by Paul Streby
Last Updated Oct 21, 2019
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Introduction
This is a guide to researching Flint's history. The researcher should be aware that as the geographic area or topic becomes more specific, the number of published or online sources declines, and certainly this is true of Flint and Genesee County.
The GHCC, a division of the University of Michigan-Flint Thompson Library, contains both published and unpublished material concerning the history of Flint and Genesee County, Michigan, as well as the archives of the University of Michigan-Flint.
This resource, along with other archival collections, documents various aspects of the history of Flint and Genesee County. It currently contains three collections, but others will be added.
The collections already included are:
• Donald W. Riegle Papers, 1966-1994, containing mostly photographs from his career as Democratic Senator from Michigan and newsletters from his tenure as Republican and Democratic Congressman from Flint.
• Lyman George Willcox Papers, 1830-1933, containing family photos and letters to this pioneer resident of Rochester, Michigan, and other Michigan towns. One photograph is the earliest known photo of Traverse City.
• University of Michigan-Flint Labor History Project. This significant oral history project, carried on from 1978 to 1988 under the direction of Prof. Neil Leighton of the Political Science Department, contains over 160 interviews relating to the General Motors Corporation Sit-Down Strike of 1936-1937. The digitized collection includes almost all interviews, including the actual recordings and digitized transcripts. Keyword searching is possible, which makes this a unique and valuable resource for not only labor and radical history, but also for many aspects of the history of Flint.
• Henry Howland Crapo Family Papers, 1851-1994. Henry Howland Crapo (1804-1869), after a successful career in New Bedford, Massachusetts, as a teacher, clerk, publisher, and horticulturalist, began in the 1850s to invest in Michigan public lands. He purchased pine lands in Lapeer County, and in order to develop them, he and his family moved to Flint in 1858. He built a sawmill and built a rail connection to Detroit, and his lumber output soon made him wealthy. He served as mayor of Flint, as state senator, and, from 1865 to 1869, as governor of Michigan. He also drained land near what is now Swartz Creek and established Crapo Farm, which passed to his son William Wallace Crapo and his descendants and remained in the family until 1955. His grandson William Crapo Durant organized the Buick Motor Company, largely with investment capital from family members. Most of Henry H. Crapo's papers went to the Michigan Historical Collections (Bentley Historical Library) in 1935. This collection consists of various letters, paper ephemera, and photographs donated by descendants of Crapo. The collection includes some biographies and letters of Crapo's son-in-law, Dr. James C. Willson; photographs and other material concerning Crapo Farm, and miscellaneous other material.
• The Beginnings of the University of Michigan-Flint. The University of Michigan-Flint began in the fall of 1956 with a junior class only. The first freshman class was admitted in 1965. The path to the present university began during World War II, when C. S. Mott, Michael Gorman, and other civic leaders felt that this economically booming city could never reach greatness without a four-year college. The story of UM-Flint's founding was not smooth sailing all the way, however. The documents and photographs presented here tell the story of the school from its conception to the start of the development of the riverfront campus in 1974.
• Karl Byarski Collection, 1953-1996.
• George Pariseau Recordings.
• Paul Gifford Collection, 1960-1986.
• Arthur Summerfield Tribute, 1952.
• Autoworld.
Books on Flint History
The following books are good general histories of Genesee County and Flint from its early years to the modern era.
This link is to a scanned digital copy of the book from Michigan County Histories and Atlases. The library and archives do have print copies of it as well. Find them here.
This link is to a scanned digital copy of the book from Michigan County Histories and Atlases. The library and archives do have print copies of it as well. Find them here.
In 1997, after General Motors shuttered a massive complex of factories in the gritty industrial city of Flint, Michigan, signs were placed around the empty facility reading, "Demolition Means Progress," suggesting that the struggling metropolis could not move forward to greatness until the old plants met the wrecking ball. Much more than a trite corporate slogan, the phrase encapsulates the operating ethos of the nation's metropolitan leadership from at least the 1930s to the present.
UM-Flint Student Papers and Dissertations
The Genesee Historical Collections Center (GHCC) holds numerous student papers and dissertations relating to Flint as well as sociological studies dating from as early as the 1940s. Most of the master's theses done by students in the Master of Liberal Studies and Master of Public Administration programs which relate to Flint are also in the collection. These may provide useful sources for aspects of Flint's history.
Index to master's theses and doctoral dissertations submitted at UM-Flint. Some full text will be available at a later date. Theses can also be found in hard copy in the library or archives.
Demolition Means Progress
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