', ,_

~

tf Volume ;( Number 2 Spring l.982

PRINTED MICHIGANIA

MAA's spring meeting was held in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, on April 23 in conjunction with the Great Lakes History Confer-ence. Chaired by Larry Massie, the

· meeting's topic was " Printed Michigania in Archival Collections ". Massie began the meeting by defining the scope of printed Michigania. Included are. books, pamphlets , journals, news-papers, novels, poetry, cartographic materials, and ephemera written or created either by Michigan people and organizations or about Michigan. While considered by some as library material, Massie contended that these materials are archival as well. Archivists , therefore , should be con-cerned with collecting in this area.

The first speaker was John Cumming from Central Michigan University, who addressed the issue of collecting. Years ago , there was not much competi-tion in collecting ephemera. One '.could' obtain these items more easily and less expensively than now. More recently, competition has increased. The same materials now command a higher price.

Users of the material are noE limited to historians. People from a wide range of disciplines are seek-ing out ephemera and printed Michigania. To illustrate how the material can be used, Cumming presented a broad selec-tion of slides of items that he has collected over the years. Ranging from land grant deeds to post-Civil War advertisements for artificial limbs, Cumming suggested their potential value to and use by a variety of re-searchers .

- 1-

/

®IID

Michigan Archival Association Newsletter

Richard Hathaway ·from the State Library discussed three modes of appraising printed Michigania--price, aethetics , and research value. Price is a function of s upply and demand and aesthetics a matter of taste. Research value is of primary concern to archivists. Hathaway argued that the difference between primary and secondary sources lies less in whether they are published or unpublished but more in the pur-pose and method of their creation. The value of a printed primary source , like its manuscript counterpart, lies in its immediacy to the creating event and the experience of its creator. He discussed the process of appraising the research value of a number of categories of printed primary sources --directories and gazeteers , promotional literature, annual reports, proceedings, government documents, travel narratives, ministerial narratives, and autobiog-raphies---illustrating his remarks with notable examples of Michigania.

Len Coombs of the Michigan Histor--ical Collections discussed cataloging of printed sources, noting that , ''.Cataloging makes a warehouse a library." New formats and cataloging assumptions, and the use of computers, bibliographic networks and utilities are creating a ferment in cataloging practice. Coombs discussed the application and usefulness of these developments for local history collections. In a sample of catalog-ing items at the Bentley Historical Library, he found that 40% of the items were found in OCLC, the automated sys-tem, compared to 90% found in the tra-ditional National Union Catalog. The

value of t h e network is inversely proportional to the age of the mate-rials. Seventy-five percent of mate-rials published i n the last five years are found in OCLC. The value of the networks for shared catalog-ing inf0.rmation also depends on how many other libraries are collecting and cataloging in the field.

The development of shared catalog-ing emphasized the need for widely accepted cataloging codes. Coombs concluded his presentation with a comparison of AACRI and the recently adopted AACRII in terms of their ~se­fulness for local history collections. AACRII does offer useful improvements for such collections. Neither code deals effectively with two kinds of material commonly found in archival and local history collections--collec-tions of materials and microfilm.

Following the luncheon , President Hudson called the business meeting to order at l:OOp.m.

The meeting was opened for an-nouncements. Mary Jo Pugh stated that May 10 was the deadline for submissions for the spring issue of "Open Entry ". She encouraged the membership to report on news notes from the individual repositories.

Pat Hudson reported that the fall MAA meeting will be held in conjunc~ tion with the Midwest Archives Con-ference meeting in Ann Arbor, November 18- 20. She further noted that the MAA executive board had allocated $300 to co-sponsor that meeting. She also asked the membership for suggest-ed topics for an MAA session at the meeting. Suggested topics were: Great Lakes Transportation , History of Archives in Michigan , Archival Sources in Michigan. Any other sug-gestions can be sent to Dick Harms at the M.S.U. Archives.

