Twice 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.
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The Red Scare Comes to U-M
Fall 2023A student’s senior film project revisited the long-buried history of McCarthyism at U-M. More than 70 years later, the fight for academic freedom lives on through the legacy of Chandler Davis.
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The Unsinkable Sarah E. Ray
Fall 2023In 1945, Sarah Elizabeth Ray was denied passage on a steamboat on the Detroit River because she was Black. She fought the injustice, and today her trailblazing civil rights role is being preserved — including through a new collection.
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How to Qualify as a Person
Fall 2023Forty-nine years before women were granted the right to vote in the United States, Nannette Gardner would cast her ballot in Detroit, giving the suffrage movement a notable victory.
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A Reintroduction and New Reflections
Fall 2023Reflections from Bentley Director Alexis Antracoli on the core ways in which the Bentley will continue to draw on its strengths and chart new paths in the future.
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Altitude Problems
Fall 2023She was hailed as a World War II hero, but the primary sources surrounding Elsie MacGill reveal that her life and legacy were more complex than the media would acknowledge.
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Vote Gun
Fall 2023Patrick Charles’s new book, Vote Gun, explores the history of gun rights legislation in the United States and uses several Bentley collections.
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Vaulting Fences, Chopping Wood, and Shocking Delicate Nerves
Fall 2023One of U-M’s first female students defied gender norms and wrote a book about her experiences on campus.
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