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Exploring AI’s Archival Impact
As AI changes archivists’ work, U-M is helping guide the future. This symposium co-sponsored by the Bentley Historical Library & the School of Information explores how AI impacts archival services.
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The Rhetorical Oracle from U-M
Gertrude Buck earned U-M’s first rhetoric Ph.D. The archives reveal how she used writing & teaching to break barriers for women, laying groundwork for today’s feminist rhetoric.
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Happy International Archives Day! Did you know that U-M`s Bentley Historical Library is free to visit, and our reading room is open to the public?
Come visit us on U-M’s North Campus to see letters, scrapbooks, historical photos and more, from both University of Michigan and state of Michigan history!
There are thousands of collections for you to explore, brought right to your table from shelves just like these.
We`re excited to share this history with you! 📖
#UMich #Archives #InternationalArchivesDay #EveryoneIsWelcomeHere
Meet research fellow Efrîn Özyetis! As an artist and academic with a PhD in Architecture, Efrîn is fascinated by silences in the archives.
She’s particularly interested in the way things that don`t get written, and don`t get preserved, can reveal information. For example, while exploring the collection of architect Knud Lönberg-Holm at the Bentley, she discovered that the architect`s wife, Ethel, may have been an uncredited partner in his modernist work.
Because women were often historically expected to contribute to their husbands` careers uncredited, it`s unclear how much of Lönberg-Holm`s work was actually done by Ethel, making her a kind of "ghost" in the archives.
Themes of invisible architecture and immigration deeply interest Efrîn, who experienced the complexities of immigration firsthand when moving to France. She enjoys digging into the historical papers of architects like Knud Lönberg-Holm, who moved to the United States in the 1920s and spent several years living in Michigan as a Danish American.
Efrîn’s research at the Bentley Historical Library expands on her dissertation, and focuses on invisible `architects,` like Knud and Ethel Lönberg-Holm, whose names are not well known but whose influence was widely felt in modernist architecture.
In addition to her research, Efrîn was recently an Artist in Residence at Cité internationale des arts in Paris, France. Click through to see a multimedia art installation she created, interrogating the history of displacement in an art gallery in Paris.
She plans to use her research in the archives at the Bentley to write an article about the influence of invisible architects on architectural thought!
#Archives #Architecture #Modernist #MichiganHistory #ResearchFellow
Have you ever wanted to see behind-the-scenes in U-M`s archives? 👀
Join us for our next tour of the stacks to get an insider`s view of the amazing historical materials here at the Bentley Historical Library, on June 10, 2026 at 5:30 PM!
The Bentley is home to thousands of collections featuring history from both U-M and the state of Michigan. Our shelves hold early yearbooks, old maps of Ann Arbor, family papers, historical photos of Michigan Stadium, and so much more.
Our monthly behind-the-scenes tours are free, and open to all. We’d love to see you there!
Details and registration for our June tour can be found at this URL: https://myumi.ch/39jME
The two students you can see here come from an image in the Richard Hill Jr. Photo Collection in the archives, a wonderful resource that includes historical photos of early African American students living in Ann Arbor.
Anyone can request this collection for viewing in our reading room!
#AnnArbor #UMich #BehindTheScenes #Tour #Archives #AnnArborEvents
Meet Skyler Leslie, our newest staff member! 🎉
We’re excited to welcome Skyler (she/they) as the new Museum Events and Operations Coordinator at U-M’s Judy & Stanley Frankel Detroit Observatory!
The Observatory is a historic U-M building and a division of the Bentley Historical Library that serves as a museum in Ann Arbor. Skyler will be working there to help share the history of U-M and the history of science with a wide audience!
Skyler brings a wonderful range of expertise from her previous position at Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit, including private and public program support. A lifelong Michigander, she has a Master’s of Science from U-M`s School of Environment and Sustainability (@um_seas), and a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from U-M.
Skyler is enthusiastic about bringing her experience in public engagement to the Observatory, where she’ll be supporting programs and assisting with outreach!
In her spare time, Skyler is a printmaker, and likes to dabble in fiber arts. 🎨 She also loves to listen to live music, and enjoys spending time outdoors. She`s excited to be working so close to the Arb!
Welcome, Skyler! 🥳
#StaffFeature #Welcome #MichiganHistory #ScienceHistory
#OurStaffAreAwesome
