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Michigan State University

African Americans at MSU Archives & Historical Collections: Archival Collections - Personal Papers/Individual Collections

Archival Collections - Personal Papers/Individual Collections

 Robert L. Green papers (UA 17.20), 1970-1974                                                                                                            

  • 7 folders
  • While a Professor of Educational Psychology at MSU in 1968, Green was named the director of the Center for Urban Affairs. He became the Dean of the College of Urban Development when it was created in 1972, the first Black dean at MSU.
  • This collection consists of publications Green authored while a faculty member at Michigan State University. These items center, for the most part, on minority students in college, their admission and various programs utilized by them. Also included is a speech, "The University and Society," centering around the unrest in higher education during the 1970s and what was to be done about it at a land grant university like Michigan State University. 
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/1907

 Ruth Simms Hamilton collection (UA 17.269), 1968-1982                                                                                     

Barry D. Amis papers (UA 10.3.500), 1967-1970, undated

  • 7 folders
  • While working on his doctorate degree at MSU, Amis helped found the Black Student Alliance (BSA) and served as its first president.
  • The collection contains flyers, notes, correspondence, and newspaper clippings related to the creation of the Black Student Alliance and its early history from 1967 to 1969. Included are newspaper clipping editorials that Amis wrote while a student. Also included are blank forms, hate mail, and a factsheet about the Orangeburg Massacre.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/6662

Gayle Robertson papers (UA 10.3.505), 1944-1945, 1963-1967

  • 0.25 cubic feet
  • This collection contains fifty-one letters, one postcard, and six photos that Gayle Robertson sent home to her mother Lucille, about college life. The letters include descriptions of her life as an African American student.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/6681

Darlene Clark Hine papers (UA 17.298), 1988, 1990                                                                                                  

  • 1 folder 
  • The collection contains the lecture "Black women in the Middle West: the Michigan experience," that Hines delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Historical Society of Michigan on October 14, 1988, and the Historical Society published in 1990.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/2556

 Beth J. Shapiro papers (UA 10.3.102), 1982                                                                                                                    

Robert F. Crawford papers (UA 17.402), 1988-1991                                                                                                 

  • 0.5 cubic feet  
  • In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bob Crawford recorded interviews with forty-two college students, most of whom were matriculating at Michigan State University. Others were students at Lansing Community College and the University of Michigan. Crawford compiled the interviews into the manuscript "Generation X: The Hopes and Dreams of College Students."
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/3324

 Eric V. A. Winston papers (UA 10.3.396), 1969-1974                                                                                                 

 Lana Dart papers (UA 17.263), 1930-2006                                                                                                                   

  • 1.5 cubic feet
  • The Lana Dart collection contains materials relating to student services and student activities at Michigan State University. There are materials about orientation and welcome week, as well as drafts of student handbooks. There are also reports from the assistant director of student activities and reports of the assistant director of the Women’s Division of Student Affairs
  • Black Activism Reappraised: Tactics and Strategies, circa 1970, Box 2299/Folder 3
  • A Proposal for Paid Black Resident Aides, undated, Box 2299/Folder 20
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/644

 Don Stevens papers (UA 1.1.2), 1944-1973                                                                                                                    

  • 28 cubic feet
  • The Don Stevens papers include a variety of materials on higher education, particularly Michigan State University, as well as disputes and conflicts pertaining to it. Some of which includes student protests to campus issues including racial problems, ROTC, and the grape and lettuce boycott. 
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/72

 Clarence M. Munn papers (UA 17.75), 1946-1972                                                                    

  • 36 cubic feet
  • Clarence L. “Biggie” Munn (1908-1975) served as both football coach and athletic director at Michigan State. MSU’s rise to prominence in the field of intercollegiate athletics owes a great deal to Munn’s successful tenures in these positions.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/346

 Hugh Duffy Daugherty papers (UA 17.63), 1947-1975                                                                                             

  • 2 cubic feet   
  • In 1954, Daughtery became head football coach for MSU, a position he retained until his retirement in 1972. During his tenure as coach, Duffy went to the South to recruit Black football players who could not play at southern colleges.  Between 1954 and 1972, Duffy recruited approximately 45 Black football players.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/1942

 Charles Press papers (UA 17.200), 1961-2012                                                                                                              

 Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association records (UA 18.20), 2001-2002                                  

