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PAST NEWS

February 13, 2026

Postcards from the Edge

by Lara Zielin

Inside the Bentley Historical Library’s vast postcard collection are pictures and missives from U-M spanning the centuries. We pulled out a few postcards, and their accompanying messages, to take you back to U-M’s bygone years.

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January 12, 2026

New Fellowships Open to Researchers

Fellowships can be used to explore any Bentley collections in-person. They support artistic inspiration, K-12 curriculum and lesson planning, and publication research.

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August 5, 2025

The Art of Keeping Score

by Nathan Schreck

Archived scorecards at the Bentley tell the story of Michigan baseball over time, including the quirks of the game, how it’s changed, and how it’s remained remarkably the same.

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April 28, 2025

A Historic Facility, a New Director

by Kim Clarke

Meet Gregory Parker, the new director of the Judy and Stanley Frankel Detroit Observatory. His passion for public history and experience with exhibits, programing, and U-M converge in his new role.

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June 4, 2024

Mining for Adventure: the Story of Ocha Potter

by Mary Jean Babic

Ocha Potter was a global adventurer and miner, with treks that took him from Anchorage to Africa. During the Great Depression, he plotted to save the economy of Michigan's Upper Peninsula through tourism. His full story, from wilderness to wealth, can be found in his papers at the Bentley Historical Library.

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May 31, 2024

Thousands of Ann Arbor Photos

Historical photos of Ann Arbor and surrounding communities are now available digitally as part of the Bentley Historical Library’s contribution to the Ann Arbor Bicentennial.

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February 5, 2024

Athletics History is Michigan History

by Lara Zielin

Preserving sports history for past, present, and future Wolverines is a big part of the Bentley Historical Library’s work. But to keep sports history alive and accessible, the archive needs your help.

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Bentley Director Alexis Antracoli stands in the Bentley Library stacks, with boxes and books in the background. She is wearing a mauve suit jacket and has dark curly hair and glasses.

February 16, 2023

Alexis Antracoli Named New Bentley Director

The Bentley Historical Library is pleased to announce that the Regents of the University of Michigan have approved Alexis Antracoli as the library’s next director. Antracoli will work with archivists and other professionals overseeing the Bentley’s vast collections.

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September 5, 2022

The Pride of Michigan

by Katie Vloet

A historian and an artist recently teamed up to create a comic book celebrating Michigan’s first-ever Pride celebration in Detroit, in 1972. “It’s my job to bring to life people we wouldn’t know about otherwise,” the author says.

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March 25, 2022

Beyond the Field

by Greg Kinney

The powerful oral histories of 28 African American athletes have been digitized and made available online through the Bentley’s new Digital Media Library. Hear in their own words the stories of athletes who overcame adversity to triumph on the field and off.

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