Search

University of Michigan professor of anthropology; professor of botany; curator of ethnology; and former director of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. Well-known for his innovative research in archaeology, ethnobotany, and paleoethnobotany, as well as a long and distinguished teaching career and dedication to public and professional service.

The Richard I. Ford Papers document the professional and personal life of one of the country's most prominent paleoethnobotanists, curator and former director of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, and longtime University of Michigan professor of Anthropology and Botany. The records in this collection measure 27 linear feet, and date from 1968 to 2005, with the majority of the records from the period 1970 to 1990. The Ford papers are primarily comprised of correspondence, legal filings and consulting materials, lectures and conference presentations, publications, committee and service records, administrative materials, teaching files, and mixed media. The records are arranged into seven series: Correspondence, Legal Consultations, Professional Service and Activities, Teaching, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Audio-Visual Materials, and Research, Publications, and Projects.

Two year custody battle over "Baby Girl Clausen" between Jan and Robby DeBoer of Ann Arbor, Michigan and her biological parents Cara Clausen and Daniel Schmidt of Blairstown, Iowa; and the national child advocacy group Hear My Voice. The collection consists of correspondence, news clippings, press releases, photographs, audio cassette tapes, digital materials, video tapes, and legal papers such as petitions, briefs, judicial orders, and amicus briefs.

The Robby DeBoer papers document the legal battle and media coverage surrounding the adoption of "Baby Girl Clausen," and also the organizational records of the national child advocacy group Hear My Voice. The collection consists of correspondence, news clippings, press releases, photographs, audio cassette tapes, digital materials, video tapes, and legal papers such as petitions, briefs, judicial orders, and amicus briefs. The collection has the following series: Biographical, Litigation, Hear My Voice, Publicity, Audio/Visual Materials, and General Correspondence.

Designer and automotive engineer with the General Motors Corporation; he later assumed increasing responsibilities within the company as president and chief operating officer and then chairman and chief executive officer. After leaving GM, he became chairman of Energy Conversion Devices (ECD). The Stempel collection documents his work with GMC and ECD and includes minutes of meetings, company memoranda and correspondence, speeches and other various presentations, publications, and photographs and other visual materials. Portions of the collection relate to other business and public service affiliations.

The Robert C. Stempel collection has been arranged into the following series: General Motors Corporation; Energy Conversion Devices; Speeches / Conferences / Presentations; Organizational Affiliations, Responsibilities, and Interests; Background / Personal information; Visual Materials, and Sound Cassettes.

Robert E. Lewis served as editor-in-chief of the Middle English Dictionary at the University of Michigan from 1982 to 2001. Before coming to Michigan Lewis was a professor of English at Indiana University where he co-authored A Guide to the Manuscripts of the Prick of Conscience. The Robert E. Lewis papers relate primarily to research into Prick of Conscience, the most popular English poem of the Middle Ages. The papers include correspondence, articles, notes and reproductions (photocopies and microfilm) of medieval manuscripts and texts of the poem and related material

History of Prick of Conscience Studies

The Prick of Conscience, to judge from the number of known manuscripts (120), was the most popular English poem of the Middle Ages, surpassing such popular poems as Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (its nearest competitor with 64 manuscripts), Piers Plowman (with 54), and John Gower's Confessio Amantis (with 51), and was itself surpassed in English only by the two versions of the Wycliffite prose translation of the Bible and the prose Brut. The poem exists in three versions: (1) an original or main version (in 99 manuscripts), which originated in the north of England, probably Yorkshire, with a preponderance of manuscripts from that area and the north midlands, but also extending into the west midlands and East Anglia and even into the southeast and the southwest; (2) a shorter, thoroughly revised recension (in nineteen manuscripts) originating somewhere in the south, with a more restricted distribution; and (3) a heavily revised and abbreviated version of the main version entitled Speculum Huius Vite (in two manuscripts).

