Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Detroit Free Press outdoor writer and later faculty member in the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources. Files of Detroit Free Press outdoor pages and conservation articles, clippings, and photographs, correspondence, and notes on Michigan conservation history, pesticides, pollution, plants and animals, hunting and fishing, parks, rivers and lakes, conservation writing, and ecology; also manuscript of history of conservation in Michigan with background information; and materials gathered for intended biographical study of Michigan conservationists.

As a long-time observer of the Michigan conservation scene, Van Coevering collected a wide range of materials to document the history of hunting, fishing, and wildlife management, the development of state parks and forests, political development of the Department of Conservation and Conservation Commission, concerns about pollution and pesticide poisoning, and other conservation and environmental matters in Michigan. This collection is made up of his writings and background materials on all these topics.

The collection contains only a part of Van Coevering's papers. His "personal" papers were destroyed by his widow after his death. Included here are "historical" papers collected in the course of his work as an outdoor writer. The papers include press releases, clippings, memoranda, reports, and other documents collected by Van Coevering as well as correspondence. Van Coevering's outgoing correspondence is generally of the information-seeking type, and provides little insight into his ideas.

The collection is divided into five major series: Publications, Reference file, School of Natural Resources file, Michigan conservation history file, and Photographs. There is also a small folder of obituaries and other personal information in Box 1. In 1996, the library received an addition to the collection. This 1996 accession from Frank Angelo includes the manuscript of "A Brief History of Conservation in Michigan," and the accompanying research as well as background research for a proposed history of prominent Michigan conservationists.

Professor of education at the University of Michigan. Biographical information; correspondence; writings and conference papers; course materials; files pertaining to education in China; and photographs.

The David L. Angus collection includes material documenting the professional activities of a member of the faculty of the School of Education of the University of Michigan. The collection includes biographical information, files of his writings and conference papers, and papers relating to his interest in comparative education, especially the state of education in China. The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence (1996-1998); University of Michigan School of Education; Course Materials; Writings/conference papers; and Chinese Education.

Detroit and Harbor Beach, Michigan, resident and Detroit city councilman and later Wayne County juvenile court judge. The collection documents his public career and his interest in family and local history.

The James H. Lincoln Papers document his role in public service and his active history in local, military and family history. The papers have been organized into four series: Biographical/Personal; Detroit Politics and City Council Activities; Probate Court, Juvenile Court Judge; Genealogy/Historical Research.

Counselor in religious education at the University of Michigan. Correspondence and biographical material; official reports; radio scripts; articles on the religious education of college students; scrapbook, 1933-1943; preliminary reports of a survey of college religious life published in 1942; materials relating to a survey of University alumni who entered religious vocations; and materials relating to Japanese-Americans in Ann Arbor, Michigan during World War II; also correspondence of several of Blakeman's predecessors as counselor in religious education; materials on the Student Christian Association, the Spring Parley, 1930-1942, the Michigan School of Religion, the Michigan Pastors' Conference, 1940-1947, the Michigan Child Guidance Institute and the Conference on Religion, 1940-1941; and photographs.

Temperance leader, assistant to the general superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of America. Correspondence, scrapbooks, dramatic productions, photographs, and printed material concerning the enforcement and repeal of the 18th Amendment, the political activities of the Anti-Saloon League, particularly during the election of 1928, and the temperance activities of William Jennings Bryan, Morris Sheppard, Billy Sunday, and F. Scott McBride. Correspondents include: Patrick H. Callahan, James Cannon, Arthur Capper, Luren D. Dickinson, F. Scott McBride, Homer Rodeheaver, Howard H. Russell, Morris.

The Christgau Collection is comprised of correspondence, scrapbooks, topical files, printed matter, and photographs covering the period of roughly 1906 to 1971. The Correspondence deals largely with the mechanics of Christgau's work: the enlisting and scheduling of temperance speeches and productions, local arrangements for temperance conventions, and personal support for local option and other temperance-related issues. Though there is some overlap, the collection includes a separate series of correspondence and other materials relating specifically to his work as manager of the regional Southeastern Conference convention of the ASL which met each year in St. Petersburg, Florida. This sequence of correspondence covers the years 1928 to 1948.

The collection includes Christgau's autobiography, many of his speeches and notes for speeches, notes which he made on the conventions he managed and the speeches he heard, and copies of the addresses he made over the radio in the late Thirties and throughout the 1940's. Christgau also maintained separate files documenting his work with the national ASL and the ASL of Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. In a series of topical files, Christgau included information, clippings, and printed materials on individuals associated with the temperance movement and with issues of concern to temperance groups.

The collection also contains files pertaining to the dramatic productions which Christgau presented under ASL auspices. These files have been arranged by the name of the production and include texts of the drama and promotional materials. The remainder of the collection consists of a section of temperance printed items, newspaper clippings, bound scrapbooks and photographs.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, clubwoman, officer in the Grand Rapids chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association, president of the national YWCA, 1967-1973. Primarily speeches delivered on topics relating to the YWCA, civil rights, citizenship, and the family; speeches reflect in part her thoughts as a black woman on questions of school and housing segregation; and photographs.

