Bentley Historical Library

News Stories

  • Two Bentley Archivists Work to Uncover Hidden Collections

    Archives seek to collect and preserve the stories of all people, but many stories remain untold. To help change that, Bentley archivists Lilly Carrel and Devon Proudfoot are part of a team of researchers who are diving into Bentley records to uncover and highlight the role of women at the University during its first 100 years.

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  • New Spring Collections Magazine is Here

    We invite you to read the new Spring issue of Collections magazine. It’s 24 pages chock full of stories about Michigan’s past, grounded in the Collections at the Bentley Historical Library. Read about a stadium collapse, an initiative to uncover women’s stories, the changing colors of maize and blue, and more.

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  • Bentley Uncovers Untold Story of African Americans at U-M

    Bentley archivist Brian Williams is featured in a new University Record story about his work to collect the names and life stories of all African American students who attended U-M. Through his research, he unearthed previously untold stories of African American women who battled discrimination when the Mosher-Jordan dormitory was being built in 1930.

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  • Twelve Decades of Michigan History at Your Fingertips

    A new online database of The Michigan Daily has made more than 23,000 issues digital and searchable. The high-resolution scans put 125 years of history at users’ fingertips. The digitization was a collaboration between the Bentley, Michigan Library, and The Michigan Daily.

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  • Don’t Store Your Data Like the Empire in Star Wars

    A major plot point of the film Rogue One had Rebels stealing digital data from the Empire’s vast archive. Which got us thinking about the Bentley’s digital data. We asked a digital curation archivist for insights into Bentley digital collections, and how users can access them. Hint: it’s easier than what the Rebels did.

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  • Constructing Gender

    When brothers Irving and Allen Pond built U-M’s League and Union, they constructed gender rolls right alongside the walls, floors, and windows. A new UMMA exhibition curated by the Bentley’s Associate Director, Nancy Bartlett, takes a closer look at how the Pond brothers’ vision changed the campus.

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  • A Date with History

    This little desk calendar from 1899 is inscribed “With compliments of the season and of the university editor.” Each day has a printed factoid on it about the University of Michigan. This year, on the occasion of U-M’s Bicentennial, the days of 1899 and 2017 are an exact calendar match.

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