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The Topical Files series comprises the majority of the records received from the Office of the President and document the many issues with which the president must deal on a daily basis. The series are arranged chronologically by academic year, and within each series folders are arranged by topic.

When researching any aspect of a particular administration's history, the researcher should begin by searching these files. When looking for materials on a given individual, the researcher is advised to search under the last name, or, when applicable, the name of office, firm, or organization with which he/she worked. If nothing is found, the researcher should try searching under the subject matter heading that the materials concern. It is often helpful to look at files from both the academic year in question and the following year. There are times when materials from one year will have materials attached from a previous year, copies of which may or may not be in that previous year's files. For example, researchers interested in the major issues of the Fleming administration will find interesting materials under such headings as "Affirmative Action," "Disruptions," "Residential College," and "Women." Documents pertaining to the BAM III protest can be found under the 1987 heading "Racism," and a review of the "Budget" files from the years of Harold Shapiro's tenure is the best introduction to the fiscal crisis of the 1980s. (For additional information on the fiscal crisis, the researcher should consult the record group University of Michigan Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.)

The STP/MacArthur Project, 1989-1993 series contains the records created by a collaboration between PCMA, the STP Schools at the Highlander Center in Tennessee, and the Institute for Development Research. PCMA recorded the proceedings of three STP School meetings in 1989, and transcribed two of these. They also distributed questionnaires to the grassroots environmental activists at one of these Schools. These questionnaires are of interest since they describe the tactics, struggles, failures and successes of organizations from all over the country. Another file contains audio recordings of a workshop which brought together activists and researchers from America and the Third World. Other details of this grant-funded project can be found in four folders of correspondence, two proposals to the MacArthur Foundation, and a final report to the Foundation.

The Project Files series covers Frank's work as owner of Preservation / Urban Design / Incorporated (P/UD/I) from 1975 to 1984 and later as an FAIA architect. The projects have been arranged alphabetically, reflecting the original order of the material. The series contains paper records supplemented with architectural drawings. (The project files for Orchestra Hall, Crossroads Village and the Smithsonian Institution Arts and Industries Building are each listed in their own, separate series.) In some instances, only architectural drawings or only paper files remain. Occasionally it was necessary to sketch how a location looked during different time periods, for example, the Detroit People Mover architectural drawings. The majority of architectural drawings are blue line prints, though there are a few original pencil and ink on mylar drawings. The paper files also may contain historic background materials. Other ephemera include maps, photographs, photographic negatives, and slides. The series contains two subseries: Saline Office (8.25 feet, 48 tubes) and Detroit Office (16 feet, 27 tubes). The Saline Office subseries represents an earlier accession, with materials originating from Frank's office in Saline, Michigan. The Detroit Office subseries covers the project files housed in Frank's office in Detroit, Michigan. There are some projects, which overlap between the two subseries. For example, the Saline Office subseries contains the architectural drawings for Ann Arbor Westside Neighborhood project, while the Detroit Office subseries contains the project's corresponding written plan.

Michigan project files include: Albion Downtown Study, Applewood Estate in Flint, Central City Historic Survey in Grand Rapids, the Detroit People Mover, The Ford Fair Lane Building (now owned by the University of Michigan at Dearborn), the residences of Ann Arbor's Inter-Cooperative Council (or I.C.C.), Kalamazoo Depot and Water Tower Restoration, Lenawee County Museum, Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Old City Hall of Ypsilanti, St. Mary's Church of Detroit, and a restoration of the Woodward East section of Detroit. There are also architectural drawings of many Mackinac Island State Park structures. The paper records of the Fort Wilkins restoration project contain a wealth of historical information.

Items in this series from outside of Michigan include architectural drawings of the Thomas Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress and Colonial Williamsburg.

Richard Frank's renovation of the Dart residence in Okemos and Turner-Dodge House of Lansing provide a look at the historic restoration of residential homes, while a sampling of commercial projects include Goodyears Interiors and Rider's Hobby Shop of Ann Arbor and the South Bank Restaurant of Manistee.

As the provost's chief of staff, Karen Gibbons served as an advisor to the provost; acted as a liaison to the deans, executive officers, and Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA); and managed the provost's staff. She also administered executive searches in the provost's office, and coordinated development-related matters. Gibbons also provided staff support for the Academic Program Group and served as the contact person on publicity matters under the purview of the provost. Gibbons holds her B.A. in human resource administration and began her employment at the University of Michigan in 1970 and in the provost's office in 1990, where she remained until her retirement in 2012.

