No less effective in their own field are the many local alumni clubs in all the large cities throughout the country. This movement toward forming local bodies began in Detroit in 1869, and quickly spread, so that by 1876 the Michigan graduates as far west as San Francisco were organized. While the primary reason for the existence of these clubs is the maintenance of the social and sentimental ties inspired by the common love of their members for the University, stimulated usually by an annual dinner and, in many cities, by weekly or monthly luncheons, they have begun to discover means more positive and useful to justify their existence. From a vague, if none the less real, feeling of loyalty to the University it is an easy step to more aggressive measures. Thus we find the local bodies interesting themselves actively in the University's affairs, organizing subscription campaigns for the Union, raising funds for fellowships, and sending picked students to the University, interesting themselves in the ever-present athletic problems, and welcoming the President and other representatives from the Faculties who come to tell them what their alma mater is accomplishing. More than this, some associations are perceiving broader implications in their organization as representative college men and women,—for the alumnae, too, have very active clubs,—and are seeking opportunities for civic and social service in their communities. At present Michigan has nearly one hundred of these local organizations of alumni which may be considered active, while there are many more who only need to have some task set before them to bring them into an active and aggressive existence.
It is only natural that, with this increasing participation of the alumni in university affairs, there should be an effort to provide some means for the effectual expression of their collective opinion. Perhaps the earliest and most striking example of this movement was the provision in 1865 for the election of Harvard's Board of Overseers "by such persons as have received the degree of B.A. or M.A., or any honorary degree," from Harvard College. This effort, which came only after a long struggle, was duplicated in Princeton, Dartmouth, later Cornell, and many other institutions. Even some of the state universities, whose regents are either elected by the people, as at Michigan, or appointed by the governor, as in other states, have made provision for direct alumni representation on their governing boards. Though this is not true at Michigan it is significant that of the eight members of the Board of Regents, six, Walter H. Sawyer, '84h, Hillsdale; Victor M. Gore, '82l, Benton Harbor; Junius E. Beal, '82, Ann Arbor; Frank B. Leland, '82, '84l, Detroit; William L. Clements, '82, Bay City, and James O. Murfin, '95, 96l, Detroit, hold degrees from the University and this proportion has held true for many years. The other two members of the present Board are Benjamin S. Hanchett, Grand Rapids, and L.L. Hubbard, Harvard, '72, Houghton. Shirley W. Smith, '97, also is Secretary of the University.
Lacking the stimulus of direct representation in the governing body, the alumni of the state universities have directed their efforts toward strengthening the general alumni organization as the best available means of expressing the sentiment of an increasingly important portion of the university body. To further this desire alumni councils and other bodies with advisory powers have been established, though usually their status has been uncertain and their powers negligible, except as they voice a body of opinion which the university cannot afford to overlook. Thus the Michigan Alumni Advisory Council, established some years ago, composed of representatives from the local alumni bodies, has been for various reasons far from an effective body, though it contains the germ of a force which may become active whenever a proper occasion may arise. More competent, because less unwieldy, is the Executive Committee composed of five members of the Council and two chosen at large. This body, though it has only met semi-occasionally, has initiated several movements which have had a real influence on the relations between the University and the graduates. This has been particularly true in matters relating to alumni support for the Union, and the problems arising in connection with its administration.
In its earlier years the Alumni Association also undertook to keep up the alumni catalogue and maintained for some time a card index of the alumni. This task, however, eventually outgrew the resources of the Association, and in 1910 the alumni catalogue was transferred to addressograph plates by a special appropriation, and its maintenance was made a part of the regular administrative work of the University, with a separate officer, closely associated with the Alumni Association, appointed to maintain the lists and edit the catalogues. The labor involved in keeping this list of over 40,000 names even approximately up to date may be judged from the fact that the catalogue office now includes four assistants as well as the Director, Mr. H.L. Sensemann, '11, of the Department of Rhetoric.
For some years the practice was continued of including in the annual calendar an "Alumnorum catalogus," which began in 1848 with the names of the fifty-six graduates of the first four classes. The list eventually became too long, however, and in 1864 the first General Catalogue was issued as a forty-page pamphlet which included 999 names. Four subsequent editions have appeared, in 1871, 1891, 1901 and 1911, in addition to a privately published volume issued in 1880. The slender pamphlet of 1864 became, in 1911, a volume of 1,096 pages which recorded 43,666 names, while the catalogue of 1921 will be even more impressive.
Though the interest and enthusiasm of the graduates is expressed in many less spectacular ways, the amount of alumni gifts is the most available standard by which the effectiveness of this support can be shown. Judged by this rough and ready approximation for a force which is in reality intangible and based on something finer and more spiritual than material gifts, particularly since it represents obviously only the sentiment of the few rather than that of the thousands who would do likewise if they were able, it shows nevertheless how responsively the University's alumni regard her call for their support. They have given their alma mater funds and property whose estimated value may be conservatively placed at from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. This includes many gifts of small sums for loan funds, fellowships, and investigations in special fields, as well as the income from these funds up to the present time. Some of these gifts, too, are of such a character that no definite value can be placed upon them.
The total amount of such special funds in the hands of the University Treasurer, largely arising from alumni gifts, is $843,815.40. It should also be borne in mind that this does not include the many gifts which do not come from graduates of the University, such as the Newberry Hall of Residence, the late Charles L. Freer's numerous gifts, including a fund of $50,000 for the study of Oriental art, the Lewis Art collection, the Stearns Musical Collections, Waterman Gymnasium and Ferry Field, or such buildings as Newberry Hall, now used by the Y.W.C.A., and Lane Hall, for the University Y.M.C.A.
The Concourse or General Lobby in the Michigan Union