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Attorney; judge of the 14th Judicial Circuit of Michigan (1967-1970); United States District Judge for the Western District of Michigan (1971-1973); judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1974-2002). Case files, administrative files, and subject files relating to his judicial and other professional responsibilities; also memoirs of his career and letters written while serving in the military during World War II.

The Albert J. Engel papers consist of case files, miscellaneous administrative files, and subject files relating to his judicial and other professional responsibilities as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan (1971-1974) and as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1974-2002). Case files for each court make up the bulk of the collection. The files represent a selection based largely upon the importance of the issue or issues represented within the case, the significance of the case in the judgment of Judge Engel, and whether Judge Engel wrote the opinion, dissent, or concurrence. Important to understanding the cases are individual memoranda written by Judge Engel (and included in box 15) of his assessment of the cases that he heard.

In 2006, the library received Judge Engel's memoirs of his life and career together with photocopies of the letters that he wrote home during the Second World War, 1944-1945.

Chairman of the board of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Services Board and Oakland County Judge of Probate. The collection includes files accumulated from his work as member and chairman of the Board. The Board was established in the 1960s to implement the new Michigan mental health code whose intent was to involve local communities in mental health care services. Also included personal correspondence with wife Elizabeth Sparks Adams, as well as diaries, family materials, and photographs, and materials relating to Adams' career as a judge.

This collection documents various aspects of Donald Adams' personal and professional life. The majority of records relate to his time on the Oakland County Community Mental Health Services Board. Also included here are family correspondence (in particualar, correspondence with his wife Elizabeth Adams), materials about his career as a judge, and about his family.

Governor of Michigan 1949 to 1960, under-secretary of state for African Affairs from 1961 to 1965, and Michigan Supreme Court justice from 1970 to 1986 and leader in state and national Democratic Party. Papers document his public career and aspects of his personal and family life and include correspondence, subject files, staff files, speeches, press releases and news clippings, photographs, sound recordings, films and videotapes.

The G. Mennen Williams Papers consist of official and personal files arranged into six subgroups: 1) Gubernatorial papers, 1949-1960 (681 linear ft.); 2) Non-gubernatorial papers, 1883-1948 and 1958-1988 (107 linear ft.); 3) Visual materials, ca. 1911-1988 (ca. 25 linear ft.); 4) sound recordings, 1950-ca. 1988 (5 linear ft.) Scrapbooks, 1948-1987 (43 vols.) and State Department Microfilm, 1961-1966 (23 reels).

As part of its own control system, the governor's office maintained a card index to the correspondents in many of the subgroups and series within the gubernatorial papers. This card file is located in the library's reading room. In addition, Nancy Williams and her staff compiled an extensive and detailed run of scrapbooks covering the Williams years. There is a separate inventory to these scrapbooks in a separately bound volume.

Strategy for Use of the Gubernatorial Papers: Although the Williams gubernatorial collection consists of hundreds of linear feet of material, the file arrangement created by the governor's staff is a fairly simple one to understand and to use.

The bulk of the collection falls within specific functional groupings, corresponding to the various activities and responsibilities that Williams performed as governor. Thus, if the researcher is uncertain of what portions of the collection might be relevant to his/her research, he/she is advised to think in terms of gubernatorial function. Does the proposed research concern the workings or area responsibility of a state board? If so, the Boards and Commissions series would be the most likely place in which to find material. The election of 1954? Then Democratic Party/Campaign Papers should be first choice. The passage of a specific piece of legislation? Here, Legislative Files is an obvious choice. The possible choices (called subgroups and series) that the researcher has are listed in the Organization of the Collection section. A description of the contents of each of these subgroups/series is provided below.

If, at first, unsuccessful in finding material on any given topic, the researcher might consider these additional strategies:

1. Refer to the Williams card index (located in the library's reading room). Sometimes, the name of an individual associated with a subject provides the easiest point of access into the collection. This file is arranged alphabetically and lists the dates of letters between an individual and the governor's office. This file only indexes the larger series and subgroups in the collection. It does not index the staff files, or parts of the Democratic Party/Campaign subgroup. Nevertheless it is an invaluable tool, and can uncover important material otherwise buried.

2. Refer to the various series of staff papers. Staff members were often closely involved in a specific subject areas (Jordan Popkin and aging, for example) and thus their files are frequently rich in source material.

3. If only partially successful in locating desired material, the researcher should think of an alternative subgroup or series. The governor's office, for a variety of reasons, often filed related material in different locations depending upon the source of a document. Thus, information relating to a strike might be filed both under the Labor Mediation Board in Boards and Commissions, and Strikes in General Subjects. Furthermore, if the strike influenced a specific piece of legislation, there could be material in the Legislative Files.

Attorney, Michigan state official, justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, 1961-1966, member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, 1967-1971, general counsel and vice president of the General Motors Corporation. Series consist of Personal which includes biographical information and photographs; Speeches (1963-1992); Michigan Public Service Commission files (1957-1959); Auditor General files (1959-1961); General Motors Corporation files (1967-1969); University of Michigan Board of Regents files (1967-1971) which documents in part the Black Action Movement, the controversy over the role of R.O.T.C., and other issues involving the administration of the university; campaign files (1966-1968); and Michigan Supreme Court files (1961-1966).

The Otis M. Smith papers contains speeches, correspondence, examples of work produced in various offices, and photographs. This collection documents the career of a dedicated public servant and the many posts he held.

The Otis M. Smith papers are divided into eight series: Personal, Speeches, Michigan Public Service Commission Papers, Auditor General Papers, General Motors Papers, Regent Papers, Campaign Files and Supreme Court Papers.