Collections

Oral history project conducted by Lembi Kongas entitled "Twentieth Century Farm Women: A View from Southern Michigan: Oral History Project, 1975-1978"; include audio tapes and transcripts of interviews; background materials; and published volumes, 1992, entitled "Farm women in the Twentieth Century: A view from southern Michigan."

The Kongas collection consists of the results of the project to document the lives of farm women living in Southern Michigan. The collection includes tapes of oral interviews, transcripts of the interviews, background materials, and miscellaneous photographs and slides.

Lemuel A. Johnson (1941-2002) was born in Maiduguri, Nigeria. An expert in African literature and the Diaspora, a literary critic, and poet, he taught English at the Fourah Bay College of the University of Sierra Leone and comparative literature at the University of Michigan. From 1985 to 1991 he served as director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies; author of a three-volume work of poems entitled the Sierra Leone Trilogy. and numerous works of literary criticism. Papers include biographical information, correspondence from colleagues and family, and information about his work in the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies and the Department of English Language and Literature. There are also notes and drafts of Johnson's literary criticism, poetry, and his other writings.

The Lemuel A. Johnson papers (6 linear feet) date from 1942-2002. The papers include biographical information, correspondence from colleagues and family, and information about his work in the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies and the Department of English Language and Literature. There are also notes and drafts of Johnson's literary criticism, poetry, and his other writings. They are arranged into six series: Biographical Information, Conferences, Correspondence, University of Michigan, Writings, Materials Related to, and Writings.

Civic leader, wife of Michigan governor, George Romney, and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1970. Correspondence, political background files, speeches, and miscellanea largely concerning election of 1970; and campaign and speech files covering gubernatorial career of George Romney.

The Lenore Romney papers (1960-1974) include correspondence, speeches, and other materials relating to her official role as the wife of Governor George Romney. In addition, there are files that relate to her participation in the political campaigns of her husband and to her own campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1970.

Battle Creek, Michigan, resident; glass negatives of houses and house interiors, of children, women, boating scenes, and a railroad car, possibly taken in the Battle Creek, Michigan area.

The collection is arranged into a single series of glass negative with two subseries for different sizes (4"x5" and5"x8"). The negatives are unidentified, but they are probably of a Battle Creek area family or families, perhaps the family of Burns's wife, Betty Hoyt.

Cincinnati and Detroit based architect. Major commissions include the Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan residence for Oscar Webber, the Fordson Village Development, and the Goulburn Avenue and Dresden Avenue Defense Houses in Detroit. The collection consists primarily of project files, correspondence, personal diaries, photographs, commission accounts, and architectural drawings.

The Willeke papers are organized into three series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, and Defense Housing. The collection encompasses eleven linear feet of correspondence, photographs, journals, sketches, commission notebooks and accounts, as well as architectural drawings in eight flat file drawers, and twenty-four tubes.

Professor of architectural history at the University of Michigan. Correspondence, topical files, college term papers written by Eaton, papers written by Eaton students (mainly concerning the architecture of Michigan buildings), and photographs; subjects include seventeenth century Dutch architecture, the Chicago school of architecture, and the career of Frank Lloyd Wright. Also included is Eaton's research file on the Palmer-Ryan House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Ann Arbor. The collection contains extensive correspondence with architect William Gray Purcell

The Leonard K. Eaton papers document his career as a professor of architectural history at the University of Michigan and reflect his interest in seventeenth-century Dutch architecture and the Chicago school of architecture. The papers cover the years 1950-1988 and reflect Eaton's activities as architectural historian, student advisor, author, and participant in architectural professional groups.

The Eaton papers have come to the library in three accessions. The first in 1988 came from Mr. Eaton; the second in 1996 consisted of materials that he had donated to the University of Michigan Art and Architecture Library and which they subsequently transferred to the Bentley Library. The third accession contained some topical files and material related to the Palmer House in Ann Arbor. The first accession has been retained in its original order and consists of five series: Correspondence, Topical Files, College Term Papers written by Leonard Eaton, Student Papers written by Eaton Students, and Photographs

The Correspondence series is arranged alphabetically and consists mainly of outgoing letters. Of special interest is the exchange of letters with Lewis Mumford dating from the late 1950s. Topical Files consists of notes and drafts of Eaton's published articles, which have been arranged by title. Also included in this series are articles relating to the landscape architect Jens Jensen as well as notes and published writings from the 2004 accession. College Term Papers written by Eaton series is arranged alphabetically. Mainly undated, these papers reflect Eaton's interest in literature, art and political theory. Student papers written by Eaton students series focuses on Michigan buildings and architecture. The Photographs series includes photographs used in his research on Dutch architecture and a Flint, Michigan, public housing project.

Leonard Studios of Lowell, Michigan. Photographs of the showboat, "Robert E. Lee X", and of the cast and crew.

The Leonard Studios photograph collection is comprised of photographs of the Lowell showboat "Robert E. Lee X" and of the cast and crew.

Timekeeper for the construction of the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel. The collection is comprised of photographs and photographic postcards featuring pictures taken by Wells of the various stages of construction of the tunnel, which opened in 1910 and allowed for a more efficient method of transporting rail cars between Detroit and Windsor.

The Leonard W. Wells photograph collection consists primarily of photographs of various sizes, separated into four series: Approach to Tunnel; Construction Sites and Workers; River Construction; and Other Photographs. These divisions are meant to indicate the content of scenes found in the collection. The collection also contains photographic postcards, all of which are located in the Construction Sites and Workers series or the Other Photographs series. Most of the images depict various views along the railway path, stages of the tunnel's construction, or groups of construction workers. One photograph features the first sinking of a tunnel tube section on October 1, 1907. Although the majority of images show the construction of the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, the locations found in other images may be outside of Detroit or Windsor. The Biographical series contains additional information about the life of Leonard W. Wells.

Chairman of the Detroit Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from its establishment in 1960 until sometime in 1962 or 1963. Papers include material on the operation of the Detroit chapter of CORE and its role in the national civil rights movement.

The Leon A. DeMeunier collection, covering the period of 1960 to 1964, documents the role of CORE in the civil rights struggle of the early 1960s. The focus of the collection is the national civil rights movement and its efforts to overturn the practice of segregation in the South. Although the materials have been donated as a personal collection, the files are those of Detroit CORE with the following series: Papers, Printed Materials, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, and Miscellanea.

Social psychologist, specialist in the theory of cognitive dissonance, with interest in the fields of visual perception, archaeology and pre-historic social organization. Papers, primarily from his years at Stanford University, include correspondence, speeches, unpublished articles, reports, some research material and files relating to various professional organizations and meetings.

The Leon Festinger papers document the career of one of the leading psychologists of our time. Material exists from all phases of his career and shows evidence of his work in social psychology, visual perception, and pre-historic social organization. However, as Festinger noted on several occasions, much material was jettisoned to lighten the load for each move to a new university. Consequently, more documentation exists from his later career (especially after the mid-1960s) than from earlier periods. Except for occasional reminiscences, very little information is included regarding time spent at the University of Michigan or his association with the Institute for Social Research. While the collection contains only limited primary research material, references to that research and to his many experiments in social psychology and perception may be found in his correspondence. His activities as a reviewer, consultant, and proponent of international academic cooperation are especially well-documented in his correspondence. The original arrangement of the Leon Festinger collection has largely been maintained. The collection is divided into three series: Early Writing and Research (1939-1957); Alphabetical Files (1950-1989); and Reprint File (1940-1986).