The next order of business was the report from the nominations com-mit tee. Mary Jo Pugh noted that the

- 2-

•

committee had been charged to nominate candidates for the position of presi-dent and one seat on the executive board. She moved that Francis X. Bl ouin, Jr. , be nominated for presi-dent and that David J. Johnson be nom-inated for the executive board . The motion was seconded by David Horrocks. The nominations were opened to motions from the floor. There being no nom-inations from the floor , David J. Johnson was elected by a unanimous voice vote to the executive board and by a similar vote , Francis X. Blouin , Jr., was elected president.

Patricia Hudson thereupon turned the meeting over to president-elect Blouin.

President Blouin thanked the membership for the honor of being elected and expressed his, and the MAA membership ' s thanks to Pat Hudson for her two years of service as president and Valerie G. Browne for her three years of dilligent work on the executive board.

There being no further business , a mottion was made to adjourn the meeting. The motion was s econded and carried without opposition.

Following the mee.ti_ng the member-shiP. adjourned to the Gerald R. Ford museum for a tour of that facility.

Paul Conway and Robin Roberts spoke to the group discussing the preparation of the exhibits and the relationship between the Library and the 'Museum. MAA members were then treated to a behind- the-s cenes tour of the facility.

The First Opening of the Ford Presidential Papers

The Gerald R. Ford Library opened to research half of the Ford presidential papers or nearly six million pages on April 5 , 1982. During the evening of that day the Library hosted a reception for members of the history and political science faculties of nearby colleges and universities.

The White House Central Files is the most notable of the newly opened materials. Used by the President and all White House staff, WHCF contains diverse material on a wide range of legislative, policy, housekeeping, operational and public relations concerns. The heart of WHCF is a subject file of sixty primary categories , fifty - four of which are now open, with several hundred sub-categories. Primary categories range from Agriculture and Atomic Energy (non-defense ) to Welfare and White Hou se Administration.

Closely allied with much of WHCF are the newly opened files of the Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, successively Kenneth Cole and James Cannon , and the files of over twenty Domes tic Council staff whose activities they directed. Each Domestic Council staff member typically had one or more policy areas, such as transportation or natural resources, in which he or she coordinated policy formulation with executive departments; offered corrunents and recorrunendations on budget, legislative and other proposals; participated in interdepart-mental task forces; and drafted correspondence , decision memoranda, briefing papers, and presidential statements.

Other newly opened files include 1974 - 76 records of the Energy Resources Council; papers of Frank Zarb, Federal Energy Adminis -tration head; and White House Records Office legislation case files. The latter documents the central legislative clearance process, with departmental and staff comments and recorrunenda-tions on each piece of legislation sent to the President.

The result of these openings is the availability of a coherent, albeit incomplete, corpus of important source material especially strong in domestic policy areas such as energy, transportation, health, natural resources , regulatory reform, intergovernmental relations, welfare, and economic policy. Material on numerous other subjects is also available, and the process of acquiring and opening new material will continue for years. All major new accessions and openings will be announced in Prologue: Journal of the National Archives.

The handout Historical Materials in the Gerald R. Ford Library is available free upon request. It lists all Library holdings, annotated to show which are currently available to research. Prospective researchers may use the handout to identify open collections of interest and to request interlibrary loan of the finding aids to those collections. The finding aid to WHCF Subjest File is worthy of special note, for it offers a surrunary of quantity and subject content for each of the several hundred categories and sub-categories now open.

The Library is open 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.

-3-

1910 CENSUS NOW AVAILABLE AT NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Dr. Robert M. Warner, the Ar- · chivist of the Uni ted States, an-nounced on April 15, the availability of the 1910 census . On microfilm, the census schedules and indexes for 21 states are open to researchers at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and for sale through the Archives' Publications Sales Branch . It is expected that the 11 regional ar-chives branches will have copies for use by the public this fall. The National Archives and Records Service is a division of the General Services Administration.

