); 1988-1889 (box 8) and 1992 (boxes 8-9). The physical arrangement of the records reflects the accessions. There is some overlap and continuation of content between the accessions. The records have been arranged in the following series: History; Associated Organizations; Awards; Committees; Conferences and Workshops; Conventions; Correspondence; Finances; Girls and Women's Athletics; Meetings (includes Board of Directors and Executive Board); Publicity; Organization; Petitions and Position Papers; Projects and Special Interests; Publications; Reports, Scrapbooks and Miscellanea; Photographs; Presidents Files; Yearly Files; and Executive Director Files.
Researchers concerned with school curricula might use these papers to examine the conflicts and congruencies between physical training and specifically academic disciplines. Furthermore, there is ample material on women's athletics. From its inception, MAHPER seems to have had more egalitarian relations between the sexes than is the case in many professional associations; of the MAHPER presidents holding office between 1926 and 1962, nearly half were women. MAHPER has long been opposed to the second-rate physical education given to girls and young women. In sum, the primary interest of this collection is its documentation of shifting attitudes towards physical education both on the part of the general public and among professionals.
Interest in physical education in Michigan schools has a long history extending back to the mid-nineteenth century. But it was not until 1911 that the Michigan State Legislature made the teaching of "physical culture" mandatory in city schools and colleges. In 1927, the Michigan Association of Health and Physical Education (which became MAHPER at some unspecified point in time, and Michigan Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance in 1981) formed. It affiliated with the American Physical Education Association in 1930. By the late 1950s, a number of standing committees and regional representatives were established in order to better cope with an expanding membership and shifting professional interests. At this time, the first state conventions and professional workshops and clinics were initiated. The MAHPER Newsletter had been published since 1946; this became the MAHPER News in 1960, and expanded into the larger MAHPER Journal ten years later. In 1981, this became the MAHPERD Journal.
The aims of MAHPERD are to work with state and school officials to promote programs of physical fitness, and to train teachers of physical education. It also functions to advance the profession of physical training and as a clearinghouse for information on personnel and the status of physical education in the schools.
MAHPERD is affiliated with the national American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and is an associate member of the Michigan Educational Association. MAHPERD is organized into seven "divisions": Dance, Girls' and Women's Sports, Health, Men's Athletics, Physical Education, Recreation, and Students. The state is divided into six districts. Each division has its own vice-president, and each district has a president. Officers in the state organization include a past-president, a president, a president-elect, a secretary-treasurer, an editor, a membership secretary, an executive secretary and seven representatives to special organizations. Official business is the responsibility of the Board of Directors and a Representative Assembly.
