All the News That’s Fit to Search

On Monday, November 5, 2018, the Bentley Historical Library unveiled a new platform for the Detroit Jewish News Digital Archive, a free, searchable database containing more than 100 years of digital copies of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle and the Detroit Jewish News.

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In Living Color: Maize and Blue

In 1867, a committee of students from the University of Michigan’s Literary Department was appointed to recommend colors emblematic of the school. They decided on “azure blue and maize,” now known as maize and blue. But what do these colors look like? The answer has historically depended on whom you ask — and when.

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From The Digital Archives: The Mershon Collection

The Bentley has digitized the collection of William B. Mershon, a Michigan lumberman in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who also hunted and fished in Michigan. He became a witness first to the bounty of Michigan’s wilderness, and then to the dramatic loss of species.

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From The Digital Archives: The Mershon Collection

The Bentley has digitized the collection of William B. Mershon, a Michigan lumberman in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who also hunted and fished in Michigan. He became a witness first to the bounty of Michigan’s wilderness, and then to the dramatic loss of species.

… Complete Story

Bentley Problem Solvers

Whether it’s 150-year-old scrapbooks with decaying binding or collections from someone’s damp basement, items in the Bentley stacks often need some TLC. Dianna Samuelson and Corinne Robertson explain how the Bentley’s Conservation Lab repairs and preserves items for future generations.

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Poetry to the People

When he founded Broadside Press in Detroit, Dudley Randall elevated African American voices and changed the face of literature forever. He mentored many writers, including poet Melba Boyd, now a professor at Wayne State University, who became his biographer and ensured his collection came to the Bentley.

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Citizen Grain

The Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, now the Kellogg Company, evolved from a whole-scale effort to return health and vitality to illness-plagued citizens across the country. But a bitter rivalry between brothers John Kellogg and W.K. Kellogg forever altered the business and the nature of their relationship.

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