"The National Archives is pleased to be able to make this rich research tool available to the public pre-cisely 72 years after it was taken on April 15, 1910," Warner said. Access to personal information col-lected during a federal decennial census is restricted by law for 72 years. Warner called the data con-tained in the 1910 survey "invaluable to gene alogists, demographers, econ-omists, historicans, as well as many other researchers, for generations to come. "

For each person listed in the 1910 census, the census schedules include: full name; personal de-scription (race or color, age at last birthday, s e x , marital status, and length of present marriage); nativity (place of birth, father's place of birth, mother's place of birth); citizenship; occupation; number of weeks unemployed in 1909; ability to read and write; language spoken; and Civil War veteran's status.

The 1910 census schedules are organized by state and thereunder by county; heavily populated counties are further divided by cities and sometimes by wards . There are 1,784 microfilm rolls of census schedules and 4,642 rolls of indexes.

- 4-

Indexes were created by the Bureau of the Census and cover only 21 states. The National Archives has created a separate microfilm publica-tion for each state's index . While the Bureau used two different systems--Soundex and Miracode--in compiling the 21 indexes, they are essentially identical . Both employ t.he familiar Soundex coding system, that uses a letter and three numbers to spell the family name phonetically . The index cards in both systems were prepared for each household. They contain each household. member's name, age, place of birth, race, county of resi-dence, and city (i f appropriate), as well as the volume number and enumer-ati0.n district number of the schedules from which the information was obtained. However, the Miracode lists the visitation number assigned by the enumerator while the Soundex shows the page and line numbers on the schedules.

A free catalog is available from the Publication Sales Branch at the National Archives, Washington, D.C. 20408 . The catalogue lists the 1910 population census schedules and the 1910 Soundex/Miracode indexes (for Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mic~gan, Missi~sippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia).

The schedules and indexes are available for research at the National Archives Microfilm Reading Room iin Washington, D.C . or for sale at $15 per roll. All inquir~es regarding orders should be addressed to:

1910 Census Publications Sales Branch National Archives Washington, D.C. 20408 Telephone : ( 202 ) 523- 3181

The National Archives willl give priority to large orders (for entire states ) in order to provide the great-est public availability. Checks and

money or purchase orders should be made payable to :

National Archives Trust Fund Board

and mailed to Cashier,

N.ational Archives Trust Fund Washington, D. C. 20408

NEWS FROM SAA

The Society of American Ar-chivists has recently added a new title to its ;Basic Manual Serie s --Archives & Manuscripts : Maps and Architectural Drawings, by Ralph E . Ehrenberg . This manual is designed primarily as a general reference work for archivists who lack speciali zed training but who require some knowledge of maps and arbhitectural drawings in their daily work . In addition, the author hopes that the manual will encourage archivists and archival institutions that have not previously acquired maps and architectural drawings to consider initiating appropriate accession p r ograms in or der to con-tribute to the preservation of our cartographic and architectural heri -tage .

Chapters are devoted to accession a·nd appraisal, a r rangement, descrip.;.. tion, conservation, storage, and ref-erence and access as they apply to these special types of records . The manual includes many illust r ations, plus a glossary, a list of selected · conservation and storage suppliers and supplies, and a lengthy bibliog-raphy. The 64-page manual can be ordered from the Society of American Archivists , 330 s. Wells, Suite 810, Chicago, IL 60606. The price is $5 for SAA members and $.7 for others .

The production of the entire Basic Manual Series was supported by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Recor ds Commission.

- 5-

Other titles in the series are Apprais -al & Accessioning, Arrangement & Descr iption, Reference and Access, Security, Surveys, Exhibits, An Intro-duction to Automated Access, and Public Programs. A manual on repro-graphy and one on museum archives are still to be published.

Conservation Workshops

The Society of American Ar-chivists is pleased to announce the following conservation workshops which have been scheduled as part of its Basic Archival Conservation Program:

June 21- 23 Fairbanks, Alaska- -University of ~ltlaska ,

Fairbanks, with the support qf the Alaska Historical Commission

September 22- 24 Frankfort, Kentucky--Kentuc ky Department fo r Libraries and Archives

October 16- 18 Boston, Massachusetts--prior to the SAA annual meeting

Each workshop will be 0f two and one- half days duration and will consist of lecture/discussions on various aspects of conservation phil-osophy and administration as well as hands - on demonstration and practice of basic archival conservation tech~.

niques . Limited enrollment; the $50 tuition will cover the cost of a con-servation supply kit . Persons eligible to attend a workshop must currently hold a position in a manuscript or archival repository and have little or no previous training in conserva-tion .

