The Correspondence Unit Annual Files, 1983-1990 series consists mainly of sixteen linear feet of materials created in the course of responding to constituent mail. The materials in this series are arranged in five subseries with the first term comprising the first of these subseries and four annual files making up the rest. Due to the quantity of constituent mail, issue and department oriented mail has been selectively thinned to provide a sense of its tenor in a reasonable bulk. The strengths of this series inhere not only in the range of issues raised and responses, but in what it reveals about a system which routinely handled thousands of pieces of mail in a week, usually responding within days of receipt.
The 1983-1986 subseries, which runs nearly four linear feet, documents the work of the office for the first term. The bulk of the correspondence extant from the first term consists of mail identified as "Blanchard Personal." This is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, including materials from state departments, politicians, and the executive office. Prominent among these are Robert Bowman, John Engler, Ellen Globokar, Frank Kelly, Carl Levin, Robert Naftaly, Ron Thayer, and Coleman Young. This material neatly complements and nearly overlaps the personal correspondence of Blanchard in the files of Chief of Staff Phillip Jourdan and Executive Assistant Carolyn Sparks. The remaining correspondence in this subseries consists of standard responses arranged by type: information requests (ranging from anniversary and birthday greetings to various letters of congratulation) and issues-oriented or departmental responses. These standard responses were the Correspondence Office's means of answering the high volumes of mail; they provide researchers a quick view of Blanchard's positions on issues of the first term. A more detailed view on these positions can be gained by examining the staff files of the Issues series.
Materials for the second term are arranged in four annual files, the 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 subseries. The correspondence within these annual files is divided according to type of response: department, issue, or standard response. Within each of these sub-subseries the material is arranged alphabetically by responding department or by issue. The 1987 subseries' department files form the bulk of this five linear feet annual file. Within these departmental files, the letters are filed alphabetically by correspondent. The 1988 subseries consists of two linear feet of issues-oriented correspondence. The 1989 subseries has a similar run of issues mail and set of standard responses within its one and one-half linear feet of material. The last three and one-half linear feet of this series is the 1990 subseries. This annual file consists of department, issues, and standard response materials. Within the departmental alphabet, the more specific gradations are made according to unit within the department.
The researcher should bear in mind some caveats when using the Correspondence series. The departmental and issue-related correspondence consists of a sampling of incoming letters, copies of the official response, and mailing lists of those receiving the response. Certain routine classes of correspondence have been removed from the collection: thank yous, general information requests, petitions, declarations, letters of congratulations, and tributes. These actions were taken to reduce the bulk of the series, and do not diminish its substantive content.
The researcher should also note that the alphabets were created anew each year, so there are some inconsistencies in filing. One should be flexible in searching out related materials within and without the Correspondence series. For example, letters on environmental concerns can be found under the headings: landfill, solid waste, Great Lakes, and recycling (as well as the expected heading environment) within the issues files. Information on this topic will also be found in the Department of Natural Resources files and in the files of program specialists, David Dempsey (of the Issues Office) and Peter Kyriacopolous (of the Washington Office).
