Collections

The records of the Michigan Archaeological Society records cover the period since 1924. The record group consists primarily of reports, meeting agenda and minutes, correspondence, newsletters, and clippings. The series in the record group are Background, Administrative, Activities, Local Chapters, Topical, and Publications.

Researchers should note that this collection contains depictions of the lives and cultures of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodewadami Nations in Michigan (among other Indigenous cultures across North America) in an archaeological context, described by primarily white archaeologists. As such, materials in this collection may contain offensive language and descriptions of those cultures.

Organization established to provide support to families having children with emotional disorders and to educate the public about children with emotional disorders and the kinds of services they require. Organizational records include annual meeting files and subject files; also materials from chapters throughout the state.

The Michigan Association for Children with Emotional Disorders Records include newsletters, minutes, flyers, programs, and correspondence related to the functioning of both the state organization as well as local chapters. The Michigan Association for Children with Emotional Disorders Records (3.5 linear feet) date from 1958 to 1991, but the bulk of the material covers the period 1958 to 1980. The collection is arranged in two series: State Organizational Materials and Chapter Materials.

State organization founded in 1927 to promote physical education in schools and tring of Physical education teachers. Records consist of files and photographs relating to the administration and activities of the organization.

The MAHPERD records consist of files and photographs relating to the administration and activities of the organization as it sought to promote the expansion of physical education and recreational activities in schools and communities across Michigan. The records were received in several accessions beginning in 1982 (boxes 1-7); 1988-1889 (box 8) and 1992 (boxes 8-9). The physical arrangement of the records reflects the accessions. There is some overlap and continuation of content between the accessions. The records have been arranged in the following series: History; Associated Organizations; Awards; Committees; Conferences and Workshops; Conventions; Correspondence; Finances; Girls and Women's Athletics; Meetings (includes Board of Directors and Executive Board); Publicity; Organization; Petitions and Position Papers; Projects and Special Interests; Publications; Reports, Scrapbooks and Miscellanea; Photographs; Presidents Files; Yearly Files; and Executive Director Files.

Researchers concerned with school curricula might use these papers to examine the conflicts and congruencies between physical training and specifically academic disciplines. Furthermore, there is ample material on women's athletics. From its inception, MAHPER seems to have had more egalitarian relations between the sexes than is the case in many professional associations; of the MAHPER presidents holding office between 1926 and 1962, nearly half were women. MAHPER has long been opposed to the second-rate physical education given to girls and young women. In sum, the primary interest of this collection is its documentation of shifting attitudes towards physical education both on the part of the general public and among professionals.

Records largely of predecessor organizations, the Michigan Association of School Librarians and the Michigan Audio-Visual Association; includes photographs.

The record group is divided into four series: Michigan Association of School Librarians (MASL); Michigan Audio-Visual Association (MASL); MASL-MAVA combined activities; and Michigan Association for Media in Education.

State parent organization of the Disciples of Christ; organizational records, prior to 1949, of the predecessor organization, the Michigan Christian Missionary Society.

The record group consists of minutes of the board of managers of the Michigan Christian Missionary Society as well as records of the annual state convention of the denomination. In addition, there are minutes for the Northwestern Corporation, for the second and sixth district, and for the central district convention.

Originally an organization of speech teacher; minutes, financial reports, budgets, topical files on association activities, committee reports, conference journals, and membership directories published by the association.

The records of the Michigan Association of Speech Communication are comprised of documentation primarily generated by members of the organization's executive committee carrying out their functions as officers of this professional association. As such, the bulk of the materials are in the form of minutes, financial reports/budgets, topical files on various association activities, committee reports, conference planning material, and association publications such as newsletters and membership directories. Although the coverage of the materials spans the period 1940-1997, the majority of the records were produced between 1970 and 1990. The record group is arranged into five series: Administrative Materials, Executive Council, Printed Material, Conferences, and Topical Files.

Organization of educators responsible for directing or supervising the work of student teachers. Annual reports, conference files, minutes, newsletters, and other records of the organization.

The records of the Michigan Association of Teacher Educators have been arranged alphabetically, then chronologically. These records, 1947-1974, include minutes, correspondence, conference programs, newsletters, materials relating to the election of officers, and membership lists.

State Audubon society established in 1904; records include historical and background information; files of annual meetings of executive committee and board of directors; files relating society's activities, to its nature centers and bird sanctuaries, and to the operation and activities of local chapters within the state; also correspondence and scattered photographs.

The Michigan Audubon Society records document the development and management of the organization, its conservation activities, including development of nature centers and sanctuaries, and the society's relations with local chapters. The record group is divided into the following series: History and Background; Meetings and Meeting Minutes; Activities; Nature Centers and Sanctuaries; Local Chapters; Correspondence; and Photographs.

Photographs (positive and negative), slides, and transparencies taken by the company's photographers to document company activities, products, services, employees at work and at leisure, company exhibits and commemorations, and the response of the company to natural disasters and civil disturbances.

In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.

The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.

The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.

More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).

In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).

Reports of comprehensive Michigan Railroad Appraisal, providing evaluations of every railroad in the state, directed by Mortimer E. Cooley at the request of Governor Hazen Pingree; also appraisals of plank roads and canals built in Michigan.

The record group consists of nine volumes of Michigan railroad appraisal reports. The appendix titled "List of Physical Items Inventoried" lists the types of property, machinery and equipment inventoried in the appraisals.