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Correspondence, reports, and minutes detailing effort to establish a University College at the University of Michigan.

The University College record group is comprised of materials documenting the project at its peak from 1926 to 1930, with some relevant printed matter dating back to 1922. The records offer a fairly complete administrative history of the University College development, with a minor emphasis on criticism and feedback. Materials are divided into two series: Committee Files and Correspondence, Statements and Miscellaneous Files. Of the two, the Committee Files is more valuable in providing a comprehensive view of the University College project.

The University of Michigan's University Council was first conceived in 1931 as a representative government that would establish academic and university policies and serve in tangent with the University Senate and the Board of Regents. A second University Council was established in 1970 under bylaw 7.02 to create rules of conduct for the university. Both entities were eventually absorbed or disbanded. The primary holdings of these records include council's correspondence, committee reports, topical files, and meeting minutes with accompanying materials..

The University Council records include eight series: Standing Committees, Committees (reports), Correspondence and Other Papers, Correspondence with Board of Regents, Topical Files, Minutes (bound volumes), Accompanying Documents (bound volumes), and University Council, 1970-1989. The records primarily document the original University Council in operation from 1931 to 1948. Records from this period present a broad overview of campus issues and policies. The materials offer insight into how the university adapted to changes brought about during World War II.

Records of University of Michigan office (and its predecessor administrative offices) responsible for external fund raising and development activities, including subject files of development officials Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock; staff files; and photographs.

The records of the Vice President for Development date from 1948 to the present and measure 39.5 linear feet. They reflect the basic concerns of the office for these four decades: preserving and improving the university's public image and planning major fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, both activities are incompletely documented. In the area of public relations the records tend to discuss how immediate problems will be dealt with, rather than overall conceptions of the university's image. The thought behind the innovative fundraising devices created or employed by the office is sometimes recorded through consultant reports, but in general is not well documented.

The manuscript records have been divided into two subgroups, one representing the records of the vice president (or senior staff person, for those years in which there was no vice presidency), the other containing records created by the development office. The Vice Presidents subgroup has been divided by the name of each person who has held the office: Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock. Researchers should note that since Nelson and Radock used their predecessor's files for some time before inaugurating their own records, the relationship between office tenure and file dates is not an exact one. The Development Office subgroup contains records of that office and its subsidiary units. Several accessions of Development Office records received in 1989 and 1990 have been grouped together as Development Office subgroup: 1989-1990 accessions.

Office established in 1968 as the Vice-President for State Relations and Planning; reorganized and name changed in 1974 with the appointment of Richard L. Kennedy who already had the position of University Secretary. University Secretary became a separate office following Kennedy's retirement in 1994. Files relating to the University's liaison with state government agencies, including budget and appropriations materials; also topical files and materials documenting the communication process between the University and the state, and slides; also files of the university's office in Washington, D.C.

The records of the Office of Vice President for Government Relations reflect the core functions of the office (local, state, and federal government relations and planning) and the various incarnations of the office, including the duties of Secretary of the University variously performed by the office. Documentation is primarily from the Ann Arbor campus office, but also includes files on the federal relations office operated by the university in Washington, D.C. Files received directly from the state relations office in Lansing are not included here. Materials detail the budget and appropriations process, interaction with community, state and federal legislators, and lobbying and monitoring efforts in Washington, D.C. on issues such as research funding, student loans, and support for higher education. The records are physically arranged in the manner in which they arrived in the archives. In this finding aid the records are described by their intellectual organization and similar material for the various accessions is described and listed together. Researchers should note that later accessions often extend records series and topics from prior accessions.

The records of the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Government Relations and Secretary of the university have been divided into the following series of material: University Budget, Topical Files, Office Assignments and Communication Records, Special Topical Files, Correspondence Files, Evolution of the Office, Audio-Visual Materials, Washington Office Files, and Vice President for University Relations Correspondence, .

Position established in 1983 to unify the administrative reporting structure between the Hospital, Medical School, and the university's executive officers. George D. Zuidema was appointed Vice Provost for Medical Affairs in 1984, serving until his retirement in 1994 at which time the office was disbanded and the responsibilities dispersed. Records of the Vice Provost George D. Zuidema relating to integrated planning within the medical and health sciences, including completion of the replacement hospital project, information systems, managed health care, and research priorities. Records also include documentation of AIDS initiatives, substance abuse, transplant policy and ethics, and external service with the General Motors Medical Committee for Automotive Safety.

The records of the Vice Provost for Medical Affairs document a remarkable decade in the history of the University of Michigan Medical Center. Beginning with the appointment of George Zuidema in 1983, the records document the completion of the massive Replacement Hospital Project, and by the time of his retirement in 1994, provide evidence of the increasing competition brought about by managed health care.