Collections

Dance cards from various University of Michigan dances and social events, including the J-Hop, Freshman Frolic, and Michigan Union Formal.

This collection includes dance cards from 1888 to 1947 from various University of Michigan dances and social events. The bulk of the dance cards are from the J-Hop, including different dance cards from the same year. The collection also includes dance cards from both the Michigan Union formal and the Frosh Frolic. The dance cards have been organized by the event and date. In this finding aid, the date refers to the date the dance was held, not the class year of those attending the dance. Other dance cards can be found in various scrapbook collections at the Bentley.

Collection of diplomas issued by the University of Michigan.

The Diplomas collection consists of approximately 180 diplomas issued by the University of Michigan, 1845-1934, as well as some special program diplomas and certificates and seven diplomas for other institutions of higher education.

Portrait photographs of University of Michigan faculty, administrators and staff.

This collection contains portraits of about 750 University of Michigan faculty members. It is strongest for people who served on the faculty during the nineteenth century and in the 1930s, although a few portraits as late as about 1960 are included.

In addition to faculty, librarians, and research staff, the collection contains portraits of a few nineteenth-century campus characters, including Robert Howard, the bellringer, Jolly the Janitor, "Doc" Gregor Nagele, the Medical School janitor, and Jimmy Ottley, the campus postman.

The photos are arranged alphabetically. Outsize portraits listed in this finding aid are found in the medium-size photograph collection (UAm) under the name of the person.

Faculty portraits are also found in a number of other collections, including:

1. Rentschler's Studio (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
2. Shaw, Wilfred Byron.
3. Swain, George Robert.
4. University of Michigan class albums.
5. University of Michigan. Alumni Association.
6. University of Michigan. News and Information Service. Series D.

The original negatives of some prints in the Faculty Portrait collection may be found in the Rentschler, Swain, and News and Information Service collections. In addition to these collections, faculty portraits can be found in the records of many schools, colleges, and departments, as well as in the papers of individual faculty members.

Proceedings, treasurer's reports, committee reports, scrapbooks, and various administrative records.

The University of Michigan Faculty Women's Club record group contains materials from 1921-2008, which document the work of this organization to promote friendship and collegiality among women faculty and wives of faculty members. The record group contains information about the activities and administrative procedures of the club. The record group is arranged in five series: Administration, Newcomers, Interest Groups, Events and History.

The University of Michigan Hillel records cover the student organization's contribution to Jewish campus life. The collection consists primarily of calendar of events, newsletters, some correspondence, newspaper clippings, board minutes, brochures, programs, and posters.

The records of the University of Michigan Hillel cover the period between 1935 and 2008. The collection consists primarily of calendar of events, newsletters, some correspondence, newspaper clippings, board minutes, brochures, programs, and posters. The collection contains the following series: Administrative/Background, Scrapbooks, Press/Publications, and Events.

Official Publications, 1900-1971, of the University of Michigan. Bulk has been bound sequentially.

The volumes of Official Publications contain announcements, bulletins, reports and other printed material issued by various units and officers of the University, which were designated official publications. Each titled volume corresponds to roughly one school year, as detailed in the attached list, and may span more than one physical bound volume. The individual publications were numbered sequentially, in order of publication, and are bound in numerical order. Each publication also has a distinctive title, in addition to a volume and number. Prior to about 1921 the annual bound set consisted almost exclusively of the Bulletins of various schools and colleges. After that date the bound set began to include additional publications such the President's Report, financial reports, and incidental publications such as the guide to Freshmen and reports on sponsored conferences and programs.

The following numbers are missing, and their contents have not been determined:

1. 1916-17 -- vol. 18 -- no. 6, 19, 21, 30, 41
2. 1917-18 --vol. 19 -- no. 7, 9, 11, 13, 27
3. 1963-64 -- vol. 65 -- no. 20
4. 1964-65 -- vol. 66 -- no. 20, 25, 73

Photographs collected from various sources, depicting buildings, faculty, students, and other topics relating to the University of Michigan.

