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Charles Cannell was a social scientist, professor, and co-founder of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. Papers consist of project files, research proposals and grant applications, conference presentations, teaching material, and biographical information, the majority of which span 1974 to 1998. The bulk of the collection represents work on an array of projects regarding interviewing and survey methodology, including several projects on the use of technology, such as the telephone, in the interviewing process.

The Charles F. Cannell Papers measure 2.5 linear feet and range from 1946 to 2001. The bulk of the material, however, dates from 1974 to 1998. Papers consist of project files, research proposals and grant applications, conference presentations, teaching material, and biographical information, the majority of which span 1974 to 1998. The bulk of the collection represents work on an array of projects regarding interviewing and survey methodology, including several projects on the use of technology, such as the telephone, in the interviewing process. The papers have been divided into four series: Biographical Files; Conferences and Seminars Files; Projects and Proposals Files; and Topical Files.

The Detroit Area Study (DAS), conducted from 1951 to 2004, was a graduate training program in survey methods at the University of Michigan. Students conducted an annual survey in the Detroit Metropolitan Area (Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb counties), with a different research focus each year. Common topics included community life in an urban environment, family, politics, and race relations. The records consist of proposals, questionnaires, and analyses of the surveys.

The Detroit Area Study (DAS) records document a decades long survey research project focused on the Detroit metropolitan area. The records include administrative files documenting the development, funding and management of the project, publicity materials, photographs, publications produced by DAS staff or by others using DAS generated data, questionnaires and sampling reports the records are organized into four series: Administrative Files, Proposals, Questionnaires, and Sampling Reports.

F. Thomas Juster was a research scientist and professor of economics at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1996. His work focused on analyzing household savings and wealth and measuring time use in American families. Juster served as director of the Institute for Social Research from 1976 to 1986. His most notable achievement was his role as founding director of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD).

The F. Thomas Juster papers document Juster's contributions to the field of social science, primarily during his time as research scientist and professor of economics at the University of Michigan. Featured prominently in this collection are records of the Health and Retirement Study, for which Juster served as founding director, as well as his numerous writings. The papers are arranged into eight series: Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old, Biographical, Correspondence, Health and Retirement Study, Michigan Retirement Research Center, Testimony, Topical, and Writings.

The Institute for Social Research (ISR), an interdisciplinary center for social science research, was created in 1949 when the Research Center for Group Dynamics (founded at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) joined the university's Survey Research Center. ISR houses the Center for Political Studies (CPS), Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Population Studies Center (PSC), Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD), and the Survey Research Center (SRC). Records document the founding and development of ISR and its related centers and programs and include audiovisual materials, minutes, correspondence, topical files, reports, and proposals. Administrative records include governance committees and director's files. Records of the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) consist of grant proposals, survey instruments, focus group transcriptions, correspondence, bulletins, and internal governance records created under the auspices of PRBA and its various projects. Records of the Research Center for Group Dynamics are primarily the papers of director Kurt Lewin, including manuscripts and talks. Survey Research Center records consist largely of proposal and project files, although they also include faculty oral histories. The records of the Population Studies Center consist of lectures from its founder, Dr. Ronald Freedman, while the Center for Political Studies contains one binder of material from the American National Election Survey conducted in 1980.

The Institute for Social Research (ISR) records are dated from 1936-2017 (scattered) and consist of 143.8 linear feet (in 146 boxes) and digital files (online). Materials in this record group include audiovisual material, committee files (which include minutes and agendas), correspondence, directors' files, oral histories, publications, reports, and topical files. These records document the founding and subsequent development of ISR as well as its centers and programs, particularly the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) and the Survey Research Center (SRC). The records also provide an overview of ISR's administration and the evolution of social science survey research methodology.

There are gaps in the records, which can be addressed in part through the papers of Rensis Likert, Angus Campbell, Dorwin P. Cartwright, and Philip E. Converse—all of which are held at the Bentley Historical Library (BHL). When viewed in conjunction with other ISR-related personal papers in the Bentley Historical Library, a rich and detailed picture of the growth of ISR as a center and the social science research discipline emerges.

Sociologist, a founder of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, specialist in scientific population sampling. Biographical and autobiographical information; including some details on service with Abraham Lincoln Brigade; University of Michigan administrative files; department of sociology course materials; files relating to summer programs in sampling techniques for foreign statisticians; papers on sampling and related topics; files from his association with the Institute for Social Research; organizational files and correspondence.

The papers of Professor Leslie Kish relate primarily to his activities as a university professor and to his research interests. Included as well is an extensive run of his various writings. The papers date from 1952 to 2001 and are divided into six series: Biographical Information, University of Michigan Administrative and Course Materials, Papers and Presentations, Institute of Social Research, Organizations and Activities, and Personal and Professional Correspondence.

Social scientist, director of the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan. Papers include project files, survey research data and reports, and printed material, largely from his work with the Division of Program Surveys, Bureau of Agricultural Economics and the office of War Information during World War II; Office Of Strategic Bombing Survey, I.S.R. project files; and transcript of oral interview, 1970.

The Rensis Likert Papers document his work as one of the pioneers of survey research, first with the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, then with the Office of War Information, Office of Strategic Bombing Surveys and finally at the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center and Institute for Social Research. The papers include biographical information on Likert; transcripts of oral history interviews with Likert; reports, background information, correspondence relating to various survey projects.

The Likert papers were received and initially processed in four accessions in 1975, 1982,1990 and 1995. Material in later accessions sometimes continued or complemented records series in prior accessions. The papers are boxed in an order that reflects the dates the accessions individual accessions were received. In this finding aid the disparate parts of series received in multiple accessions have been together to reflect the intellectual arrangement of the collection. As a result, the box-folder sequence in he contents listing are not always consecutive.

The materials in the 1975 accession (boxes 1-20) of the Rensis Likert Papers cover the period of 1939 to 1953 and largely concern Likert's work at the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and the Office of War Information during World War II and his subsequent work in the early development of the Survey Research Center.

In 1982 the family of Rensis Likert donated an additional three feet (boxes 21-23) of materials. Notable items in this accession concern Likert's work as assistant secretary and treasurer of the Psychological Corporation (1934-1935); consultant to the Newell-Emmett Company (1935); survey researcher with the Morale Division of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey unit (ca. 1944-1946); and activities with other professional organizations (ca. 1938-1949)

The third accession of the Likert papers (box 24-29) came from the library of the Institute of Social Research of the University of Michigan. The files pertain to all phases of Likert's professional career, and thus the researcher should use these papers in conjunction with the materials in the previous accessions. The final accession (box 29) was received form several sources.