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Detroit based philanthropic foundation created by Senator James J. Couzens and administered by William J. Norton to fund organizations in Michigan involved in child health and child guidance; includes administrative records, correspondence, reports of field visits, and topical files.

In the period beginning from the start of the depression and continuing through the mid-1950s, the Children's Fund of Michigan (CFM) was the state's most important private source of funding for programs having to do with children's health and recreational needs. Established just as the depression was beginning, it is impossible to overestimate the contribution made by this organization in such areas as rudimentary child health and dental care, pediatric care, in the establishment of area children's clinics, in its grants to nursing associations and hospitals, in its sponsorship of research in areas pertaining to childhood diseases and ailments, and in the funding and support of such youth-related organizations as the Girls and Boys Scouts, the Green Pastures Camp for Detroit area African American youth, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The organization affected thousands of young lives at a time when help was most needed. The record of its contribution is fully documented through such records as minutes, correspondence, reports from the field, memoranda, and financial records. Topics documented within this collection include the condition of children and young people in mid-Twentieth Century America as the nation went through depression, world war, and the uncertainties of the post-war; the administration of a unique multi-million dollar charitable organization and how it allocated its resources; and, lastly, the activities during a twenty-five year period of the several statewide organizations begun or largely supported with CFM funding.

This record group consists of files from the CFM office in Detroit. The files are of CFM executive director and secretary, William J. Norton, and various other division directors, in particular Maud Watson and John M. Dorsey of the Child Guidance Division and Bernard W. Carey of the Child Health Division. They cover the period of 1929-1954, the twenty-five year life of the Fund, although there are included some papers dating up to the early 1960s. The presence of this later dated material is easily explained. As someone who was involved in social welfare organizations other than CFM, Norton continued to use the files (as he had in the past) for those papers relating to his other philanthropic and charitable organization activities. This filing practice, in addition to the fact that Norton (after 1954) continued to receive and file reports and memoranda from organizations and facilities that had received CFM funding, accounts for post-1954 materials in this record group. Norton was so closely identified with both CFM and the numerous local and state charitable organizations of the time that it is not feasible to divorce the two kinds of records - especially as Norton chose to file them as one. The researcher should note that the library has a separate William J. Norton collection that was received separately from the CFM records and which was most likely maintained in a different location. This Norton collection includes more personal materials not necessarily relating to the Children's Fund.

Minutes (1960-1973), by-laws, membership lists, newsletters, and related material of the Service League of the Detroit General Hospital (Detroit Receiving Hospital).

Minutes (1960-1973), by-laws, membership lists, newsletters, and related material.

Detroit, Michigan journalist and historian. Correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks, book reviews and manuscripts of unpublished writings; also research materials concerning Lewis Cass, Augustus B. Woodward, Gabriel Richard, and Alexander J. Groesbeck, and papers relating to the Civil War in Michigan, the development of Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Free Press, and the building of the Mackinac Bridge.

The Frank B. Woodford papers consist of correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks, book reviews and manuscripts of unpublished writings; also research materials concerning Lewis Cass, Augustus B. Woodward, Gabriel Richard, and Alexander J. Groesbeck, and papers relating to the Civil War in Michigan, the development of Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Free Press, and the building of the Mackinac Bridge. The collection is organized into four series: Correspondence; Writings and related material; Scrapbooks and newspaper clippings; and Other materials.

Audiovisual materials, archived web content, and other files pertaining to films produced by Sue Marx, a prolific documentary filmmaker who operated her own studio in Detroit between 1980 and 2011. Collection includes completed documentaries in analog and digital form, raw footage in various audiovisual formats, production background information, scripts, and transcripts, among other items.

Materials in the Sue Marx papers, which primarily consist of audiovisual formats, address Marx's career as a filmmaker after leaving network broadcasting, spanning more than two decades of documentaries and advertisements created by Marx's eponymous production company. While the collection includes polished versions of various films, including Marx's Academy Award-winning short subject "Young at Heart," the bulk of the analog and digital materials contain raw footage from which Marx later constructed her completed documentaries and promotional pieces. Also included are files containing background research materials, production releases, scripts, transcripts of interviews, and audio files.

Detroit, Michigan, social worker, executive vice president of the Children's Fund of Michigan, and chairman of various relief commissions during the depression. Materials relating to his welfare activities, his interests in mental health and the work of the American Red Cross, and his general interest in the field of social work; also papers detailing his activities with the Detroit Prismatic Club; essays concerning the legislation of prohibition in Michigan; and photographs and sound recordings.

The William J. Norton collection relates mainly to relating to his welfare activities, his interests in mental health and the work of the American Red Cross, and to his general interest in the field of social work. The collection has been divided into seven series: Biographical Material and Correspondence, Presentations and Essays, Articles, Fiction Writing, Social Work Organizations, Audio Tapes and Photographs, and Other Materials.