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Janet Lynn, founder of the Citizens Council for Land Use Research and Education (CLURE), was an activist and environmentalist in southeastern Michigan. The collection documents CLURE's involvement with controversial land issues such as the construction of highways and shopping centers, as well as its efforts to educate the public about issues of land use and planning.

The Janet D. Lynn Papers (3.7 linear feet) document CLURE's activities in land use activism and education. These include the Northwestern Highway Extension project and the related M-275 freeway discussions, efforts to stop construction of proposed shopping centers in West Bloomfield and Novi, Michigan, as well as discussion of legislation in the state of Michigan and materials related to CLURE-sponsored symposia. In addition to these topics, the records also document CLURE itself, through legal, promotional and fundraising materials.

The collection is arranged in three series: Biographical/Historical Information, Northwestern Highway Extension, 1972-1981 and Citizens Council for Land Use Research and Education (CLURE) Records.

Orchard Lake, Michigan, family, with various business interests, including lumbering and land transactions (in Michigan, California, West Virginia, and British Columbia), and also active in the development of the Orchard Lake area, especially from the 1920s to the 1940s; Correspondence files of individual family members, subject files detailing family interests and activities, business and legal records, maps, blueprints, and photographs.

The majority of the Ward Family collection is comprised of materials generated by Willis Ward and his son, Harold, and thus reflect the life of the family in the twentieth century. The strengths of the collection rest on materials which document upper-class family life in the first three decades of this century; the development of the Orchard Lake area in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s; the extensive Michigan land holdings of the Ward family; and the history of the lumber town of Deward, Michigan. The researcher should be aware that there are only limited materials in the collection which document either David Ward's business pursuits in Michigan or his personal life. The researcher should supplement those materials with use of Ward's published autobiography.

There are six series which comprise the Ward collection: Personal; Correspondence; Land Holdings; Photographs; Architectural Drawings; and Maps. Whenever possible the original order of materials in the first three series has been maintained.