The University of Michigan Photographs Vertical File represents a miscellaneous assemblage of U of M-related photographs from many different sources, mainly prior to 1950. The vertical file is especially strong on the earliest photographic images of the campus, university buildings, and class activities. While the vertical file contains many images of individuals, researchers should first consult the library's on-line catalog for images of faculty, administrators, and other University personalities. Most photographs originally accumulated by a University department or other unit are kept with that unit's records.

The arrangement of the photographic images was intended to parallel the classification used with University of Michigan published materials and with manuscript materials. Both of these used a classification system using letters of the alphabet (A through N only) for groupings of published or manuscript material. This system was carried over for use with the library's photographic images though there are certain categories for which images are unlikely to be found (Category A, for example, which pertains to legislation affecting the University or Category I which is reserved for university publications of a scientific or literary nature). The classification is further broken down under each letter by a number code which refers to a more specific subdivision. The heaviest concentration of images will be found under C (for U-M schools and colleges, departments, and other units), D (for university buildings and views), and F (for class pictures, photos of student organizations, and images detailing aspects of student life and customs).

Each heading in this finding aid includes the letter classification plus a numbered subdivision. In addition, the individual envelopes are numbered sequentially. Headings for which there are oversized images (usually larger than 8x10) will be indicated by reference to medium or large size photographs. When requesting material, researchers must specify the heading and the classification and folder number.

This finding aid describes only a small portion of the Bentley Library's U-M visual images. The on-line catalog will direct the researcher to additional images.

Portraits of University of Michigan students, ca. 1860-ca.1950, gathered from a number of sources.

The University of Michigan student portrait collection has been brought together from a variety of sources, including the Alumni Office, the Law School, the College of Pharmacy, the Medical School and the Graduate Library. There are approximately 2000 images (formal portraits for the most part), and they have been arranged alphabetically. The dates of the photographs extend back to the 1850s, but the great bulk of the collection consists of cabinet photographs taken from the period of 1870 to 1900. The photographs consist mainly of graduation portraits, although there are also portraits or snapshots taken some time after the period when the individual attended the university. Photographs of this sort are indicated on the container listing by the notation (alumnus).

The researcher should note that this collection represents only one source of portraits of U-M students. The library has other collections with images of individual students. The researcher should first check the Visual Materials card catalog to ascertain whether or not there might be a more comprehensive collection of materials relating to an individual, such as a public figure. These larger collections are cataloged separately, and often contain portraits of individuals from their U-M days. Second, the library has a collection of class albums (cataloged as University of Michigan Class Albums) containing portraits of individuals from various classes in the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s. Not all class years are represented and not every individual in a given class is included in this collection, however. Third, the library has collections of student photographs found within the files of individual schools and departments, notably the Law School and the Medical School. Fourth, the researcher will find individual student portraits as well as class portraits within the library's photographic vertical file (filed under UBImu/F99), in both the regular (UBImus/F99) and oversize folders (UBImum/F99 and UBImul/F99). Fifth, the researcher should consult the library's file of the Michiganensian for more current photographs of students and for photographs of students as part of student organizations such as athletic teams, special interest clubs, and professional and social fraternities/sororities.

The University Planner's Office oversees the master planning, site planning, and site design for the university. The records consist of correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, architectural drawings, and photographs spanning the years 1840 to 2014.

The records of the University Planner's Office consist of 48 linear feet, 72.3 GB of digital files, and one oversize volume. Records contain correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, architectural drawings, and photographs spanning the years 1840 to 2014. The records document the role of the University Planner's Office in campus planning on the University of Michigan campuses and in conjunction with the City of Ann Arbor.

Various posters advertising theatrical and musical productions put on by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance and related units ranging from 1936 to the present. Includes posters from the Department of Speech (before the School of Music had a separate theatre department). Dance Company, Department of Music, Department of Musical Theater, Department of Theater and Drama, and the Opera Theater program.

The University Productions posters collection contains posters largely created by University Productions which handles music, dance, voice, and theatre productions for the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. The poster collection is arranged in eight series: Collage Concerts, Dance Company, Department of Music, Department of Musical Theater, Department of Speech, Department of Theater and Drama, Opera Theater and Oversize Files.