Inquiries and requests for appli-cations may b e directed to the Basic Archival Conservation Program, Society of American Archivists, 330 South Wells, Chicago, Illinois , 60606.

The Basic Archival Conservation Program is funded by the National Endow-ment for the Humanities.

CONFERENCE ON REGIONAL ARCHIVAL NET-WORKS

In July 1981 the National Confer-ence on Regional Archival Networks was held in Madison, Wisconsin, funded by the National Endowment for the Hu-manities and co-sponsored by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin System Archives Council, and the Midwest Archives Conference.

Conference participants came from a wide range of geographical lo-cations (from Washington, D.C., to Washington state and from Minnesota to Texas), institutional affiliations, and professional backgrounds. Partic-ipants included individuals associated with existing network programs as well as those considering the creation of a network in their regions. The conference planning committee set four objectives for the meeting: information sharing; analysis and asses-ment on current networking and related cooperative activities; problem solving for specific networking issues; and planning for the future.

The Midwest Archives Conference has published papers prepared for this meeting together with an overview of the working group and discussion sessions, summary information on eleven existing networks, a bibliography, and conclusions and recommendations drawn up by the participants. This publication appears as an expanded issue of the Midwestern Archivist, MAC's semi-annual journal.

Because of interest in inter-in-sti tutional cooperation during this time of budgetary restraint, this publication would seem to have a wide audience. Accordingly, extra c opies of this issue have been printed and are available for purchase for $4.75 plus 50¢ for postage and handling.

-6-

Orders should be addressed to MAC, Room 19, Library, University of Illinois, 1408 W. Gregory, Urbana, Illinois, 61801.

**********************************

OPEN ENTRY is a publication of the Michigan Archival Association, ap-pearing quarterly. Contributions are welcome. Editors are Mary Jo Pugh, Michigan Historical Coliec-tions, Bentley Historical Library, 1150 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, and Pat Hudson, 30 West Seventh Street, Monroe, Michigan 48161. Assistant: Peggy Steiner. Deadline for the summer issue will be August 2, 1982.

**********************************

MEMBERSHIP NOTE

Addres s change:

Morrow, Dennis W. Diocese of Grand Rapids 660 Burton S . E. Grand Rapids, MI 49507

New members:

Barritt, Marjorie Bentley Historical Libr. 313- 996- 4489

1736 Traver Ann Arbor, MI 48105

Doyle, James Macomb Comm College 313- 455- 7401

Macomb Comm Coll Libr 14500 Twelve Mile Rd Warren, MI 48093

Haight, Ann K. Kalamazoo College Libr 616- 383- 8413

Kalamazoo Coll Libr Thompson & Academt Sts Kalamazoo, MI 49007

Hambacher, Doris E. C. Walter Reuther Libr 313- 577- 4024

308 Lake #4 Howell, MI 48843

Hathaway, Richard J. Michigan State Libr 517-373- 1593

2609 Edgewood Dr Lansing, MI 48906

Jesse Besser Museum 517- 356- 2202

491 Johns on Alpena, MI 49707

Kull, Chris tne Lynn Monroe County His t 313- 243- 7137

222 Maywood Ave Monroe, MI 48161

Larson, Katherine A. Kalamazoo Public Libr 616- 345- 709 2

2003 Dorchester Dr Kalama zoo, MI 49001

- 7-

Lovett, Carol B. Marshall His torical Society 616- 781- 8544

P.O. Box 68 Marshqll, MI 49068

McGarty, Jean R. St. John ' s Seminary 313- 453- 6200

St. John' s Seminary 44011 Five Mile Rd Plymouth, MI 48170

Miller, Jeanne E. U of M Ins t of Gerontology 313- 763- 1325

406 Knob Hill 114 Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Pflug, Warner W. Walter Reuther Libr 313- 577- .4024

