Collections

Singing group established in 1902 as the University of Michigan Girls' Club before changing the name to Women's Glee Club in the 1940s. The group performed on campus and throughout Michigan as well as touring nationally and internationally. The group disbanded in 1953 and was reactivated in 1976. This records include concert programs and posters, fundraising information, correspondence, photographs, audio/visual recordings of performances, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks. Also included are administrative papers including budget information, schedules, rosters and rules.

The Women's Glee Club collection dates from 1903 to 2017 and is comprised of multiple accessions. Because these accessions came with little discernible structure, and because their contents overlapped, they were combined into one collection made up of printed and manuscript materials, as well as posters, scrapbooks, sound and video recordings in a few different formats. The collection has been divided into four series: Audio/Visual Materials, Topical File, Scrapbooks and Concert Posters. The first two series of the collection have been arranged alphabetically by topic, and chronologically within the files. The Scrapbooks series is contained in Box 2, and each scrapbook has retained its original organization.

The Women's Research Club of the University of Michigan was founded in 1902 in response to the exclusion of women from the recently established all-male research clubs. Records include minutes, correspondence and reports of club officers and committees, papers concerning the club anniversaries, and photographs.

Records of the Women's Research Club include minutes, 1902-1999; correspondence, 1903-1939 and 1952-1994; membership lists 1904-1999; financial records 1903-1999; correspondence and reports of club officers and committees, including Loan Fund materials; papers concerning the 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th and 90th anniversaries; relationships with the men's research club; histories, memorials, photographs, and clippings.

The Women's Tefillah Movement Papers contains newsletters from the Women's Tefillah Network and Teaneck Group, an event flier from the Women's Tefila Group, newspaper clippings, articles, and a conference paper on Orthodox Jewish women's prayer groups, and photocopies of positive and negative t'shuvas. Materials are mainly in English, with some Hebrew materials.

Owner of Woody Pontiac Sales, Inc. in Hamtramck, MI and lifelong Republican and proponent of peace in the Middle East; correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs.

The Woodrow and Ann Woody papers are organized into two series: Correspondence and other papers and Photographs. The collection consists primarily of correspondence with public figures; newspaper clippings, photographs, and other materials from scrapbooks relating to the Hillcrest Wolverine Open golf tournament; photographs of Woody and his wife Ann with various public figures and attending different social occasions.

The Woods family papers chronicle the establishment of an important family in western Virginia during the 18th and early 19th centuries. While the bulk of the collection pertains to Archibald Woods' (1764-1846) activities as a surveyor and land speculator in Ohio County, the collection also contains several letters from later generations of the family, and documents relating to military and public affairs, including the War of 1812.

The Woods family papers chronicle the establishment of an important family in western Virginia during the 18th and early 19th centuries. While the bulk of the collection pertains to Archibald Woods' (1764-1846) activities as a surveyor and land speculator in Ohio County, the collection also contains several letters from later generations of the family, and documents relating to military and public affairs. A series of land surveys of the Ohio Valley, prepared by Archibald Woods, has been arranged and placed at the end of the collection, and two land documents relating to Woods property are also present in Oversize Manuscripts, a 1774 deed signed by Dunmore granting lands in Botetourt County and an 1820 grant signed by James Monroe for lands in Ohio.

The collection includes a petition relating to the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. Addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives of Virginia from the citizens of Ohio County, the petition includes thirty nine signatures protesting the Acts. The signers expressed their concern regarding what they saw as a violation of the Constitution, and asserted that the acts were a "serious cause of alarm" for the citizens of Ohio County, whom, they noted, continued to adhere to the Democratic principles of the American Revolution.

During the time that Andrew Woods served as sheriff of Botetourt County, 1777-1780, he kept a small, deerskin-bound notebook of his activities including receipts and notes on the collection of taxes and fees. There are also sporadic family business records. Included are an agreement for disposition of property including land, livestock, and enslaved persons (named Herod [Bin?], Sip, Ceasar, and Nanas). A copy of a contract between siblings Andrew, Martha, and Archibald (likely Andrew Woods' children) for the care of Martha Poage Woods and arrangements for the purchase of an enslaved person for Elijah Woods is also present. The contract provided for clothing, food, and shelter and, if Martha chose "to go back over the mountains," to provide an enslaved person to care for her.

Over fifty surveys and treasury warrants document Archibald Woods' importance as a surveyor and land speculator in the Ohio River Valley. Many of these can be positively traced to land that today lies in the state of West Virginia, mostly in the panhandle, but, Woods owned property throughout Ohio County, which then included parts of Ohio and a corner of Pennsylvania. A contemporary range and township map assists in situating Woods' land holdings.

Seven printed orders, each unique, or nearly unique, include information about troop recruitment and deployment during the War of 1812, and about demobilization at the end of the war. Among other documents in the collection are Archibald Woods' commissions and resignations.

