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Title: MERRILL-PALMER CORPORATION COLLECTION

Genre: Papers,                  

Date  : 1916-1981 (Predominately, 1930-1981)                   

Size   : 13.75 linear feet

ID    #: 1066-c

OCLC:                    

©Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs

HEFA.01c.update

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SCOPE & CONTENTS

Ø     Subjects

Ø     Correspondents

Ø     Transfer

Ø     Related Collections

 

Containers [Large file]

 

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Scope & Contents

 

The papers of the Merrill-Palmer Corporation were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs as part of the papers of the Merrill-Palmer Institute in January of 1982 and were opened for research in October of 1986.

 

The Merrill-Palmer Corporation was responsible for the administration and financial affairs of the Merrill-Palmer Institute.  From the member­ship of the corporation a board of trustees and a board of directors were elected to oversee the operation of the Merrill-Palmer Institute. Throughout the sixty years that the Merrill-Palmer Institute existed as an independent institution, prominent citizens from Detroit and the surrounding metropolitan area served as members of the Merrill-Palmer Corporation.

        

Established by the Wayne County Circuit Court on June 26, 1918, the Merrill-Palmer Corporation was formally approved and recorded by the county clerk's office on July 18, 1918.  The Corporation was formed by the court to carry out the will of Lizzie(Pitts) Merrill Palmer who left three million dollars to establish a school for motherhood train­ing. The first meeting of the corporation was held on October30,1918 and GeorgeL. Canfield, TracyMcGregor, and R.McClellandBrady were elected to be the first Board of Trustees to oversee the financial affairs of the Merrill-Palmer School for Motherhood and Home Training.  The school was later renamed the Merrill-Palmer Institute.  In October, 1919, the trustees hired the school's first director, EdnaNobleWhite.  The Board of Directors, responsible for the school's educational pro­gram, was established on November21,1919.

 

In the 1940s, the Merrill-Palmer Institute began to experience a financial strain.  As the programs and services were expanded dramatically in subsequent years, the problems increased.  By the late 1970's, the financial problems became severe.  In order to maintain its existence, the Institute affiliated with Wayne State University in September 1981.

 

The papers of the Merrill-Palmer Corporation reflect the involvement of the Corporation in the operation of the Merrill-Palmer Institute from its inception in 1918 until its affiliation with Wayne State University in 1981.

 

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Subjects

Board of Directors                                     Head Start Program

Board of Trustees                                      Membership

City of Detroit                                           Merrill-Palmer Presidents

Development                                            Urban Family

Educational Programming                           Wayne State University

Faculty

 

Correspondents

Robert O. Bland                                        J. William Rioux

Mrs. Edsel (Eleanor) Ford                           Robert Spencer

Mrs. William Clay (Martha) Ford                  Mark C. Stevens

Pauline Park Wilson Knapp                         Cleveland Thurber

Fred Marblestone                                       Peter Thurber

Esther McGuinnis                                       Mrs Lynn A. (Ruth) Townsend

Willaim McKee                                           Michael Usdan

Francis Palmer                                          Edna Noble White

George Parker III                                     Martha Wylie

 

 

Transfers

Eight photographs of members of the Merrill-Palmer Corporation have been placed in the Archives Audio-Visual Collection.

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Related Collections

Merrill-Palmer Institute Collections

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Contents

28 manuscript boxes

 

Series I, Corporation Records, 1916-1981, Boxes 1-24: To Series I Box List

         Correspondence, minutes, notes, and reports relating to the     operation of the Merrill-Palmer Institute from 1916 to 1981.

 

Series II, Membership Records, 1926-1981, Boxes 24-28: To Series II Box List

         Correspondence, newsclippings, and biographical material relating to the members of the Merrill-Palmer Corporation.

 

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