The Bentley has digitized some full collections or large segments of collections and made them available here. Examples include early records of the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and a survey of early female graduates of the University. Check the “online content” tag for digital material dealing with more specific subjects – like our Civil War collections.
-
Digitized documents from the DAAS records, including text, photo, and audiovisual material related to the department’s founding, scholarly conferences, political activities, protests, and Black student groups from the 1960s to the early 2000s. They may be accessed online from U-M’s campus computers and also remotely by faculty, students, and staff with valid credentials.
Go to U-M Department of Afroamerican and African Studies Records
-
In 1924, more than 3,000 female alumni and former students of U-M replied to an Alumnae Council survey, asking them for an update on their occupations and U-M memories dating back to 1870. You can search and view the digitized surveys.
Go to Alumnae Survey
-
Papers of James Burrill Angell, the third President of the University of Michigan (1871-1909) and U.S. Minister to China (1871-1909) and Turkey (1897-1898).
Go to James B. Angell Papers
-
George and Marion Blydenburgh were missionaries to China from 1920-1931. Their papers describe life in China and George’s work as superintendent of Nanchang General Hospital, Jiangxi Province.
Go to George and Marion Blydenburgh Papers
-
A 1914 scrapbook created by the Delta Delta Delta sorority’s Iota chapter at the University of Michigan.
Go to Delta Delta Delta Scrapbook
-
A photo album documenting Orville Frazier and family members in the late 19th- and early 20th-century. Frazier was an African American engineer and inventor who lived in Elkhart, Indiana, and Grand Rapids and River Rouge, Michigan.
Go to Orville Z. Frazier Photograph Album
-
Photographs from the records of Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel. They cover the years 1855-2004, but most come from the mid-20th century.
Go to Grand Hotel Photograph Series
-
The final office copy of Douglass Houghton’s 1837-1841 field notes is available to view in the HathiTrust Digital Library. Houghton was Michigan’s first state geologist. The notes are part of a small collection of his material at the Bentley.
Go to Douglass Houghton Field Notes
-
Hudson was a Detroit businessman whose grandfather founded Hudson’s department store. This collection focuses on his role as chairman of the New Detroit Committee, an organization established after the 1967 Detroit Rebellion to investigate and remedy the causes of that civil disturbance.
Go to Joseph L. Hudson Papers
-
Selected material and images about hunting and fishing from William Mershon, a conservationist, sportsman, lumberman, and businessman from Saginaw, Michigan.
Go to William B. Mershon Papers
-
Drawings, photographs, and teaching materials from the 1940s through the 2000s by this noted Michigan-based modern architect, professor, and dean of the U-M College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Go to Robert C. Metcalf Drawings
-
An image database of drawings by this modernist architect held by libraries at Columbia University and the University of Michigan.
Go to William Muschenheim Digital Archive
-
Images that document the archaeologist’s field work in the Basin of Mexico and in Peru.
Go to Jeffrey R. Parsons Archaeological Sites Images
-
Warren Petoskey is an Odawa and Lakotah elder as well as a writer, musician, dancer, and founder of Dawnland Native Ministries, an outreach program for those affected by American Indian boarding schools. His collection gives an overview of his life and work.
Go to Warren Petoskey Papers
-
A sampling of manuscripts, letters, photographs, and personal items, drawn from the collections of various Michigan poets housed at the Bentley.
Go to Poetry Here and Then
-
Selections from the detailed student journals, medical practice, and estate of 1845 U-M graduate George Washington Pray.
Go to George W. Pray Papers
-
The bullet-damaged diary of Lucius Shattuck, a Civil War soldier from Plymouth, Michigan who served as an officer in Co. C, 24th Michigan Infantry and was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. A collection of Shattuck’s letters is available through our Civil War Collections Online.
Go to Lucius L. Shattuck Diary
-
Selected papers of the Quaker abolitionist and physician whose Schoolcraft home was part of the Underground Railroad. Materials document his medical practice and political involvement in the Liberty and Republican parties.
Go to Nathan M. Thomas Papers
-
A photo album documenting American missionary and educator Muriel Treman’s travels and work in China from 1919-1950.
Go to Muriel Web Treman Album
-
Walker was a professor of law at the University of Michigan. His collection includes the original draft of the act to establish the Catholepistemiad and other documents related to the founding of U-M.
Go to Charles I. Walker Collection