Contains images from the Detroit Public Library's National Automotive History Collection and Burton Historical Collections. These photographs and postcards document the auto industry in the Detroit area during the first half of the twentieth century.
The Detroit Sunday Journal was a weekly tabloid newspaper, published by striking union workers from the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. The strike began in July, 1995; spanning four years and just over 200 editions, the Sunday Journal was published from November 19, 1995, through November 21, 1999. Circulation for most editions was 40,000-60,000. It was available through the mail and in stores and corner boxes throughout Southeast Michigan.
Contains images of clothing worn in Michigan during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Clothing reflects the culture and the time period of the wearer, so this collection offers insight into Michigan life and society. The items shown here are held in the collections of Wayne State University, The Henry Ford, Detroit Historical Society and Meadowbrook Hall.
Contains digitized copies of letters written to and from Abraham Lincoln. These letters mostly focus on appointments, pardons, and discharges, as well as requests for political favors. These letters are part of the Frank Howard Collection of Civil War History in the Wayne State University Library Special Collections. Additional related materials are available.
In 1988, Herman Miller, Inc. established the Herman Miller Consortium to share the historical product collection that had been accumulating as part of Herman Miller's corporate archives in Zeeland, Michigan. The consortium collection, now held by thirteen museums all over the country, contained about 750 pieces of furniture, as well as a large quantity of product literature.
These music manuscripts represent the unique work of music copyists--men and women employed by the government with the task of copying music for the WPA orchestras, bands and choruses to perform. The full collection is housed in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Archive, and consists of more than 300 compositions.
Images from the Detroit News Photograph Collection, a premier photojournalistic resource that primarily documents the city of Detroit, its people, places and events from the late 19th century through the 1980s (bulk 1900-1980).
This collection consists of 78 letters written between 1836-1889 to members of the Van Riper family of Wayne County, Michigan. The majority of the letters are between cousins, Alexander and Henry Van Riper, from the years surrounding the Civil War; others are written between various family members and friends.
The Detroit Focus Quarterly was published by Detroit Focus, a non-profit arts organization that supports art and artists in the Detroit area. The publication, published from 1982 to 1998, included interviews with artists, articles about the art scene and current issues, and listings of art exhibits. Wayne State University Special Collections has related archival materials from Detroit Focus.
The first U.S. heart transplant took place on December 6, 1967 at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., just three days after Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. The original slides from this collection have been donated to the National Library of Medicine.
Eloise Ramsey was a Professor of English Education at Wayne State University, where she taught for 36 years. Ramsey believed that it was important for future teachers to take courses in children's literature. She provided over 400 rare or notable books to start this collection, which is now part of the Special Collections in the Wayne State University library system.
The Renaissance Center sits on 14 acres in downtown Detroit. Its construction began in 1973 under the Ford Motor Company. The "Building the Detroit Renaissance Center" collection documents this construction. It was purchased in 1996 by General Motors. It's now known as the GM Renaissance Center or RenCen and hosts GM as well as other businesses.
These photographs document forty years of performances at the Michigan Opera Theatre. These materials were digitized and cataloged with the assistance of the Wayne State University School of Library and Information Science. The original images are held at the Allesee Dance and Opera Resource Library.
The Wayne State University Photograph Collection, housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library, contains thousands of photographs documenting the built environment of main campus. This digital collection represents over 1,000 of these images, spanning the 1890s-1990s.
This collection consists primarily of letters written by Florence Nightingale throughout her life. Major topics of the letters include medical care for the soldiers and the poor, the role of nursing, and sanitation and public works in colonized India. These digitized items are part of a larger collection in the Wayne State University Library Special Collections, which contains more correspondence, books, and other items.
Illustration from a mid-nineteenth century edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Private Collection / J. T. Vintage / Bridgeman Images
Available archives include: