Join us for the Bentley Historical Library’s series of talks exploring the history of the University of Michigan.
Giving it All Away: The Story of William W. Cook & His Michigan Law Quadrangle
Thursday, February 13, 2025; 7:00 PM EST
Attend in-person at the Detroit Observatory in Ann Arbor
OR online
“American institutions are of more consequence than the wealth or power of the country.”
At least that’s what the wealthy lawyer William W. Cook believed.
From 1922-1930, Cook acted on that belief by creating a magnificent law school for his alma mater: the University of Michigan.
Join us for this free talk about the history of how the Law Quad came to be, as Retired Director of the U-M Law Library Margaret Leary shares the story of a gift that transformed U-M’s Law School.
Learn how Cook’s gift—and the clashes over it—not only created Michigan’s iconic Law Quadrangle, but also helped inspire a wave of donations that reshaped the University.
Margaret Leary is Librarian Emerita of the University of Michigan Law School, having served as Director of the Law Library from 1984 to 2011. She has served on American Bar Association teams, and worked as a consultant to law libraries around the world.
A long-time member of the Ann Arbor District Library Board, she writes about local issues for the Ann Arbor Observer and is a volunteer researcher on the Bentley Historical Library’s African American Student Project.
>> If you’d like to attend this event IN PERSON at the Observatory, register here.
>> If you’d like to attend this event VIRTUALLY, register here.
Giving It All Away: The Story of William W. Cook and His Michigan Law Quadrangle
Quotas and the President: Jewish Inclusion and Exclusion at U-M in the 1920s
Not Just a Copy: How the Bentley Digitized Ann Arbor History in the Ivory Photo Collection
Myths and Mysteries of the Little Brown Jug: The History of College Athletics
Secret Histories: Uncovering the Hidden Truths of U-M’s Past
Making Big History: Adding Billions of Years to Students’ Education
How U-M’s First Hospital Made History – with Joel Howell
Four Years of “Making Michigan” and Four Decades at Michigan: Some Reflections – with Gary Krenz
A Stunning Achievement: The Improbable Collaboration of the Bentley Library and the Vatican Archives
More Than “First Do No Harm”: Modeling Global Engagement with the U-M/Ghana Partnership
A City’s Conscience: The Life and Career of Josephine Gomon
Wolverine Writers II: Stories of Fire, Ice, and Rebirth
Poets at Michigan: Then and Now
A Library for All: U-M, Google, and the Importance of Having a Copy
Keeping Resistance Alive: Chandler Davis and Academic Freedom at U-M
Fifty Years of Native American Student Activism with Bethany Hughes
To Put Living Force Into the Symbols: The Journeys of Anatol Rapaport
Wolverine Writers: History and Storytelling Across Campus and through the Years
Seeing Anew Symposium 1: The Observatory and 19th-Century Science and Scholarship
Seeing Anew Symposium 2: The Observatory in the History of Astronomy
Seeing Anew Symposium 3: The Observatory as an Historic Site for Contemporary Education
Seeing Anew Keynote: Astrophysicist Brian Nord in conversation with Gary Krenz
The McCarthy-Era Red Scare in Michigan: Its Meaning, Then and Now with David Maraniss
Sing to the Colors: My Complicated Love Song to the University with James Tobin
Undermining Racial Justice at the University of Michigan with Matthew Johnson
Anti-Fascism at U-M: Defending Democracy During the Spanish Civil War with Juli Highfill
Radical Roots, Contested Place: African American and African Studies at U-M with Stephen Ward
Stars Rising: Why U-M’s Detroit Observatory Matters — and Where It’s Going with Gary Krenz
Telling the Truth About the Liberal Arts: Histories and Futures with Terry McDonald