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The Exhibits of Regents' Meetings series (1899-2016) includes various items: correspondence, reports, recommendations, and other documents presented to the Regents for consideration at their meetings. In addition to these files, the researcher should note that the Bentley Historical Library maintains a complete set of the Regents' printed official minutes. Proceedings of the Board of Regents began in 1837 and continues to the present. These proceedings are extensively indexed and may be located through the printed catalog. The published proceedings include many of the items within the Exhibit series. The majority of exhibits, however, are merely alluded to in the minutes. Thus, this series is the most complete record of the actions of the Board of Regents. To speed retrieval exhibits filed after August 1908 were identified by a letter. As the number of exhibits expanded beyond the letters of the alphabet, the practice became to label the exhibit following "Z" as "AA." Similarly, the exhibit following "ZZ" was designated "AAA." The practice of writing out all of the letters was abandoned in 1928 and supplanted by a shorthand notation. Exhibit "AA" was designated "A2," and "AAA" as "A3."

Exhibit letters do not appear in the official printed Regents' minutes. They are, however, included in the draft minutes and the agendas which precede each meeting's exhibits. Since the Secretary prepared both the agenda and the exhibits, exhibits usually were taken up sequentially, but exceptions to this rule are common.

Exhibits regarding trust funds were systematically removed from the files and placed in a special location. Such removals were noted by the insertion of a printed form. The trust fund file has not yet been transferred to the archives.

Note: More recent materials from the meetings (from March 1996 to present), including detailed agendas, exhibit material, and reports on finances, promotions, and degree confirmation, are available in the record group University of Michigan. Board of Regents Agendas.