Walter Reuther Libr Wayne State Univ Detroit, MI 48202

Pilon, Roger J. Eas tern U.P. Reg Devel & Planning 906- 635- 1583

Box 14-ll, Sugar Island Saulte Ste Marie, MI 49783

Sherk , Virginia Dearborn Historical Museum 313- 565- 3000

Dearborn Hist Museum 915 Brady Dearborn, MI 48124

Stevens , Marjorie Olivet College 517- 629- 8618

23667 21 Mile Rd Olivet, MI 49076

Wagenveld, Linda M. Herman Miller, Inc. 616- 772- 3410

Herman Miller, Inc. 8500 Byron Rd Zeeland, MI 49464

MEMBERSHIP NOTE (conti~ued)

Carling, Sr, Michael E, West Cathoiic H,S, Libr 616- 453- 4467

West Catholic H.S, Libr 1801 Bristol N.W. Grand Rapids, MI 49504

MAA OFFICERS, 1982- 1983

President:

Francis X. Blouin, Jr. (1984)* Bentley Historical Library 1150 Beal Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan (313) 764- 3482

Secretary- Treasurer:

48109

Richard H. Harms (1983)* Archives and Historical Collns. Main Library Building Michigan State University East Lansing 1 Michigan 48824 (517) 355- 2330

Board Members:

Sr. Mary Lucy McDonald (1983)* Sisters of Mercy Provincialate 29000 Eleven Mile Road Farmington Hills, Michigan 48018

Larry Massie (1983)* Archives Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan 49003 (616) 383- 1826

David Horrocks (1984)* Gerald R. Ford Library 1000 Beal Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (313) 668- 2218

Theresa Sanderson Spence (1984)* Archives Michigan Technological University Houghton, Michigan 49931 (906) 487- 2505

David J. Johnson (1985)* Michigan State Archives 3405 N. Logan Street Lansing, Michigan 48912 (517) 373- 3124

*Denotes year the term expires.

- 8-

MAA SECRETARY-TREASURER'S REPORT

January 1 - March 31, 1982

Beginning Balance:

Income:

Dues Luncheon Non- member

Registration Other Sale of Disaster

Response Sale of Chec klist

TOTAL

Expenses:

Printing Postage Luncheon Other Future of History

in Michigan

TOTAL

Ending Balance:

$.305.00 14.90 0.00

0.00 27.00

4 .. so

$ 53.15 94.90 o.oo 0.00 4.00

Ethnic Newspaper Guides on hand

Disaster Responses on hand

Current Membership

$ 990.07

+ 351. 40

152.55

$1,189.92

33

106

146

Respectfully submitted,

Dick Harms Secretary- Treasurer

t. BOCYi< REVIEW

Alma College Archives Guide, compiled by Lawrence E. Hall. Alma, MI: Alma College, 1981, viii, 72 pp, index, $6.00.

In the span of a few years, Lawrence Hall has accomplished a most impressive task. With limited resources of staff and time, he has created an archives, processed collections, and now published a guide to those collections.

The Guide provides folder-level access to the College Archives' eighty-two manuscript, six photographic and four audio visual collections. Holdings of the Archives date from the founding of the College in 1886 to 1980, though the bulk of the material documents the years afte+ 1950. The introduction provides a key to effec-tive use of the Guide as wel l as summary of the Archives' collection policy.

Within the Guide are incorporated a number of unique, and useful features. First is an organizational outline of the record groups. With this in hand, the researcher can quickly identify topical interests by provenance and locate their descriptions in the Guide. Where pertinent, the introductory paragraphs of collection descriptions provide a brief unit history and cross- reference citations if responsibilities have been shifted from one unit to another over time. The feature will save researchers from the sometimes vexing problems of finding records of specific functions with a shifting operational structure. Finally, the Guide lists the correspondents of the various record groups.

The section of student papers details a wide variety of topics written by students at the college in all disciplines of study. In the audio visual portion of the Guide is listed a promising oral history project (AV 4) which records interviews with people involved in World War I, the inter-war period, World War II, and the Korean War. Individual name access to the photographic collection is also furnished. Finally, the index (35 pages) provides ready access to the Guide.