There is little true correspondence in the Woods family papers, although one item, a letter from Joe Woods, is of some interest. In this letter written to his mother, Woods summarizes his reasons for transferring to Princeton, assuring her of his sound character and his decision. William Woods' ledger and daybook from 1828 and Hamilton Woods' cypher book from ca. 1820s are also present in the collection. The collection contains a photograph album with cartes-de-visite, cabinet cards, and other photos from around the 1870s and 1880s, as well as approximately 0.5 linear feet of photographs of Woods family members, particularly Ruth Woods and Charles Moss from the early 20th century, and the Woods family homestead.

Finally, the collection contains useful information about the Woods family estate, Woodsdale. Three documents from 1815-1816 provide floor plans and a record of construction costs, and there are two copy photographs of the house as it stood before its demolition in 1949. In 1976-77, Ruth Moss described the physical layout of the home and grounds as she recalled them, as well as her memories of life at Woodsdale in the early part of the century. An additional 0.25 linear feet of Ruth Moss's genealogical research on the Woods family is also present.

Worden G. Wood kept this sketchbook around 1898 while he was serving as a reserve in the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. Yankee during the Spanish American War.

The volume features pencil sketches of the Yankee, the locations it traveled, its battles, and other ships it encountered. Wood named places such as Casilda, Trinidad, Guantanamo, Santiago, and others. The cover of the sketchbook is signed "W. G. Wood, U.S.S. Yankee." Included amongst the sketches are deceased Spanish soldiers.

Workshop organized by University of Michigan faculty that investigates the causes, circumstances, and consequences of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Records detail the activities of the Workshop, including administrative functions and papers, materials from the Workshops themselves, and Workshop projects. Also included are materials related to the scope and topic of the Workshops.

The Workshop for Armenian/Turkish Scholarship (WATS) consists of records and related material from the WATS archives. The records are divided into five series: Administrative, Workshops, WATS Projects, and Related Materials. The collection was organized by Nora Nercessian prior to being presented to the Bentley Historical Library. The arrangement and description done by Nercessian has largely been retained.

W. Scott Westerman was a life-long educator and administrator who graduated with his PhD from University of Michigan's School of Education. From 1967 to 1971 he served as superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) and was dedicated to increasing equity for Black and female students. The bulk of materials in this collection are from AAPS and include school board materials, reports, curriculums, etc., and material related to gender and racial inequalities in education. Also, a book of his World War II letters entitled Letters Home (2015) and a White Panther report (1969).

This collection contains materials from W. Scott Westerman's career at Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS). Most of the contents are related to Westerman's role as superintendent. The bulk of these materials are from 1967 to 1971. Westerman collected school board materials including meeting minutes, correspondence, proposals, budget reports, and various other documents related to the district. Other related materials include teacher work plans, union master agreements, curriculums, superintendent recommendations, annual reports, policies, and documents related to schools in the district.

AAPS materials also include records related to Westerman's mission of increasing equity for Black and female students. Documents related to equity are referred to as "human relations". In 1968, Westerman's files describe a protest regarding AAPS's treatment of Black students. The students created a list of "21 demands to correct racial inequalities". There are various reports, correspondence, and documentation related to this event.

Other important topics listed across this collection include sex education, dress and grooming, desegregation, and other student issues.

Other professional files include a folder of teaching materials from University High School and a written history of Eastern Michigan University's College of Education. Three folders include personal files about Ann Arbor's Rotary Club, the Methodist church, and a White Panther report from 1969. Westerman's book Letters Home: World War II Through a Soldier's Eyes (2015) is also included.

Branch of the YMCA; Annual reports, clippings, correspondence, financial records, minutes of meetings, photographs, press releases, published materials, rosters, and scrapbooks; also includes collected branch records for the Railroad branch, 1877-1890, and the Downtown branch, 1890-1909; and publication, Detroit Young Men, 1911-1922.

The records of the Metropolitan Offices of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit consist of annual reports, correspondence, financial materials, minutes (Secretary's records), photographs, published brochures and pamphlets, and scrapbooks. The materials document, somewhat unevenly, the efforts of the YMCA to tend to the spiritual, physical, and social needs of the young men in Detroit. The strengths of this record group are in its minutes (Secretary's records) and photographs, each of which provides detailed and telling insight into the development of Detroit and the YMCA from the nineteenth century to 2006. The scrapbooks created by the YMCA, 1936-1973, are also of interest in that they accurately reflect all newspaper coverage of YMCA events and activities for this decade.

The records have been arranged in four series: Administration, Secretary's Records, Visual Materials, and Scrapbooks.

The Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality (YCFE) organization was formed in about 2001 to contest a ballot proposal that would have removed sexual orientation protections from the Ypsilanti City Charter. This record group comprises the material they amassed during their campaign; it includes budgets, planning documents, literature, and press coverage.

This record group is divided into three series: 2002 Campaign (0.7 linear feet, 2001-2002), Digital Records (150 MB, 2001-2002) and Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality and Elizabeth Warren Eddins vs. Ypsilanti City Clerk, City of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County Election Commission and Washtenaw County Clerk (0.2 linear feet, 1998-2002).