The Robert L. Potts Papers documents his many professional obligations. It includes his community endeavors in Detroit, his service within the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and his involvement with the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. Speeches, reports and executive board meeting minutes constitute much of the archive.
The collection is arranged into four series: Personal/Family, Civic Organizations, Ombudsman, and Episcopal Priest. It is important to note that photographs and correspondence are nested within the various series.
Robert Lester Potts was a community organizer, educator, and Episcopal priest. He was active in both Detroit and Ann Arbor. Born on January 28, 1923 in Muskogee, Oklahoma to Beatrice Onque and Howard William Potts, he completed high school in Kansas City, Kansas before earning his A.B. at Lane College (Jackson, Tennessee) in 1945. He spent the next two years as an officer in the United States Air Force, with duties in Biloxi, Mississippi and Hampton, Virginia. He was ordained as a minister of the Methodist Church, serving in Tennessee, Illinois, and Michigan from 1948 until 1963. In this time, he earned a Master of Divinity from Garrett Theological Seminary in 1952 and an honorary doctorate from Lane, where he had previously served as college chaplain and instructor of religion and social sciences.
After briefly serving as President of Texas College, in 1964 Potts was ordained as an Episcopal priest by the Diocese of Michigan. Potts served the city of Detroit over the next four years, including tenures as Executive Director of the Citizens' Committee for Equal Opportunity and coordinator for the Mayor's Youth Opportunity Program.
In Ann Arbor, he directed the Model Cities Program before his 1970 appointment as Ombudsman for the Ann Arbor Public Schools. His chief responsibility in this capacity was to mediate public grievances to the school district. He maintained these duties after he was promoted to Assistant Superintendent for Human Relations & Community Services, a position that he held until his retirement in 1986. In this time span Potts also earned an Ed.D. from the University of Michigan in 1975.
Potts served fifteen years as a member of the clerical staff of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor. In addition, the Diocese of Michigan installed Potts as an Archdeacon in 1988. He spent the next fifteen years of his life serving on the boards of countless philanthropic organizations, most notably the Shelter Association of Ann Arbor and Avalon Housing, Inc. Potts died on December 23, 2004 at the age of 81.
