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Collection

Blair Moody Papers, 1928-1954 (majority within 1934-1952)

27.5 linear feet (in 29 boxes) — 29 film reels — 60 phonograph records — 37 GB (online)

Online
Detroit newspaperman and United States Senator from Michigan. Correspondence chiefly concerning his 1952 senatorial campaign and his newspaper work in the United States and abroad during World War II; scrapbooks of newspaper articles written by Moody and published for the most part in the Detroit News and Barron's; tape recordings of public affairs radio program; photographs and motion pictures of public affairs interview programs.

The Blair Moody collection documents the career of a Washington-based newspaper correspondent and columnist and United States Senator. The collection covers the period 1928 to 1954, though the bulk of materials date since the mid-1940s. Much of the collection pertains to that period of time when Moody was in the Senate or was running for election to the Senate, although his newspaper career is also well documented. The collection has been divided into the following series: Biographical; Correspondence; Personal/Family; Newspaper Career; Gridiron Club; Senatorial Papers; Speeches; Scrapbooks; Sound Recordings; and Visual Materials.

Collection

Esson M. Gale papers, 1909-1965

3 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Orientalist, government official and director of the International Center at University of Michigan. Correspondence, 1929-1965, notebooks, 1940-1942, and scrapbooks relating largely to professional activities and China; also photographs.

The Gale collection is arranged into the following series: Biographical Information; Correspondence; Conferences and other activities; Miscellaneous; Photographs. Within the correspondence, there are letters from Adolf Berle, James A. Farley, Joseph R. Hayden, Hubert H. Humphrey, Frank Murphy, Chester Nimitz, Singhman Rhee, Daniel Poling, John Powell, Arthur H. Vandenberg, and Wendell Willkie. Some of the photos were collected during Gale's employment in China (1909-1927) and Korea (1958-1959), and photos relating to the University of Michigan Class of 1907, the Quadrangle Club, and the International Center.

Collection

George Romney Papers, 1920s-1973

601 linear feet — 194.6 GB (online)

Online
Republican Governor of Michigan, 1962-1969; Presidential candidate, 1968; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1969-1972. Papers consist of extensive correspondence and subject files from his tenure as governor, campaign material, and files relating to service at HUD and his other political activities, includes photographs, films and videotapes and sound recordings.

The papers of George Romney document the many faceted career of an automobile executive, governor of Michigan, candidate for President, cabinet officer, and activist on behalf of volunteerism. In this electronic version of the finding aid to the Romney papers, there are six subgroups of materials. These are Gubernatorial Papers covering the period of 1962 to 1969, Pre-gubernatorial Papers covering the period before taking office in 1963, Post-gubernatorial Papers covering the period after 1968, records of Romney Associates (a group established during his bid for the presidency), Visual Materials covering mainly the period up to 1969, and Sound Recordings also covering up to 1969. There is some overlapping of dates, particularly around the time when Romney was first elected governor in 1962 and the period when he joined the Nixon administration in 1969. The researcher should also note that the papers of Lenore Romney are not part of this finding aid.

Collection

James K. Pollock papers, 1920-1968

87 linear feet — 3 oversize folders — 2 film reels — 6 phonograph records (oversize) — 16.3 GB — 19 digital audio files

Online
University of Michigan professor of political science, special advisor to the U.S. Military Government in Germany after World War II, participant in numerous government commissions; papers include correspondence, working files, speeches, course materials, and visual and sound materials.

The James K. Pollock papers represent an accumulation of files from a lifetime of academic teaching and research and an extraordinary number of public service responsibilities to both his state and his nation. The files within the collection fall into two categories: types of document (such as correspondence, speeches and writings, visual materials, etc.) and files resulting from a specific activity or position (such as his work as delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention or his service with the Office of the Military Government in Germany after World War II).

The collection is large and of a complicated arrangement because of Pollock's many activities. When received in 1969, the files were maintained as received; very little processing was done to the collection so that an inventory to the papers could be quickly prepared. The order of material is that devised by James K. Pollock and his secretarial staff in the U-M Department of Political Science. Recognizing the anomalies within the order of the collection, the library made the decision to list the contents to the collection while at the same time preparing a detailed card file index (by box and folder number, i.e. 16-8) to significant correspondents and subjects. While there was much to be said for this method of preparing a finding aid expeditiously, it also covered up some problems in arrangement. Thus series and subseries of materials are not always grouped together as they were created by Pollock. Files on the Hoover Commission and the Michigan Constitutional Convention, for example, come before Pollock's work in Germany after the war. In 1999, effort was made to resolve some of the inconsistencies and obvious misfilings of the first inventory but because of the numbering system used in 1969 and the card index prepared for the files, there are still some problems. Researchers should be alert to these difficulties and take time to examine different parts of the collection for material on a similar topic.

