The Bentley Historical Library will be closed on Friday, July 4, and Monday, July 14, 2025.

 

Magazine

bhl_bl000157_3620_3049_full__0_nativeTwice each year, the Bentley Historical Library produces Collections, a 24-page magazine dedicated to showcasing the very best of the Bentley. We welcome you to browse the full publication through our PDF reader or click through individual stories below. You can also access the magazine’s archives by clicking here. If you are interested in subscribing, please email editor Lara Zielin at laram@umich.edu.

  • A Plucky Bunch
    Spring 2025

    U-M’s Mandolin Club records tell the story how this unlikely instrument took the campus and the nation by storm in the early 1900s, sold out concerts, then faded just as quickly.

    Complete Story
  • On the Fly
    Spring 2025

    Typhoid, dysentery, tuberculosis–in the early 1900s, they could all be spread by flies. That’s why one woman launched a crusade to rid the city of Cleveland of its flying pests.

    Complete Story
  • The Gutenberg Bible and Beyond
    Spring 2025

    Meet Thomas Hyry of the Houghton Library at Harvard University. He’s part of our new series about archivists who trained at the Bentley, and are doing important work in the field.

    Complete Story
  • An Ill-Fated Voyage
    Spring 2025

    Fifty years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald freighter sank in Lake Superior. Ric Mixter’s research into the wreck is archived at the Bentley, ready to help future shipwreck researchers.

    Complete Story
  • Ford on the Field
    Spring 2025

    This year marks the 50th anniversary of Gerald R. Ford’s presidency. His accomplishments on a national scale make it easy to forget he was also an exceptional U-M football player.

    Complete Story
  • Atomic Connections
    Spring 2025

    When Walt Di Mantova visited the archives to investigate a possible family connection to the Manhattan Project, he found more than he bargained for regarding J. Robert Oppenheimer.

    Complete Story
  • A Dangerous Lady
    Spring 2025

    Records show how Lucinda Hinsdale Stone’s tireless advocacy for women’s education, even in the face of adversity, changed women’s lives at U-M and across the state of Michigan.

    Complete Story