The Mills collection, approximately 1.3 linear feet of correspondence, clippings, photographs, and related materials, covers the period of 1920 to 1988. The great bulk of the collection dates from the years of the late 1940s to 1957.
Although Mills was a newspaper publisher for a long period, the Mills collection relates only in part to this phase of his life. The great majority of materials concern his unsuccessful campaign against Orville Hubbard in 1957. Of interest are the series of articles that Mills wrote, titled "How Dearborn got a dictator mayor."
A series of photographs that Mills collected are of especial importance. Many of these do relate to the activities and operation of the Dearborn Independent, to the cities of Dearborn and Fordson, and to Mills' extensive ties with the Ford Motor Company and the Ford family.
William L. Mills was born in August 1901 in Manistee, Michigan. Graduating from the University of Michigan in 1925 with a bachelor's degree in business, Mills began a career in newspaper publishing. In 1926, he helped found the Fordson Sun newspaper which, following a merger with Springwells Independent, became the Fordson Independent.
In 1928, Mills acquired the Dearborn Independent, Henry Ford's newspaper. Mills ran the newspaper as business manager and co-publisher (with George O. St. Charles) until 1958 when he sold out to Robert F. Smith, publisher of the Dearborn Press.
As a Dearborn, Michigan resident, Mills made his reputation for his journalistic opposition to long-term mayor Orville Hubbard. Outspoken in his criticism of Hubbard, a man whom he referred to as a dictator, who sacrificed good government for the sake of his own political advancement, Mills finally decided in 1957 to become a candidate himself for the office of mayor. What Mills was to learn was that although Hubbard had made many political enemies while in office, he had also used his political power to win over the great number of Dearborn citizens who believed that he was doing an excellent job.
Mills was soundly defeated, albeit by a smaller number of voters than in previous Hubbard election campaigns. After the election, Mills sold his newspaper, and changed careers to become a real estate agent. Mills died September 15, 1988.