Future editions of the Guide can be made more useful with the inclusion of a scope and content note (with bulk span dates) for the various collections. This feature will save the researcher time when reviewing the larger collections such as 4.I. (2), 17 or 81. A niggling criticism is the lack of uniform use of size descriptors. Some larger collections are listed in terms. of large numbers of inches that should be converted to feet (for instance, section 26 is listed as being 80 inches). These criticisms are not intended to case a disparaging light on the Guide, for it is a fine production, but they are offered as suggestions for . improvement.

"The final evaluation of any guide will be made by researchers. If a guide leads people to an archives to document research, that guide is a success. The Alma College Archives Guide promises to perform this function well. Again, Mr. Hall and his staff are to be commended for their efforts.

Richard H. Harms Michigan State Univeristy

-9-

NEWS FROM ARCHIVES 'IN MitH IGAN

ALMA COLLEGE ARCHIVES

The Alma College Archives began a major effort in fieldwork this spring. On April 6 ., 1982 , a print-ed brochure describing the Archives and its program of development and use was sent to 1061. former students who either graduated from or attend-ed Alma College prior to 1940. The cover letter invited recipients not only to use the Archives but also to secure their College-related records and papers for the Archives.

The College ' s Alumni Office was of great help in this effort. Re-cently they transferred their alumni files to computer, which allowed them to run a print-out of names and addresses of alums of any year or combination of years. We were able to see the volume of name$ with which we were to work. The cb~puter was also able to print address labels for the distribution we selected. Those services , combined with our Mail Room ' s mechanical " label picker" and a part-time Archives student ass i stant got the finished product in the mail on schedule.

Within two weeks, telephone and mail responses began to come in. This first big individual-directed step toward off-campus record sources promises substantial rewards in growth before the school ' s centen-nial celebration program in 1986.

Larry Hall

MARQUETTE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Marquette County Historical society has had a change in staff. Effective April 30 , 1982 , Mrs. Joan Weesen, Business Manager and Control-ler left for other employment and Mrs. March Malandrone has joined the staff as her replacement.

Frank 0. Paull, Jr.

-10-

THE EDISON INSTITUTE, HENRY FORD MUSEUM AND GREENFIELD VILLAGE

The Edison Institute , popularly known as Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village , announced that the departments previously designated the Ford Archives and the Tannahill Research Library are now called the Archives and Research Library, Henry Ford Museum. Douglas A. Bakken continues as the Director of the department.

The new designation is intended to reflect the Institute ' s variety of archival, graphic and printed matter collections which focus on documenting and interpreting American culture from 1650 to 1950. In partic-ular , the unique collections document the period of American modernization: marking the transition from a tradi-tional to a modern culture , a rural to an urban society and an agricultur-al to an industrialized economy . The collecting theme documents the period 1800 to 1950.

The Archives is an umbrella name which reflects the following original source materials: Edison Institute Archives , Ford Motor Company Histori-cal Records (formerly designated the Ford Archives) , including the Ford Ora,l History Program , as well as the Manuscript Collections , and Graphics Collection. Included in the manu-scripts are the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company Records (c. 1830- 1890) and the David C. and Rhodolphus Hall Family Papers (c. 1835-1894) . Graphics material includes the Detroit J=>ublish-ing Company Coll ection ( 25 , 000 black and white "negative vault " photographs) and the Autocar Photographic Archives (White Motor Company ) with 30 , 000 glass and film negatives.

The Ford Motor Company Photograph-ic Archives (c. 1910- 1947) consist of approximately 500 , 000 images. Other graphics include decorative art prints and advertising at work.

The Res earch Library c onsists of approximately 20 , 000 monograph titles relating to agriculture , transporta-tion , communication , decorative and h ome arts, lighting, glass and ceram-ics, crafts , trades and manufacture , and entertainment and leis ure. In addition , approximately 2,500 trade catalogs consisting cf the Sullivan Collection , 500 items , 1880-1940, and Johnson Coll ection, 350 steam tractioq and portable engines , 1860-1924 , are preserved in the library. The library also has almanacs , trade cards and oth er ephemera.

