The Mystery of the Unidentified Painting

Who painted it? And why does the Bentley have it? One small piece of artwork frames complex issues about what happens when archival collections contain harmful or racist content. Learn more about the Bentley’s role in a campus-wide reparative curation effort.

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Take a Tour Inside the Archive

Detroit news station WDIV recently visited the Bentley to see some of its treasures and to learn more about how the archive is preserving important documents in Michigan history. We invite you to join us for this behind-the-scenes tour!

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Discovering a Forgery

Watch a recent discussion about how the University’s “Galileo Manuscript” came to be known as a 20th-century forgery.

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The Pride of Michigan

A historian and an artist recently teamed up to create a comic book celebrating Michigan’s first-ever Pride celebration in Detroit, in 1972. “It’s my job to bring to life people we wouldn’t know about otherwise,” the author says.

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Bartlett Named Interim Director

Nancy Bartlett, an archivist who has worked in various roles at the Bentley Historical Library for more than three decades, has been named the library’s interim director.

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Search for Next Bentley Director Underway

A nine-member committee of faculty members, staff members and a graduate student is looking for a successor to Terrence McDonald, who has announced that he will step down Aug. 31 to return to the LSA faculty.

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Studying Race and Racism at U-M

The Bentley Historical Library is part of a new U-M project to study, document, and better understand the university’s history with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion — with the history of race and racism at U-M as its first major focus.

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