Ten Burning Buses

One researcher is using Bentley collections to spotlight anti-civil rights terrorism – including a 1971 bus bombing in Pontiac, Michigan – and racially motivated crimes that too often went unsolved.

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Color Our Collections

Every year in February, libraries, archives, and museums all over the world share free coloring pages based on the materials in their collections through an event called “Color Our Collections.” Come see what the Bentley has gathered!

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Athletics History is Michigan History

Preserving sports history for past, present, and future Wolverines is a big part of the Bentley Historical Library’s work. But to keep sports history alive and accessible, the archive needs your help.

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Giving the Archives a Makeover

Recently, U-M School of Information students reimagined the public spaces at the Bentley to make them more user-friendly and accessible. The project gives the archive plenty of ideas for implementation.

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How to Qualify as a Person

Forty-nine years before women were granted the right to vote in the United States, a no-nonsense widow named Nannette Gardner would cast her ballot in Detroit, giving the suffrage movement a notable victory.

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The Unsinkable Sarah E. Ray

In 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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M Glow Blue

In 1957, the University of Michigan campus sported a fully functional nuclear reactor, complete with a 55,000-gallon glowing reactor pool. Bentley collections help tell the story of why the reactor was built—and what happened to it.

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