Collections

The Metropolitan Christian Council (Detroit-Windsor) has been organizing the Detroit community around issues of faith since 1919. The record group documents the activities of the Council from the early 1920s until 2003. Records include annual reports produced by the Council, minutes from administrative meetings, pamphlets and promotional materials, photographs of council leadership and churches, topical files, and videotapes of television programs produced by the council.

The records of the Metropolitan Christian Council have been divided between two archival repositories. The first accession was given to the Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University, in Detroit. A summary listing of these materials will be found in the Related Materials portion of this finding aid. In 2006, the Council, upon concurrence with archivists at the Reuther Library, donated additional records to the Bentley Historical Library. This second accession of records dates close to the founding of the organization and extends up to 2004. The series within the two accessions, however, do not seem to overlap and consist of different kinds of records.

The record group donated to the Bentley Library now comprises seven record series: Board of Directors, Council Packets, Programs, brochures, and other publications, Annual Reports, Topical Files, Television Programs, and General Assembly. In addition, the Council donated issues of its annual church directory and its newspaper -- The Newscaster-- which have been pulled from the records and cataloged separately.

Editor of the Flint Journal. Correspondence and topical files concerning his newspaper career in Flint, the role of the Flint Journal in the development of the city, the General Motors sit-down strike of 1937, and the position of automobile industry to Flint; and photographs.

The Gorman papers reflect the relationship between a local newspaper and the community it served. The collection comprises two linear feet of correspondence and topical files from the period 1928 to 1958. Representing but a selection of Gorman's original files, this remnant appears to include correspondence which Gorman considered to be most important. The correspondence includes substantive material as well as letters of autograph value only.

Papers of Michael and Janis Neubecker, co-founders and past Presidents of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays Downriver, Michigan (PFLAG Downriver). Michael Neubecker served as the PFLAG Great Lakes Regional Director and Vice-President/Regional Director Council Chair. Researchers will find records of PFLAG Downriver, materials of other PFLAG chapters and of the national PFLAG organization, and material related to Michael and Janice Neubecker PFLAG activities. Also subject files and photographs.

The Michael and Janice Neubecker papers contain material about Neubeckers' activism, records of organizations in which they participated. Also included correspondence and background material on various subjects related to the LGBT community rights. The collection is organized into three series: Michael and Janice Neubecker Files; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and Subject Files.

Michael Daugherty is a composer and Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Papers include compositions and original scores, correspondence, reviews, previews, programs and brochures for performances of Daugherty's work, and notes and collected materials documenting Daugherty's education, awards, and grants.

The Michael Daugherty papers document the career of composer Michael Daugherty. The collection consists of thirteen series: Biographical Materials, Compositions and Original Scores, Programs, Previews, Reviews, Brochures and Other Promotional Materials, Education and Awards, Correspondence, Contacts and Calendars, Media, Published Scores, Teaching Materials, and Miscellaneous. The collection includes compositions and original scores, programs, previews, brochures, other promotional materials, reviews of performances of Daugherty's compositions, notes and compositions from Daugherty's education, lecture notes and ideas, biographical materials, correspondence, and material documenting awards and fellowships received. The strength of the collection lies in the compositions and original scores and the collected programs, previews, reviews, and promotional materials that document performances of Daugherty's compositions.

Professor of management and labor relations at the University of Detroit-Mercy; researcher and lecturer on social issues within the business world. Studies include the impact of AIDS within the workplace. Biographical information, publications and conference papers, collected material relating to AIDS and AIDS awareness.

The Michael D. Whitty papers detail his professional and personal interest in AIDS during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The majority of the collection consists of research papers regarding AIDS policy in Michigan workplaces. Whitty presented his findings at several conferences focusing on AIDS in business. His personal interest in AIDS and human rights is best documented in his topical files.

Member of Co. G, 339th U.S. Infantry who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition" and officer in the Polar Bear Association. Collection includes papers on the committee sent to Russia in 1929, to recover the bodies of men slain during the expedition, including material on their reinterment in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, Troy, Michigan, and the dedication of the Polar Bear monument.

The collection includes a copy of a petition, Feb. 1919, from people in Detroit asking for the withdrawal of American troops from Archangel; a diary, July-Sept. 1929, describing his trip to Russia and the search for bodies; correspondence, 1929-1930, regarding the commission and its work; a list of the bodies recovered and a map showing the location of some bodies found around Kodish; papers relating to the reinterment of the dead in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery; a 1965 memoir of the 1929 commission, and two letters, 1966 and undated, from Arthur Wickham relating his memories of service in Archangel. Also included are bulletins, meeting notes, speeches, eulogies, and programs of the Polar Bear Association and the constitution and bylaws of the Polar Bear Post, No. 436, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Clarinet player in the University of Michigan Symphony Band which toured the Soviet Union, Near East, and Eastern Europe in 1961. Includes Mark's journal, photographs, and material collected while on tour.

The Michael L. Mark papers (0.4 linear feet) comprise materials collected and produced during the University of Michigan Symphony Band Tour of 1961. The collection is organized in two series, Band Tour Papers and Visual Materials.

This collection consists of audio recordings of interviews with Michigan Athletic Director Fritz Crisler, Norma Bentley (Crisler's secretary) and Marcus Plant member of the university's Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics and faculty representative to the Big Ten Conference.

The Michael O'Brien collection of taped interviews consists of 60 cassette tapes conducted over the period of 1987 to 1990. Most of the interviews were conducted over the phone.

Director of cultural activities of the Extension Service of the University of Michigan. Material relating to the National Youth Administration and the effect of the depression on Michigan youth; files collected relating to Michigan cultural organizations, art festivals and exhibitions; notebooks containing biographical information on Michigan artists; and photographs.

The Michael Church collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical/personal; Cultural Organizations and Programs; Michigan Artists; Programs of Art Exhibitions; Audio-Visual Material; Clippings; and Other activities and interests. Of special interests are the files of collected information about local Michigan art organizations and the binders containing biographical information about Michigan artists.