Search

G. Mennen Williams served as Undersecretary of State for African Affairs from 1961-1966. In 1974, the U.S. State Department, upon request of the Michigan Historical Collections and Governor G. Mennen Williams, consented to microfilm the files of the department of African affairs during the period when Williams was assistant secretary. The procedure followed prior to microfilming is described in the memorandum from State Department officer W. Witman, which is available at the library. The result of the project is 23 microfilm reels of materials covering the period, 1960-1966.

The researcher should be alerted to certain problems in the use of these films not fully described in the Witman memorandum. First, relatively little processing was done on the files before filming. Several reels appear to be filmed in random order. The difficulty is compounded because the film came without a meaningful inventory. Reels were described in a general manner (either "trips" or chronological") but there were no internal targets to aid the researcher. Finally, of the materials labeled as chronological, the files were filmed with the latest date first. The researcher wanting to examine files chronologically will thus have to begin at the end of a reel and work his/her way forward.

The collection has four recognizable series plus a number of miscellaneous reels. Series I is a 1964. chronological file covering the period 1961-1966, with a gap of July 1963 to December 1964. Series II is also a chronological series. Consisting of copies of the Secretary's outgoing letters, this series is of a more personal nature and includes thank you letters and letters of congratulation. This series also has a gap of July 1963 to December 1964. Series III is the files of the Secretary's special assistants, primarily John T. Abernethy, but also including Edward J. Chesky and Alexander L. Wiener, Jr. Series IV relates to Governor Williams' several trips through Africa. Series V is miscellaneous.