Past Stories

For nearly 20 years, James Tobin has been writing about the University’s history. We sat down with him to talk about research, collections, and even finding love at the library. 

A historian and an artist team up to create a comic book celebrating Michigan’s first-ever Pride celebration.

Jean Fairfax's story emerges as part of the Bentley's new long-term project on this history of African Americans at the University of Michigan.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women fought to study the stars just like their male colleagues. The Detroit Observatory was training ground for four unparalleled women astronomers.

After copper miners went on strike in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 1913, violence wasn’t far behind. Documents at the Bentley reveal multiple sides of a terrible conflict.

The legacies of three long-serving political giants will be the topic of scholarly debate for years to come. But as their Bentley papers show, they were all similarly "moderate."

Louisa Reed-Stowell was a brilliant botanist who fought tirelessly for women’s equality, especially in education. Despite her prestigious contributions in the field, U-M would discriminate against her time and time again.

A visionary academic, a knowledge-loving businessman, and new technology to plot the stars would converge on a small hill at U-M, changing Detroit—and the campus—forever.

A rash of UFO sightings across Michigan in the mid-1960s launched investigations by the highest levels of the U.S. government. What was happening in the skies? Was it spaceships or swamp gas? The answer may depend on whose papers you peruse.

U-M sported a fully functional nuclear reactor, complete with a 55,000-gallon glowing reactor pool. Bentley collections help tell the story of why the reactor was built, and what happened to it.