Collection

Josephine Fellows Gomon papers, 1913-1975

10 linear feet — 2 oversize volumes

Executive secretary to Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy, 1930-1933, chairwoman of the Mayor's Unemployment Committee, later director of the Detroit Housing Commission, candidate for Detroit public office, and director of women personnel at the Willow Run Bomber Plant during World War II. Correspondence and diaries concerning the Murphy mayoralty, Clarence Darrow and the Ossian Sweet Murder Trial of 1925, and local Detroit politics; and photographs.

The Josephine Gomon papers have been divided into the following series: Correspondence; Clippings/Scrapbooks; Notebooks of news items; Diaries; Biographical/Personal; Materials concerning Frank Murphy; Materials related to Gomon's projected biography of Frank Murphy; Ford Motor Company materials; Photographs.

Collection

Margaret Bayne Price Papers, 1918-1969 (majority within 1947-1968)

25 linear feet

Democratic National Committeewoman from Michigan, Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee and Director of Women's Affairs of the Democratic Party. Extensive correspondence, speeches, press releases, political campaign materials, newspaper clippings, agendas, and assorted printed material relating to her work in the Democratic Party; material concerning Democratic politics, 1948-1967, and the activities of the Democratic National Committee and the Michigan State Central Committee.

The collection includes extensive correspondence, speeches, press releases, political campaign materials, newspaper clippings, agendas, and assorted printed material relating to her work in the Democratic Party; material concerning state and national Democratic politics, 1948-1967, and materials accumulated from her service with the Democratic National Committee and the Michigan State Central Committee.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Press Materials; Speeches; Miscellaneous Materials; Organizational Activities; State and Local Politics; National Politics; Printed Materials; and Photographs.

Collection

Media Resources Center (University of Michigan) films and videotapes, 1930s, 1948-1986

2500 films and videotapes (approximate)

Online
The television production studio and media services unit of the University of Michigan, commonly referred to as "Michigan Media." It was formed in 1978 through the merger of the university Television Center and the university Audio-Visual Education Center. The Television Center began producing educational programs for broadcast on commercial and public stations in 1950. The Audio-Visual Education Center produced films for the university and operated a film distribution library. The Media Resources Center closed in 1986. The collection consists of documentary type film and video and film and video of television programs produced by the Media Resources Center and its predecessors.

The University of Michigan Media Resources Center Films and Videotapes collection consists of "archives" film footage produced or collected by the Center and television programs and films produced by the Center. The "archives" films are divide into three series; Archives Film (Series AF), Film File (Series AF) and Audio-Visual Education Center Film File Series AVEC Film File. The television programs are organized based on the

Archives Films

The "archival films": consist of documentary style, 16mm film footage of a variety of University of Michigan events, buildings, and personalities. The series originated in 1959 when the Television Center began a project to create a "university film archives." Some of this footage was shot for the purpose of being incorporated into television programs, but much of the filming was done simply to create a film record of the university. Filming was done on a regular basis through about 1972. After that date the Michigan Media collection includes comparatively few "archival" films.

The subject matter of the archival films falls into several broad categories:

  1. Series AF -- Archives Films and Series FF -- Film File
    • Ceremonial - including footage of awards ceremonies, inaugurations, graduations, building groundbreakings and dedications
    • Campus scenes - buildings and construction sites, students on the Diag, and general activity on campus
    • Athletic events and marching band performances
    • Student activities -- including protests, fraternity/sorority activities, homecoming, course registration, and social events.
    • Faculty and administrator interviews
    • Visiting dignitaries and participants in special programs and conferences on campus.
    • Films collected by the Television Center - these include several films from the 1920s and 1930s
  2. Series AVEC Film File
    • Original footage shot for use in Audio-Visual Education Center films

Films in the three archival series range from a few minutes to more than an hour in length. The films may be negatives, original positives, or work prints. Some are identified as "trims," i.e. original footage edited out of finished productions. The work prints have often been cut and spliced and portions may be missing. Several titles were originally recorded on either two- or one-videotape reels or directly on 3/4-inch videotape cassette.