Other printed matter includes the Carl Dreppard Decorative Arts Study Collection (c. 1775- 1940) , Scher Automotive Literature Collection (c. 1927- 1971 , foreign and American) . The periodical hol dings number 700 titles , of which 150 are current. Representative titles include: American Machinist , 1895- 1938; The Autocar , 1911- 1928; The Artizan , 1843- 1858; The Connoisseur , 1901-present; Electric ity, 1891- 1906; Engineering , 1866- 1925 ; Harper ' s Weekly , 1857- 1896; Power , 1903- 1964; and The Photographer , 1869- 1888.

The Archives and Research Library are open for research Monday- Friday, 8:30a.m. - 12 noon , 1:00p.m. -5:00p . m. The department mailing address is Archives and Research Library , Henry Ford Museum, Box 1970 , Dearborn , Michigan 48121.

MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS , BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY

Activities

During March and April the library hosted several s pecial teas , including one for Ambassador and Mrs. Leonard Woodcock. In Ann Arbor as an adjunct professor in the Depart-me nt of Political Science , Woodcock reminisced with the staff about his early days in the UAW and the labor movement in Michigan. Earlier in

- 11-

the year Terry McDonald , assistant professor in the Univers ity of Michigan Department of History , discussed with the staff general res earch trends in urban history and explored resources at the library re-lating to this broad field. More recently , Helen Slotkin, Archivist at the Massachus.etts Institute of Technology , spent an afternoon dis-cussing the focus and implications of her current inquiry into the appraisal of scientific records.

The Underground Pres s in Michi-gan has recently been published. The ninth volume in the Bentley ' s bibliography series , this compilation lists approximately 200 titles from the Michigan Historical Collections and selected ones from the Labadie Collection at the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library; it represents prob-ably the largest group of such publi-cations in the state.

The library has recently received a one-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to microfilm the Detroiter Abend-Pos t, 1868- 1931 , which was for many years the l eading German language daily in Detroit . The holdings of the '. Bentley , supplemented by those o f the Burton Historical Collection , Detroit Public Library, constitute virtually the only extant run of the newspaper, especially for the pre- 1916 issues. The project is being undertaken in cooperation with the Michigan News-papers on Microfilm Project.

f In cooperation with Sister Claudia Carlan of St. John ' s Provin-cial Seminary , the l :ibrary is collect-ing bibliographi c information in order to reconstruct the library of Father Gabriel Richard , the founder of the University of Michigan. The extensive collection has been scat-tered since his death in 1832.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has award ed a major grant to the Bentley Library to conduct a research

seminar on appraisal of modern hist-ical documentation. During the sum-mers of 1983, and 1984 six fellow-ships will be offered to his torians , archivists, and other scholars in-terested in examining such problems.

Staff

Len Coombs, printed works librar-ian, spoke at the spring meeting of MAA. His topic was "New Developments in Cataloging and their Implications for Local History." Mary Jo Pugh, Fran Blouin, Bill Wallach, and Julia Young also attended the meeting.

Several members of the staff traveled to Chicago for the tenth annivers ary meeting of the Midwest Archives Conference. Mary Jo Pugh, Bill Wallach, Fran Blouin, and Frank Boles were program participants. May Davis Hill also attended.

Accessions

The library recently received the professional papers of Marcus Plant, a University of Michigan Law School profess or who served as the Big Ten Faculty representative on the National Collegiate Athletic Association from 1955- 1979 and was a member of the United States Olympic Cormnittee, 1969- 1972.

During the last three years, the library has accessioned more than 1,500 feet of records from such major University units as the Presi-dent's Office; the Vice President for Academic Affairs; Board of Regents; Financial Operations; and the Dean' s Offices of the Medical School, College of Engineering, and the School of Business Administration. These activities are part of the library's University records manage-ment program, which has been given increased attention to the location and preservation of historical Univer-sity records.