The popularity of the poem is supported by other signs: eighty per cent of the counties of England can claim at least one copy of the poem, some have two or more, and three of the copies are written in the Anglo-Irish dialect; extracts circulated separately (twelve in eight manuscripts); the poem was quoted in a number of other Middle English poems ("Stimulus Consciencie Minor," "Desert of Religion," "Of the Flood of the World," "Wheel of Fortune," for example) as well as in a stained glass window at All Saints Church in York); there was a translation into Latin prose made in the 14th century (six manuscripts exist); and the poem appears in wills and book lists.

The Prick of Conscience is a long verse compilation (over 9,600 lines in rhyming couplets), divided into a prologue; seven books, which treat, in turn, the wretchedness of man's nature throughout his life, the world and the various conditions thereof, death and the fear of death, purgatory and its characteristics, the day of judgment, the pains of hell, and the joys of heaven; and a brief conclusion or epilogue. The poem has a great many sources: ultimately over twenty separate works, primarily Latin, including both well known ones like St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei, Honorius of Autun's Elucidarium, Pope Innocent III"s De Miseria Humane Conditionis, and Bartholomeus Anglicus's De Proprietatibus Rerum and not so well known ones like Robert Grosseteste's De Penis Purgatorii (in its French version) and Hugh Ripelin of Strasbourg's Compendium Theologice Veritatis.

For a long time the poem was thought to have been written by the well known hermit and mystical writer Richard Rolle (died 1349), to whom it is attributed in five manuscripts, but his authorship is now considered extremely doubtful. Three manuscripts attribute the poem to Robert Grosseteste (circa 1170-1253), Bishop of Lincoln, but he lived too early to be the author. A more recent suggestion is William of Nassyngton (died 1359), chancellor of the Diocese of York and the author of the Speculum Vite, but there is as yet no proof for this. In genre the Prick of Conscience is unlike any other Middle English work in verse or prose, though it has some similarities and has been compared to the Speculum Vite. Its primary function was probably as a compendium of knowledge from which a parish priest could instruct his flock or draw material for his sermons, and its wide circulation in the 14th and 15th centuries indicates that it must have fulfilled its purpose.

The poem is worth studying for a number of reasons and from a variety of points of view, and when Lewis came to Ann Arbor in 1982 he had just completed, with Angus McIntosh A Guide to the Manuscripts of the Prick of Conscience (Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature), which they hoped, as they said in their Preface, would "stimulate and facilitate research into some of the important . . . questions connected with [the poem], such as its genre, the reasons for its popularity, its audience, and its influence in Britain in the later Middle Ages"; and Lewis himself was planning to spend whatever free time he had on various aspects of the poem. He had made good progress on two projects: the sources (and the manuscript tradition of the sources) of Book I and an edition of one of the short poems indebted to the Prick of Conscience, the "Stimulus Consciencie Minor." But the work of the Middle English Dictionary took precedence during his official working years, and because of other commitments he was unable to complete these projects during retirement. He deposited his Prick of Conscience materials in the Bentley Library in the hope that other researchers would consult them as a starting point either to complete the two projects he began or to study other aspects of the poem.

Scope and Content Note

The Robert E. Lewis papers relate primarily to research and study of the Prick of Conscience the most popular English poem of the Middle Ages. Prick of Conscience material includes reproductions (photocopies and microfilm) of medieval manuscripts and related Middle English texts as well as Lewis's correspondence, notes, and research files on the Prick of Conscience. Material relating to the Middle English Dictionary and his professional career is also present.

The Lewis papers are arranged in five series. The first four series relate to the poem Prick of Conscience: Prick of Conscience, Related Materials, Notes on Cards and Slips, and Microfilms of Manuscripts. The content of the first two boxes are all in standard archival folders and are arranged by subject. In box three the materials represent a variety of formats (4" x 6" cards, 5" x 8" cards and slips, and a paperback book), also arranged by subject, with a few microfilms in various kinds of containers. The final box consists of microfilms only.

Soldier with C-Company, 307th Engineering Platoon, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, in Vietnam, includes recorded letters sent home while stationed in Vietnam, 1968-1969; and photographic snapshots of Shepard, other members of his company, and the areas in Vietnam where they were stationed.