The early films, ca 1953-ca.1963, are generally black and white. After 1963 color film is more common. Many of the films, especially, from the early years, are silent. For some of these there are accompanying 16mm magnetic sound tracks or 1/4-inch reel-to-reel audio tapes.

The film description part of the finding aid is arranged by series film number or titles. Film numbers were assigned by the Television Center in an approximate chronological order. The description of individual films is based on a card File created by the Television Center and on a viewing of each film by Bentley staff.

The descriptive record for each film includes the film number; title; date; a brief summary of the content of the film; a listing of significant persons appearing in the film; and technical information on the color, sound, polarity, and length of the film.

The films are stored in canisters, usually on a core rather than a reel. A film number generally refers to an individual film title. There is sometimes more than one film number in a canister and occasionally more than one film number on a single reel or core. Alternate versions of a title are indicated by a lower case letter.

The Television Center gave the films titles which are more or less descriptive. These titles have been retained except for a few instances in which a more descriptive title was assigned or in which a uniform title was created for all parts of a multi-reel film. The individual reels of multi-part titles are designated by a lower case letter, e.g. 98a, 98b, 98c. For some titles the may be more than one film, possibly a negative, positive, work print, or other version. A few tittles have been digitized and are available on DVD and streaming files.

The listing for each film or program in includes a Title, date of production, and abstract/summary of the content of the film and ,when available, the names of persons or organizations featured in the film. University of Michigan faculty and staff are identified by departmental or administrative affiliation (e.g. Peter Gosling, UM-Geog. A list of abbreviations used is included in the Additional Descriptive Data Section of this finding aid.) Technical information for the films is provided in the format: Original: 16mm film, pos, b/w, sil, 343, 00:09:35. The order of the information is:

  1. Format -- film / videotape / magnetic sound track
  2. Polarity -- neg (negative) /. Pos (positive) / wp (work print)
  3. Color -- b/w or color
  4. Sound -- silent / sound / sof (sound on film)/ at (accompanying 1/4-inch audiotape)
  5. Length -- expressed in feet (footage value is sometimes an estimate)
  6. Running time -- in the form 01:33:25 (hours:minutes:seconds)
  7. (in cases where there are several versions of a title, there may be multiple values for each category)

Television Programs and AVEC Films

The Television Programs consist of 16mm kinescope films and two-inch and 1-inch videotapes of programs produced by the Center for distribution to commercial and educational television stations. The collection represents only a portion of the television programs produced by the Center. There were no extant copies of some programs when the library acquired the collection.

The films and videotapes in the Michigan Media collection were appraised and only a portion have been selected for permanent retention by the Bentley Historical Library. A number of appraisal criteria were used in determining which television programs and films were retained:

  1. subject matter relating to the University of Michigan;
  2. subject matter relating to the state of Michigan;
  3. subject matter of general, national interest;
  4. participation of prominent UM faculty or staff;
  5. participation of prominent Michigan personalities;
  6. participation of persons of national or international significance;
  7. programs marking significant technical or artistic developments at Michigan Media;
  8. award winning programs.

The television programs are organized by series created by the Center. The series for the most part reflect different type of programming the Center produced, from the earliest "telecourses" to the independent programs produced under the title "Understanding Our World". to the multi-part programs that were the core of the "University of Michigan Television Hour. See the History section for details on the different series.

The description for individual programs includes the title and date of the program, a unique id number, and an abstract of the content of the program with listing of the host and guests on the program. A program may exist in one or more formats: kinescope negative, kinescope positive and 1-inch or 2-inch videotape. Technical information for each program is recorded in the format16mm kinescope film, neg. #511, Pos. #665, 2-inch video #458. (the negative number was treated as a production and for some programs recorded originally on videotape a negative was not actually produced). The television programs were generally either twelve, fifteen or thirty minutes in length Most are black and white and all have sound.

In 2009 a selection of television programs and films and tapes were digitized. for each tape or film selected a preservation Beta SP tape was made as well as a DVD use copy and a streaming file (mpeg4 and Flash). For some films a high resolution digital copy was made as well (mpeg2). The finding aid lists the original format(s) and the derivative formats for the digitized items.

Collection

Paul Blanshard papers, 1912-1979

30.3 linear feet — 3.91 GB

Online
Author and social and religious commentator. Papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks and drafts of articles and books, and other papers, including material concerning his student years at the University of Michigan, as Congregational minister, educational director of the Amalgamated Textile Workers of America, assistant editor of The Nation, chief of the New York City Department of Investigations and Accounts under Fiorello La Guardia in the 1930's, economic analyst for the Caribbean Committee of the U.S. State Department during World War II, and free lance writer noted for his observations on the Catholic Church in America and abroad.

