Paul Phillips was a prominent African American community service leader and was the first African-American to hold elected office in Grand Rapids. The collection includes biographical information, copies of speech notes and testimony, writings,...
Ralph Baldwin was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During World War II, Ralph Baldwin was a senior physicist in the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he helped develop the radio proximity fuze, a crucial secret weapon of the war. The...
William Kirkpatrick was the President of the Kalamazoo Paper Box Corporation and one of the original members of the Grand Valley State University Board of Control. The collection includes building plans, budget reports, annual reports, and self...
William Nicholson was the appointments secretary under President Gerald R. Ford from 1974 until 1977. The collection includes personal notes and calendars, White House briefings, travel information, political reports, election information, and...
Republican Congressman Harold (Hal) Sawyer represented Michigan's Fifth District in the U.S. Congress from 1977 to 1984. The California native worked in Grand Rapids law firm Warner, Norcross & Judd, and served on the Michigan Law Revision...
The Arnold Ott collection documents the life and work of Michigan-born chemist and entrepreneur Arnold Ott from 1940-2008. He worked at Dow Chemical Company and the Upjohn Company where he authored 55 domestic and foreign patents before starting...
Conrad Thornquist was a Michigan native who attended the University of Michigan as an undergraduate and attended Harvard Law School in the Class of 1931. His papers include handwritten and bound class notes from his Harvard Law School coursework...
Sondra Mose-Ursery, community historian, founder of the Vandalia Underground Railroad Foundation, and former mayor of Vandalia, Michigan compiled this collection while researching the Underground Railroad in Cass County, Michigan. The collection...
Edward V. Gillis worked in the tool and manufacturing business in Grand Rapids Michigan. Gillis was a collector whose focus was Native Americans. This collection includes magazines, posters, maps, other published and some unpublished materials. The...
Ella Koeze Weed was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was involved in Republican Party politics and participated in the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1961-1962. The collection includes her political files, convention materials, news...
F. W. (Francis "Frank" Wallace) Beasecker was born in 1917 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He joined the Army in August 1942 and was assigned to Company A, 411th Engineer Base Shop Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Engineer Amphibious Command. He served in...
Frank J. Schulte is known as the Father of Civil Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Schulte worked in civil service throughout Michigan and on the proposed personnel system for the royal government in Afghanistan in the early 1960s. The collection...
Gordon Olson, historian and researcher wrote a series of biographical essays for Grand Valley State College. Materials include taped and transcribed interviews, drafts of publications, copies of articles and personal and career related information...
Icie Macy Hoobler established the nutritional research program at the Merrill-Palmer Institute and the Children's Hospital of Michigan. She also served on the Board of Control at Grand Valley State College from 1960-1969. The collection includes...
Guy Vander Jagt served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan from 1966 until 1992. Vander Jagt served as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee from 1975 until he left the House in 1992. The...
The Mathias J. Alten papers document the personal life and career of the West Michigan painter. The collection includes biographical information, business records, exhibit catalogs, and newspaper clippings collected by family members.
Michigan--History; Local histories; Memoirs; Oral histories (document genre); Grand Rapids (Mich.); Personal narratives; Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.); Grand Valley State University; Women
Dorothy Leonard was born in 1898 in Grand Rapids. She studied economics and political science at Vassar College and had an interest in city government. Her grandfather, Charles H. Leonard, was the inventor of the refrigerator. Mrs. Judd was the...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Navy; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Lyle Perschke was born in Wisconsin in 1922 and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1925 when his father's job was transferred. Lyle played the trumpet and drums in high school and so he became a bugler when he joined the Navy. During a fight he...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army. Air Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American;
Carl Carlson is a veteran of the United States Army Air Corps. He served in the European theatre during World War II. He worked as a radio operator during flight missions, particularly over Italy. He served around 70 missions, the military had to...