 Office of the President. Jonathan LeMoyne Snyder papers (UA 2.1.7), 1887-1918                                         

  • 21 cubic feet
  • Jonathan LeMoyne Snyder was the seventh president of Michigan Agricultural College from 1896 to 1915. He was president when the first Black students graduated from M.A.C. The first Black students to graduate are mentioned: William O. Thompson and Myrtle Craig Mowbray.
  • Correspondence from Snyder to S. L. Maddox, April 13, 1905 - Box 809/Folder 17
  • Correspondence from Snyder to Maude Gilchrist, August 30, 1906 - Box 809/Folder 164
  • Correspondence from Snyder to Booker T. Washington, April 12, 1907 - Box 810/Folder 129
  • Correspondence from Snyder to W. T. Vernon, May 7, 1907 - Box 810/Folder 130
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/9

Office of the President. Frank Stewart Kedzie papers (UA 2.1.8), 1855-1995                                                  

  • 7 cubic feet
  • Frank Kedzie was the eight president of Michigan Agricultural College from 1915 to 1921. 
  • Correspondence between Mabel J. Lucas, Class of 1927 and Kedzie, January 30, 1930 - Box 894/Folder 26
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/33

 Office of the President. Robert S. Shaw papers (UA 2.1.11), 1890-1953                                                          

 Office of the President. John A. Hannah papers (UA 2.1.12), 1857-1991                                                            

  • 140.5 cubic feet
  • John Alfred Hannah served as the twelfth president of Michigan State College from July 1, 1941 to April 1, 1969. His tenure was characterized by extensive growth, in both size and enrollments. President Hannah's activities were not limited to the University, however, as he filled a variety of positions in both the federal government, including the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and private industry.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/15

 Office of the President. Walter Adams papers (UA 2.1.13), 1969                                                                           

  • 1.5 cubic feet
  • Walter Adams served as the thirteenth president of MSU from April 1, 1969 to January 1, 1970 a tumultuous time on college campuses nation-wide.
  • Walter Adams' papers contain administrative subject files, speeches, and correspondence from his short term as President of Michigan State University. Subject files contain monographs, correspondence, and other documents related to the various schools and departments of the university, and to student affairs.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/78

 Office of the President. Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.  papers (UA 2.1.14), 1947-1977                                                

  • 28.3 cubic feet
  • The first African American president of a major U.S. university and the fourteenth president of Michigan State University, Wharton’s term of office (1970-1977) was often a turbulent one, featuring student demonstrations in 1970 and 1972.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/52

Presidential Commission on Admissions and Student Body Composition records (UA 2.1.14.1), 1958 -1971

  • 1.6 cubic feet
  • This collection contains extensive documentation for the establishment, activities, and final recommendations of President Wharton's Commission on Admissions and Student Body Composition. Included in the background material are reports from previous University commissions, admission reports, presentations to the Commission, relevant speeches by President Wharton, minutes of the Commission's meetings, drafts of the report, and the final report. In addition, there are 67 audio tapes of all the Commission's meetings dated June 1, 1970-July 23, 1971.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/44

 Office of the President. Edgar L. Harden papers (UA 2.1.15), 1976-1980                                                             

  • 6.5 cubic feet
  • Harden was the fifteenth president of Michigan State University from 1978 to 1979. 
  • Harden's term was less turbulent as student activism waned. Affirmative action and equal rights were important issues, especially the Title IX mandate for equality for women athletes as well as divestiture of University-owned stock in companies doing business in South Africa.
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/770

 Office of the President. Maurice Cecil Mackey papers (UA 2.1.16), 1978-1985                                                  

 Office of the President. John A. DiBiaggio papers (UA 2.1.17), 1985-1992                                                          

  • 42 cubic feet
  • DiBiaggio was the seventeenth president of Michigan State University from 1985 to 1992. He was president during the Minority Sit-In of the Administration Building in 1989. Many files related to that event will be found in this collection. 
  • Minority Sit-In - Administration Building, May 1989 - Box 5405/Folder 5
  • Black Student Protest Agreement, 1989 - Box 5405/Folder 7
  • Black Parents' Association, 1989 - Box 5404/Folder 3
  • Black Parents' Association-Correspondence, 1989 - Box 5405/Folder 10
  • Black Faculty and Administrators Association, 1989-1992 -Box 5407/Folder 9
  • MSU Idea Press Conference, April 6, 1989 - Box 3062/Folder 9
  • Minority Students Orientation, July 19, 1989 - Box 3036/Folder 49
  • Finding aid to the collection: https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/2/resources/114

 Office of the President. Gordon Guyer papers (UA 2.1.18), 1992-1993                                                                 

 Office of the President. M. Peter McPherson papers (UA 2.1.19), 1993-2004