Gibbons's records comprise 31 linear feet and are divided into seven subseries. Her Committees, 1990-1998 and 1992-2011 subseries contains records she maintained for several important university committees. The provost's key staff regularly met in a group variously called 4+1, 5+1, 6+1, 7+1 and 8+1. The numbers refer to the quantity of the provost's staff in attendance, plus the provost, who is the "one." Generally the associate provosts attended, augmented by the chief of staff and assistant provosts. The records include agendas, supporting materials, and some notes, but no regular minutes.

The Academic Program Group (APG) is a regular meeting of the Provost's staff with the deans and directors of the various schools. For these meetings there are regular minutes, as well as agendas and supporting reports and memoranda. Within the APG records are the records of a retreat on the Future of the Faculty, hosted by Nancy Cantor in October of 1998. Faculty members gathered to discuss issues of faculty governance, non-tenured faculty, and balancing work and family.

The Foundations Fund Raising Committee was made up of selected deans, university officers, and provost staff. It was created to coordinate the university's communications with large foundations, such as the Ford Foundation and the WK Kellogg Foundation. The records are filed by meeting date, and include agendas, reports, and sometimes meeting summaries.

Gibbons' records also include materials on emergency planning at the University, which document plans for dealing with pandemic and flu outbreaks, active shooters, and other emergency situations. Other committees represented in Gibbons' files include several student-administrator committees, miscellaneous Office of Academic Affairs staff meetings, Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) and the Senate Assembly, and other project and task force committees.

Other series in Gibbons' papers contain her Correspondence Chronological Files, 1992-1996 and Correspondence Targeted Emails, 2004-2013. The targeted emails are correspondence sent out to the entire University population, including students, faculty, and administrators. Her papers also include Budget/Long-Range Planning Files, 1996-1997 , Personnel Files, 1988-2010, including staff searches for the Provost's Office; Reports, 1989-2006, and Topical, 1986-2013.

The Administrative Files series consists of the following nine subseries: Proposals; Reports; Reviews; Searches; Standard Practice Guides (SPG); Office Policy and Office Holder Documents; Deans and Directors Reviews; Grievances; and Personnel.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Ypsilanti-Willow Run Branch series (2 linear feet, 842 KB) consists mainly of meeting material and information about NAACP hosted events along with various publications, clippings, correspondence, and photographs. Documents in folders Mullins labeled "Memorabilia" include education committee papers regarding desegregation in Ypsilanti schools, state conference activities, newspaper clippings and an occasional copy of meeting minutes. Also of note is a folder with a brief historical sketch and photocopied articles on the history of the organization. Included in the collection is a July 1919 reprint from Crisis Magazine which discussed NAACP recruiting in the Midwest; Ypsilanti experiences are featured, along with Detroit, Cleveland, and other industrial cities. Other various national NAACP publications are also present in the collection. The series also holds letters to Congressman William Ford urging that a national holiday be declared to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and a collection of programs and clippings from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations. The photographs are of Mullins with Muhammad Ali in 1992 and Don Rieglie in 1993, both autographed.

The series also contains materials of the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) competition. There are balance sheets, correspondence, fliers, grant applications, a news article, and programs about various events related to the competition.

A folder that may hold particular interest is the "officer elections" folder, which includes a list of officers for election in 1994 and nomination forms from the 1990 election.

Meeting materials are a large portion of the series. In order to maintain the original order of the collection, the executive and general membership meetings have been grouped together. Meeting materials include notes, agendas, minutes, brochures, reports (treasurer, finance, and presidential reports), and sign in sheets. Assuming that they were distributed during meetings, fliers and brochures were kept in their original order and filed with the meeting materials. Membership information spanning various years can be found throughout the collection.

(Executive and General Membership meeting minutes from July 2001 for the Ypsilanti-Willow Run Branch of the NAACP, along with a list of those holding life memberships in the organization.)

Contains photographs of church members, activities, and buildings.

The Audio/Visual Materials series contains the following subseries: Audio Cassette Tapes, Digital Materials, Photographs, and Video Tapes.

The Audio Cassette Tapes subseries contains music recordings made in support of the DeBoer's adoption of Jessica as well as a radio broadcast on the Illinois Chapter of Hear My Voice.