Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Photographs depicting the fire at Wells Hall, Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University).

The collection consists of photographs depicting the fire at Wells Hall, Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University).

Materials collected by Helen Blair Lamar and subsequently donated to the Blair Society for Genealogical Research and pertaining to the Austin Blair family of Michigan and related family lines, the Hanks family and the North family. The collection, arranged by family name and then by individual, includes original with some typed transcripts of family letters, diaries, legal documents, poetry, personal items, and visual materials.

Helen Blair Lamar kept the papers of the Blair, Hanks and North families for many years. After her death they were given to the Blair Society for Genealogical Research, which in turn donated them to the Bentley Historical Library. This collection exemplifies the slightly random character of family papers accumulated over several generations. There is a wide variety of material on a large number of individuals. In an attempt to keep things as clear as possible, the majority of the papers--manuscript, typescript and printed--have been arranged by FAMILY GROUPS which are subdivided by Personal Name and arranged by generation. This is followed by a small second series of miscellaneous PRINTED MATERIALS. A substantial third series of VISUAL MATERIALS includes Scrapbooks, Photographs, Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes, Tintypes and Glass Plate Negatives.

University of Michigan alumnus who was a prominent campus activist and leader on issues of racial, economic, and social injustice during his doctoral studies with the Department of History. McCoy was involved in many activist organizations and campaigns including United Coalition for Racial Justice (UCRJ), the Coalition Against White Supremacy and the Ann Arbor to Ferguson protests. This collection includes correspondence, sound recordings, meeting minutes and notes, topical files, photographs, event programs, and flyers.

The Austin McCoy papers (1 linear feet, 8.76 GB) focus on McCoy's activism and leadership as a doctoral student at the University of Michigan. The collection features three series:

The Biographical Information series contains five sound recordings including a four-part oral history interview McCoy completed in 2015. The series also features McCoy's Student of the Year interview with The Michigan Daily in 2015. The sound recordings discuss McCoy's background, scholarship, inspirations and organizing career.

The Correspondence series contains digital copies of email correspondence from McCoy's University of Michigan and personal email accounts. The series also includes data from McCoy's twitter account and photographs downloaded from his Facebook account.

The Activism series contains notes, meeting minutes, flyers, photographs, topical files, news articles, and other writings. Specific organizing events featured in the collection include the Being Black at the University of Michigan (#BBUM) social media campaign, the Ann Arbor to Ferguson protests, and protests against racism on the University of Michigan campus.

Assistant to George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute, later a Detroit, Michigan, businessman. Correspondence and other papers of G. W. Carver relating primarily to experiments with soil improvement and the discovery of new applications for the peanut and other Southern agricultural products; newspaper clippings and memos relating to Curtis' campaign for Congress in 1958 and his work with Carver; and photographs.

The Curtis collection has two parts: papers of George Washington Carver that Curtis collected while in Carver's employ; and papers of Curtis mainly relating to his business activities with A.W. Curtis Laboratories of Detroit, Michigan, and also his unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 1958. The Carver papers are of the most significance, relating to Carver's experiments with soil improvement and his discovery of new applications for the peanut and other agricultural products of the South.