The Paul Blanshard papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, drafts of articles and books, and speeches. The papers covering the period of 1912 to 1974 document the variety of Blanshard's life: his student years at the University of Michigan (1910-1914), his career as Congregational minister in East Boston, Massachusetts and Tampa, Florida (1917-1918), his work as educational director of the Amalgamated Textile and Clothing Workers of America in Rochester and Utica, New York (1900-1924), as secretary and lecturer of the League for Industrial Democracy (1924-1933), as correspondent and associate editor of The Nation (1928-1929), as director of the City Affairs Committee of New York (1930-1933) and head of the New York Department of Investigations and Accounts under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (1934-1938), as director of the Society for the Prevention of Crime (1941-1942), as senior economic analyst and consultant to the director of the Caribbean Commission of the U.S. Department of State; and as freelance writer and critic of the Roman Catholic Church in America and abroad. The Blanshard collection also includes papers of his first wife Julia Blanshard and his second wife Mary Hillyer Blanshard.

The collection has been arranged into seven series: Correspondence; Writings and Related Materials; Biographical Information; Sound Recordings; Photographs; Julia Anderson Blanshard papers; and Mary Hillyer Blanshard papers.

Collection

Prentiss Marsh Brown Papers, 1902-1973

28 linear feet (in 29 boxes) — 2 oversize folders — 12 microfilms

Michigan congressman and senator, head of the U.S. Office of Price Administration; papers include correspondence, legislative files, speeches, political files, business and legal records, diaries and scrapbooks, visual materials, and sound recordings.

The Prentiss M. Brown Collection is rich and full and offers researchers materials on a variety of local and national topics reflecting the diversity of the man's private and public life. The earliest item in the collection is a letter book dated 1902-04 of James J. Brown, like his son a prominent St. Ignace attorney. The collection then picks up Prentiss M. Brown's entrance to the legal profession in 1917, traces his rise to public office, his work in Congress and with the O.P.A., and then concludes with his later business interests and his crusade upon behalf of the Mackinac Bridge.

The Brown Collection comprises approximately twenty-eight feet of correspondence, letterbooks, scrapbooks, diaries, speeches, topical and legislative files, photographs and phonograph records, and legal case files and business records. Covering the period 1917 to 1973, the papers concentrate most heavily in the years 1932-1942 when Brown was in the U.S. Congress. The greatest gap in the collection is in the period of the 1920s when Brown was making his first bids for political office. Also missing are any extensive files for the time of Brown's O.P.A. directorship. What the collection has on the O.P.A. are largely speeches, scrapbooks, and congratulatory letters.

Collection

Rebecca Shelley Papers, 1890-1984

21 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Pacifist, participant in World War I peace movement and later peace activities, member of Fellowship of Reconciliation, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and Women Strike for Peace. Papers include Correspondence, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, periodicals, reports, photographs, and other materials relating to the International Congress of Women, 1915, the Ford Peace Ship, the American Neutral Conference Committee, the Emergency Peace Federation, and the People's Council of America.

The papers of Rebecca Shelley (1887-1984) were donated by Shelley in several accessions between 1964 and 1984. The papers make up twenty-one linear feet of materials and cover the years 1890-1984, though only a few photographs and printed items predate 1910. Her anti-war activism, legal battles, writing career, and courtships with Franz Willman and Felix Rathmer are all well-represented. In addition to her personal papers, there are groups of material belonging to Emily Balch, Richard Olsen, Felix Rathmer, Paul Shelly, and William A. Shelly.

Many peace organizations are also documented in these papers through flyers, pamphlets, periodicals, newsletters, and correspondence. These include the American Neutral Conference Committee, Emergency Peace Federation, People's Council of America, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Women Strike for Peace, and many others. As Shelley served as an officer in the Michigan Fellowship of Reconciliation (F.O.R.) through the 1950s and 1960s, many of the organization's official papers came to be in her possession. Therefore, an effort was made to remove most of these official papers to the separate Michigan F.O.R. collection.

The collection is arranged in eleven series: Biographical; Newspaper Clippings; Correspondence; Topical Papers; Miscellaneous Papers; Papers Of Other Individuals; Printed; Periodicals; Diaries And Notebooks; Photographs; and Writings.