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The Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA) was founded in 1933 to administer high school forensics contests throughout the state of Michigan. The policies and activities of MIFA are determined by a Forensic Council, and records pertaining to the council are included as a subseries in this collection. There are four main speech activities that are sponsored by MIFA: debate, individual events, drama/theatre, and legislative debate. Materials pertaining to specific components of these general activities form the bulk of the collection. Overall, the records largely span the years 1974-2004, although older items are scattered throughout the collection, including materials from two legacy organizations.

The records of the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA) document the organization's growth from the 1930s to the 2000s, but most of its records concern the years after 1964, and in particular, the period from 1974 to 2002. The records are divided into eight: Administration, Publications, Photographs, Scrapbooks, Multimedia, Activities, Michigan High School Oratorical Association, and Files of Jon Fitzgerald, Executive Director of MIFA. The Forensic Council Minutes (in the Administration Series) and the Publications Series are the most useful parts of the collection for the researcher to gain an understanding of MIFA. The Activities, Photographs, and Multimedia series provide the best accounts of student participation.