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A unit of the University of Michigan's Institute of Science and Technology which conducts and sponsors interdisciplinary studies of fresh water lake ecology. It is the successor to the Great Lakes Research Institute and the Great Lakes Research Division of the University of Michigan. Primarily research data, analysis, and reports on two major studies: the Coherent Area Study of Lake Michigan, 1963-1971, and the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant Studies, 1967-1983.

The records in this collection are largely research files from the period when John C. Ayers was director of research for the Great Lakes Research Division. The bulk of the records document two large research projects: the Coherent Area Study, 1963-1971, and Donald C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant Studies, 1967-1983. There is also documentation of several smaller research projects. The research files include reports, field and laboratory data, and a variety of logs documenting data collection. The collection has few if any administrative records of the GLRD or its successors.

The records are arranged in ten series: Historical Information, Coherent Area Study, Ship's Logs, Donald C. Cook Power Plant Studies, Lake Michigan Ice Studies, John C. Ayers Research Files, Administration, Grants, Topical files, and Visual materials. Because the records contain a variety of formats, including slides, fan-fold computer printouts, and outsize volumes, some subgroups and series are split between ranges of box numbers. The summary contents list provides an overview of the physical arrangement of the records.

The Penrod/Hiawatha Company collection is mainly comprised of postcards, although some supplemental photographic items directed toward tourists is also included. The postcards, numbering more than 5,000, primarily are of the Michigan landscape and its towns and cities, covering every region of the state. Typical postcard themes dominate, particularly natural scenery, outdoor recreation, and shopping districts. The postcards date from the 1950s through the opening decades of the twenty-first century, although very few display copyright dates. The collection is divided into the following series.

1. Non-Postcard Items (calendars, brochures, booklets): Box 1
2. Non-Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards: Box 2
3. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, 1970s-1990s: Boxes 2-5
4. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, mid- to late 1990s: Boxes 5-6
5. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, late 1990s-2000): Boxes 6-7
6. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, 2001-2004: Box 8
7. Penrod/Hiawatha Postcards, 2005-2014: Box 9
8. Oversize and miscellaneous: Box 10

As batches of postcards are received every years, it was decided to arrange the items in blocks of time according to the date of their accession. Thus for the researcher interested in a specific city, it will be necessary to examine the listing for each of the series.