The Robert Shepard collection includes recorded letters (18, 3-inch reel-to-reel tapes) sent home while stationed in Vietnam, 1968-1969; and photographic snapshots of Shepard, other members of his company, and the areas in Vietnam where they were stationed. The Photogaphs consist of two photo albums and two envelopes full of loose photographs as well as scans of the photo albums created by the donor.

The recordings consist of 18 audio letters sent to his family from Vietnam. These were sent through the army mail's "Voices from Home" program using 3M's "Living Letters" brand.

Russell M. Magnaghi is professor of history at Northern Michigan University. The collection consists of oral history recordings and transcripts and photographs, developed as part of Magnaghi's work in documenting history and ethnicity of the Upper Peninsula and Michigan in general.

The collection consists of three series developed as part of Magnaghi's work in documenting history and ethnicity of the Upper Peninsula and Michigan in general. The series are Italian-American Immigrant Oral History Series; Ethnic Heritage of Presque Isle County, Mich.; and Photographs.

Sam Breck was an Ann Arbor, Mich., photographer. The collection consists of color slides of railroad depots and other railroad scenes, chiefly in Michigan but including scenes in other states; slides, photographs and negatives of Ann Arbor and University of Michigan buildings, views, and events; photographs and negatives of Michigan Youth Symphony.

The Sam Breck photograph collection consists of color slides of railroad depots and other railroad scenes, chiefly in Michigan but including scenes in other states; slides, photographs and negatives of Ann Arbor and University of Michigan buildings, views, and events; photographs and negatives of Michigan Youth Symphony. The collection is divided into four series, based on format: Slides, Prints, Negatives, and Contact sheets, along with a small Other series.

Professor of political science at the University of Michigan and Democratic mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan for one term, 1957-1959. The collection consists primarily of Eldersveld's mayoralty subject files. There are also some of his writings, as well as notes, course materials, correspondence, departmental memos, reports, biographical material, and recordings of interviews.

The Samuel J. Eldersveld Papers document Eldersveld's academic career, his mayoralty, and personal background. The collection consists primarily of Eldersveld's writings, notes, course materials, correspondence, departmental memos, reports, oral history project, biographical material and mayoralty subject files. The collection contains the following series: Mayoralty Files, 1957-1959, Ann Arbor City Council, Personal/Biographical, Academic Career and Sound Recordings.

Samuel Miller Brownell was an educator and school administrator who served as U.S. Commissioner of Education from 1953-1956 and as Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools from 1956 to 1966. He was married to Esther Delzell Brownell, who taught high school history before their 1927 marriage. This collection documents the Brownells' family life, and to a lesser extent, Samuel M. Brownell's career. Materials include a large collection of correspondence between Samuel and Esther Brownell, personal papers reflecting the family's social and cultural activities and daily life, and a series of scrapbooks, dating from 1900 to 1988, containing photographs, clippings, newsletters, correspondence, and ephemera. The older scrapbooks provide information about the early lives of both of the Brownells, and later scrapbooks document the family's vacations and Samuel Brownell's career as an educator, administrator, and political appointee.

The Samuel Miller Brownell and Esther Delzell Brownell collection documents the family life of two individuals from their courtship through their old age. To a lesser extent, the career of Samuel Brownell as educator is also documented. The papers are arranged roughly chronologically into three series, beginning with the lives of each of the Brownells before their marriage, and then following them as they moved from Nebraska to Michigan, to Connecticut, to Washington, D.C., to Michigan again, and finally to back to Connecticut.

Contains addresses, annual reports, bulletins and course catalogs, directories, proceedings, and reports including the Library Science Study series. Also includes newsletters such as the Doctoral Students' Memo, the Insider, New Edition, News and Notes, News from the School of Library Science, Placement Bulletin, and SILS Update. Also contains a history of the Association of library science alumni and issues of their newsletter Alumni Notes. Also includes the publications of Beta Phi Mu - Beta Phi Mu Newsletter and Musings. Contains the Dept. of Library Science summer session bulletin.

The Publications of the School of Information and Library Studies are divided into three series: Unit Publications, Sub-Unit Publications and Topical Publications. Some publications (or their successors) may no longer be available in print but are available on the school's website.