The History of the Bentley Historical Library

That same year, the Regents of the University mandated that these collecting efforts – officially named the Michigan Historical Collections – serve both as a historical collection for the State of Michigan and as the archives of the University of Michigan.

The Michigan Historical Collections were originally housed in a modest space in the old University Press building on Maynard Street and later in a Michigan Room of the William Clements Library. In 1938, with the completion of the Rackham Building on campus, the University provided Vander Velde and his research associate Elizabeth Sparks Adams with a suite of offices in the basement of the new structure. The materials would remain here until the Bentley Library was built on U-M’s North Campus.

The Bentley Library was opened in 1974 and consolidated the holdings of the Michigan Historical Collections. It is named for Alvin M. Bentley III, a graduate of the University of Michigan (’40 B.A.,’63 M.A.), whose widow, Arvella, donated funds for the library in her late husband’s name.

Today, the Bentley holds more than 70,000 linear feet of letters, photographs, books, and more than 294 terabytes of digital material. Each year, thousands of researchers visit the Bentley’s reading room to connect with primary source materials from the University of Michigan and state of Michigan.

A full history of the Bentley Historical Library can be found in the University of Michigan’s Encyclopedic Survey.