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

 

Magazine

  • Language Lessons
    Spring 2024

    What do you do when the descriptions of archival collections are outdated, even racist? A new initiative at the Bentley is tackling a strategic, long-term fix.

    Complete Story
  • Seeing Stars Through the Clouds
    Spring 2024

    For both astronomers and the public, predicting the weather was long an impossible dream. That is, until U-M’s Detroit Observatory trained a man who created the weather forecast.

    Complete Story
  • The Business of the Hour
    Spring 2024

    Belford Lawson’s work as a lawyer and activist changed the course of civil rights in the United States. His incredible story is told, in part, through archived materials at the Bentley. 

    Complete Story
  • A Sporting Chance
    Spring 2024

    Women at U-M fought to have athletic facilities where they could exercise and play sports, same as the men. The battle highlights the ways in which women had to carve out spaces for themselves on campus time and again.

    Complete Story
  • Fields of Gold
    Spring 2024

    One researcher’s quest to resurrect a nearly extinct strain of rye seed started in the archives but quickly expanded to seed banks, national parks, a whiskey distillery, and beyond.

    Complete Story
  • Picture This
    Spring 2024

    Thousands of historical photos will soon be available digitally as part of a new effort to better serve local communities.

    Complete Story
  • Cold War, Warm Welcome
    Fall 2023

    In 1961, the Kennedy Administration sent the U-M Symphony Band to the Soviet Union in hopes of thawing relations between the two countries through the common language of music.

    Complete Story