The Helen J. Claytor papers primarily document her leadership in both the National and Grand Rapids YWCA, her community work on a local and national level, as well as the speeches she delivered, ca. 1940-1985, on topics relating to her activities in the YWCA, the civil rights movement, and the Episcopal Church.

District judge from Warren, Michigan. Correspondence, campaign materials, and other papers concerning his work as delegate to Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962, as Warren city councilman, and as attorney and judge; papers concerning local and state Democratic politics, and his activities with Polish-American organizations and his interest in Polish American history and personages. Also includes digital images.

The Don Binkowski collection consists of correspondence, campaign materials, and other papers concerning his work as a delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962, as Warren city councilman, and as attorney and judge; also papers concerning local and state Democratic politics, and his activities with Polish-American organizations.

U. S. Senator from Michigan, 1959-1976, a conscientious supporter of civil rights, consumer protection and environmentalism, Hart served as floor manager of the 1965 civil rights act and 1968 Open Housing Act, introduced legislation to create Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pictured Rock National Lakeshores and sponsored important consumer legislation. Papers include Legislative Files, Staff Files, Press Files, Subject Files, Constituent Correspondence, Office Files, Political Files, Miscellaneous, Sound Recordings, and Visual Materials.

The Philip A. Hart collection consists of those files maintained by Hart and his staff in Washington D.C. while serving as senator from Michigan in the period 1958-1976. A senate office in the 1960s and 1970s could employ as many as thirty staff and clerical workers. In 1975, Hart wrote: "My own office presently consists of 34 full-time people in Washington plus 4 in my Detroit office and one part-time employee each in Grand Rapids and Marquette." Received from Washington, the Hart collection documents the workings of his Capitol office. Excepting for a few files from the 1950s when Hart served in Michigan state government, the Hart papers relate exclusively to Senate activities and detail the variety and bulk of problems crossing the desk of a United States senator and his staff.

In a press release describing his office, Hart stated that the work of a senator falls into three categories: legislative, participating in the discussion and formulation of public policy, and serving as "ambassador" between his constituents and the Federal Government. Beyond the study of legislation, public policy debates, and the relationship between a senator and the people of his state, the Hart collection is a reflection of the times in which Hart served, the sixties and seventies, years of the presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, a time when public figures discussed issues of conscience and of war, matters of human rights and of public morality, areas where Hart's basic integrity and humaneness placed him in the forefront of public debate.

The collection falls into eleven principal series: Personal/Biographical, Legislative Files, Staff Files, Press Files, Subject Files, Constituent Correspondence, Office Files, Political Files, Miscellaneous, Sound Recordings, and Visual Materials. Except for Personal/Biographical and the series of audio-visual materials, the Hart collection is an office file and represents the activities of one senator and a dozen or so of his key staff members. To use the collection, the researcher after examining the "Series Description" (on the following pages) should note that for any topical study, information will usually be found in any number of series within the collection. The series represent functional divisions within the Hart office, legislation, press, or whatever. To study an issue such as consumer protection, therefore, the researcher should be prepared to examine the Hart finding aid under the series that might document that topic from different functional perspectives (Legislative Files, Staff Files, Subject Files, among others). The researcher interested in a narrower, more specific topic should recognize that the following inventory, for the most part, is not a folder-level description and thus specialized kinds of information will be filed first under a more general heading.

One more note: The Hart papers originally consisted of more than 700 linear feet of files. Hart himself and his staff had discarded certain types of files before donating them to the library, notably case files and constituent mail answered by form. In addition, the library discarded files of low research content - thank yous, invitations, and carbons of Hart correspondence duplicated in the other principal series of the collection. Furthermore, files containing similar types of correspondence from constituents have been sampled (the folders have "S" or "Samp" on them). Government publications, easily available in a government documents library, and unless heavily annotated, have been discarded. Researchers on any topic within the Hart collection should familiarize themselves with the standard sources on government documents (the indices to the Congressional Record for example). Topics on which Hart played a key legislative role or about which he was keenly interested have not been sampled. These topics include civil rights, the passage of various consumer legislation, the Sleeping Bear Dunes debate, his committee work, and the debate over the war in Vietnam to list a few.

Feminist active in various civic and political causes and organizations, including the League of Women Voters, the Michigan Republican Party, and the Women's Equity Action League. Files relating to her work with different organizations and to her interest in political and women's rights issues.

The papers of Lee Kefauver document the local, state, and to some extent national activities and affiliations of a feminist activist during the turbulent 1970s. They reveal how groups of concerned organizations, both large and small, banded together to attempt to defeat anti-choice legislation and to defend the Equal Rights Amendment, and they illustrate some of the day to day business of these organizations. This collection contains information about small local organizations which may not be available elsewhere.

Ruth Barnard was a professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing from 1975 to 2000. The collection contains material related to her research, teaching and participation in a wide range of School of Nursing and university committees.

The papers of Ruth M. Barnard document her career at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. The collection is arranged in four series: Biographical/Personal Files; Presentations, Publications, and Research Files; Committee and Task Force Files; and Topical Files.