Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Correspondence covers the period of 1932 to 1976 (bulk dates, 1932 to 1971). Essentially a run of personal correspondence, this series documents Kendall's wide-ranging interests and vast acquaintances. Of some interest are those letters reflecting Kendall's activities with the Republican Party, especially his support of Senator Arthur Vandenberg in his various senatorial campaigns and in his quest for the Republican nomination for president in the 1940s. Though there are some letters from the period when Kendall served in the Eisenhower administration, the researcher should note that official correspondence from the period of his service in the Treasury Department is located in the National Archives, Washington D.C., and that records generated as General Counsel to Eisenhower will be found in the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas. This series of correspondence is personal only. Other series, such as Topical Files and National Passenger Railroad Corporation, also contain runs of correspondence.

The Correspondence series has been arranged chronologically. For the period 1969-1971, the correspondence was sorted down to the day; for the years before and after, it was sorted down to the month only. Correspondence from the years 1978 to 1999 was sorted to the year. The series also includes a "name file" which was maintained by Sinclair during the 1980s and 1990s. The researcher interested in examining Sinclair's correspondence with a particular individual is advised to check both the name file and the chronological correspondence; correspondents with entries in the name file may also appear in the chronological correspondence. Whenever possible, correspondence concerned with specific subjects or relating to the operations of one of the Sinclair organizations has been left with the appropriate subject file or organizational records. Appended to this finding aid is a selective index to some of the correspondents within the collection.

The third series, Correspondence, is the largest. It comprises a union of several different correspondence files maintained by various people within the organization between 1988 and 1994. The files in this series have generally been maintained intact, as they were when they were received by the archives, but have been organized by type of file and date. The series include files titled Carbon Copy Correspondence, Deputy Executive Director, Executive Director, General Correspondence, Memoranda, Secretary, State / National Coordination, and Topical Correspondence Files. Also in this series is a Correspondence Log from 1993. The State/National Coordination subseries is of particular interest, as it contains correspondence with Michigan and United States lawmakers on a variety of issues.