Julia M. Young

- 12-

ARCHIVES AND HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Accessions

Ralph Turner, nationally renowned criminologist and Michigan State University professor--erneritus, has donated 67 cubic feet of his records to the Archives. The collection, which spans the period 1941- 1981, contains a large number of photographs used by Turner in firearms identifica-tion. Also included are papers from Turner's criminology classes and material that deals with his work in the Academy of Criminal Justice Science, his work with the Central Police College of Taiwan, and his service on the panel that investi-gated the death of Robert F. Kennedy. Also in the accession are files of C. W. Muehlberger, noted Michigan toxicologist, and J. W. Mathews a pioneer in firearms identification who was Turner ' s mentor at the University of Wisconsin.

In an acquisition program funded by the Michigan State University Agricultural Experiment Station , graduate assistant Eileen Nutting has collected four cubic feet of material from the American Agri- Women (AAW). The AAW, founded in 1977, is a national or~anization which provides educational programs, public relations and lobbying efforts in support of agricultural topics and interests. The collection contains newsletters, publications, committee files, correspondence , con-s titution and annual convention reports fr0m 1977 to 1981. The Michigan State University Archives has subsequently been designated as the official repos-itory for the AAW ' s rec ords. Ms. Nutting has also brought in newsletters, publications and news clippings (for the period 1976- 1981) from a related group , the Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan~

The Archives has received a 40 cubic feet addition to its REO Motors collection. The addition, spanning

~,,

the years 1954- 1973, is primarily composed of public relation photo-graphs of REO and- Diamond- T trucks , executives, sales people and dealers. Also included are dealer correspond-ence with the company and truck blue-prints.

Two other collections received by the archives . are the letterpress correspondence (5 cubic feet) Of Robert C. and Frank S. Kedzie (father and son) , early chemists at Michigan State University , and the office files of the Michigan Allied Poultry Industries , 1943- 1970 , 4 cubic feet.

Processed Material

The Michigan State University Centennial collection (7 cubic feet) has been arranged and described. The collection (1953- 1956) has series on such topics as planning, awards presented , symposia held, and the Centennial of Farm Mechanization. Also detailed is the university ' s 1955 name change from Michigan State College. This measure met with vehement , though ultimately unsuccess-ful opposition , particularly in the state legislature. Also open for research are several collections of university news releases that span the years 1941 to 1981. The collec-tions describe significant campus events , staff , faculty, students and visitors, official policy statements of the university , and other public relations information. Of particular note are the sports information re-leases that contain a wealth of statistical data on both team and in-. J

dividual performances.

Two photographic collections have been arranged and indexed. The Wallace Nutting collection of 85 images (from glass plate negatives) detail lumbering, people , and scenes in the Benzie County area ca. 1880-1900. The 4-H collection of lantern slides depicts club projects through-out Michigan during the 1910s and 1920s.

...

- 13-

Fredrick L. Honhart attended the fall M.A.C. meeting im St. Louis and the Local History Conference in Detroit. He continues his efforts as M.A.C. Fall Program Chair for the meeting to be held in Ann Arbor. Mary Patton participated in two S.A.A. workshops, one on the administration of photographic collections and the other on conservation. She also attended the Local History Conference in Detroit. Bill McDaid and Dick Harms went to the Great Lakes History Conference in Grand Rapids, Dick was also in St. Louis for the M.A.C. meet-ing.

The "Dis aster Plan for Michigan State University Archives and Histor-ical Collections " has been revised and updated. As a result, the archives has some copies of the previous edition that are available without cost (can you beat that price) upon request (contact Dick Harms) .

Dick Harms

GERALD R. FORD LIBRARY

Since the opening of the first segment of the Ford Presidential papers on April 5, the staff has been processing .additional collec-tions, handling a growing number of researcp~rs, planning for future con~erences and exhibits, providing programs and tours for groups visit-ing the Library, and participating in conferences and other professional activities.

Among the groups meeting at the Library in recent months were the Michigan chapter of the Special Libraries Association, Governor Milliken's High Technology Task Force, and the presidents of Michigan col-leges and universities.