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William G. Dow Papers, 1927-1999 (majority within 1930-1960)
16 linear feet
The William G. Dow Papers document his career as a faculty member of the University of Michigan Department of Electrical Engineering, his scientific research, his participation in professional organizations, and his other professional interests and activities. The collection also contains copies of published and unpublished technical and professional papers written by Dow, and two unpublished books. The papers include lecture notes taken by Dow, texts of lectures given by Dow and others, course materials used in Dow's classes, correspondence, minutes, reports, raw data, photographs, and other material relating to Dow's research. The papers are composed of six series: University of Michigan Activities, Research, Professional Organizations, Articles, Books and Talks, Topical Files, Correspondence, and Photographs. There is a great deal of overlap between theses series, as Dow was often engaged in educational, research, publishing, and professional activities simultaneously. Researchers are advised to consult the entire collection. A small group of biographical and bibliographical materials begins the collection.
University of Michigan Activities, 1927-1968
In the University of Michigan Activities series, the largest subseries (Lecture Notes and Course Materials) contains materials relating to Dow's experiences both as a teacher and a student of electrical engineering. Materials in this subseries are divided into two sub-subseries: materials created by Dow and those relating to courses taught by others. Courses Dow taught are organized by course number, and these folders contain his notes, exercises, tests, and exams given to students. In many cases there seems to be an overlap between Dow's work as a teacher and his activities conducting industrial and government research, as demonstrated by the many pieces of correspondence with corporations which Dow indicated should be included in these files. Of particular interest may be the materials relating to the basic course in electronics developed by Dow which was required of all undergraduate students in electrical engineering at Michigan since 1929. According to The University of Michigan: An Encyclopedic Survey: "the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan was one of the first engineering schools in the United States to include instruction in electronics as a major item in its curriculum." (III, 1230) The extensive documentation of the courses Dow taught, together with his correspondence about education and the curriculum, may be of interest to those studying the evolution of this innovative program. Courses taught by people other than Dow are organized alphabetically by the professor's last name; these folders contain lecture notes rather than course materials.
This series also includes the University of Michigan Research Centers subseries which contains materials relating to the founding and administration of the Aeronautical Research Center and the Engineering Research Center. Another subseries relates to the Summer Electronics Institute, of which Dow was the director. The files of the Institute include correspondence relating to the planning of the institute, programs, notes on lectures taken by him, and texts of several lectures by Institute instructors. In 1937 the topic of the Summer Institute was high vacuum electron tubes and gaseous conduction principles; in 1950 the topics were microwave electron tubes and semi-conductor electronics, and in 1955 it focused on transistor applications. Materials relating to other activities sponsored by or held at the University of Michigan are included in the Events at the University of Michigan subseries.