Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Originally an organization of speech teacher; minutes, financial reports, budgets, topical files on association activities, committee reports, conference journals, and membership directories published by the association.

The records of the Michigan Association of Speech Communication are comprised of documentation primarily generated by members of the organization's executive committee carrying out their functions as officers of this professional association. As such, the bulk of the materials are in the form of minutes, financial reports/budgets, topical files on various association activities, committee reports, conference planning material, and association publications such as newsletters and membership directories. Although the coverage of the materials spans the period 1940-1997, the majority of the records were produced between 1970 and 1990. The record group is arranged into five series: Administrative Materials, Executive Council, Printed Material, Conferences, and Topical Files.

Organization of educators responsible for directing or supervising the work of student teachers. Annual reports, conference files, minutes, newsletters, and other records of the organization.

The records of the Michigan Association of Teacher Educators have been arranged alphabetically, then chronologically. These records, 1947-1974, include minutes, correspondence, conference programs, newsletters, materials relating to the election of officers, and membership lists.

State Audubon society established in 1904; records include historical and background information; files of annual meetings of executive committee and board of directors; files relating society's activities, to its nature centers and bird sanctuaries, and to the operation and activities of local chapters within the state; also correspondence and scattered photographs.

The Michigan Audubon Society records document the development and management of the organization, its conservation activities, including development of nature centers and sanctuaries, and the society's relations with local chapters. The record group is divided into the following series: History and Background; Meetings and Meeting Minutes; Activities; Nature Centers and Sanctuaries; Local Chapters; Correspondence; and Photographs.

Photographs (positive and negative), slides, and transparencies taken by the company's photographers to document company activities, products, services, employees at work and at leisure, company exhibits and commemorations, and the response of the company to natural disasters and civil disturbances.

In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.

The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.

The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.

More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).

In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).

Reports of comprehensive Michigan Railroad Appraisal, providing evaluations of every railroad in the state, directed by Mortimer E. Cooley at the request of Governor Hazen Pingree; also appraisals of plank roads and canals built in Michigan.

The record group consists of nine volumes of Michigan railroad appraisal reports. The appendix titled "List of Physical Items Inventoried" lists the types of property, machinery and equipment inventoried in the appraisals.

Organization formed in 1941 with the purpose of conserving all plants native to Michigan. The name of the organization was originally the Michigan Wildflower Association. The name was changed in 1949. Series in record group include: History and constitution; Membership; Minutes; Reports; Newsletters; Finances; Correspondence; Chapter records; Activities; and Miscellaneous.

The records of the Michigan Botanical Club, date from 1941 to 2013 and consists of minutes, correspondence, clippings, publications, and reports. The files are an important resource not only for understanding the history and achievements of the Club, but also for the study of flora in Michigan. These records are divided into ten series: History and Constitution, Membership, Minutes, Reports, Newsletters, Finances, Correspondence, Chapter Records, Activities and Miscellaneous.

Organization established to oppose potential ballot proposals intended to nullify state and local legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Minutes, newsletters, and other files documenting the arguments and techniques used by both those promoting and opposing state ballot initiatives limiting protection of the civil rights of lesbians and gay males.

These records were sent to Affirmations by a former member of MCHD who was moving out of the state. Affirmations Lesbian Gay Community Center, founded in 1988, is a community based, direct service agency for the lesbian and gay community in southeastern Michigan. The records document the arguments and techniques used by both those promoting and those opposing state ballot initiatives (specifically in Michigan, Colorado, and Oregon) to limit the degree to which the civil rights of gay people are protected under the law. Most of the materials in this collection were created in 1993, and although this collection provides a window into the activities of the MCHD and the organizations it opposed, there are no materials relating to the outcome of its efforts.

The Michigan Central Railroad Company was originally incorporated to provide rail service between Detroit, Michigan and St. Joseph, Michigan. The records consist of letter books of the company president and general manager, administrative records, financial papers, maps, and photographs. Included is correspondence from Alpheus Felch, James F. Joy, and William Woodbridge.

The Michigan Central Railroad Company record group is an amalgam of various records received from different donors. The materials have been divided into the following series: James F. Joy Administrative Records and Agreements; Letters Received; Miscellaneous; President/General Manager/Chairman files; and List of Stockholders.