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A. Alfred Taubman was an entrepreneur, real estate developer and philanthropist. The Taubman collection consists of business and personal records documenting his development of retail and mixed-use real estate projects, his role as a leader in the real estate industry in Michigan and nationally, his transformation of Sotheby's, his investments and business interests, his contributions to the arts, to American educational institutions, and to the city of Detroit.

This collection documents the business and philanthropic activities of A. Alfred Taubman. While this collection is not a comprehensive archive of Taubman's business and personal activities, it offers a rich and abundant resource for researchers interested in the history of commercial real estate development and those interested in Taubman's varied business concerns and philanthropic work. The bulk of the materials date from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s and include both records created by Taubman and a number of staff members of The Taubman Company. The collection is organized into eight series:

1. Shopping Centers/Commercial Development
2. Industry Leadership
3. Detroit Development
4. Business Investments
5. University Endowments
6. Topical
7. Personal
8. Athena Azerbaijan and Russia Development Projects

Donald R. Shepherd (1936-) is a philanthropist, businessperson, and University of Michigan (U-M) graduate who has made several donations and scholarship endowments to both U-M and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and is an ardent supporter of both U-M athletics and the marching band. This collection contains material documenting Shepherd's family and his professional career, as well as his philanthropical activities at the University of Michigan and UCLA. Records include correspondence, photographs and photo albums, memoranda, and awards.

The Donald R. Shepherd papers primarily documents the philanthropic activities of Donald R. Shepherd at the University of Michigan (U-M) and the University of California, Los Angeles. Shepherd is largely involved with women's athletics at both Universities, although he has made scholarships available for athletes competing in both women's and men's sports. Shepherd is also a supporter of the U-M Marching Band.

Materials in this collection are chiefly correspondence in various formats (handwritten notes, emails, typewritten letters). However it also includes published materials; notes; various personal documents; event ephemera; photographs; and other materials. Many of these materials were placed into binders by Shepherd himself, with sticky notes affixed to pages of the binders that describe why he found certain documents important. The materials within these binders were kept in Shepherd's original order.

Battle Creek, Michigan and Washington, D.C. family including C.W. (Charles William) Post, cereal manufacturer, and anti-union activist and founder of Post City, Texas; and his daughter Marjorie Merriweather Post, executive of General Foods Co., wife of U. S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, art collector, philanthropist, socialite, and Washington D.C. hostess. C.W. Post papers, largely concern labor-management relations, unionism, the Postum Company, currency reform, advertising, and matters of food and hygiene; Marjorie Merriweather Post papers document her social activities and travel, philanthropies art collections, and the maintenance and preservation of her homes and other possessions.

The Post family collection includes papers of businessman and food processor, C. W. Post, largely relating to labor-management relations, unionism, the Post Company, currency reform, advertising, and matters of food and hygiene; and papers, photographs, and sound recordings of his daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, General Foods executive and philanthropist, relating to social activities and engagements, philanthropies, and the maintenance and preservation of her homes and other possessions.

The C.W. Post papers consist of manuscript items and printed works created by C.W. Post and retained by his daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post. The papers are arranged alphabetically by subject.