History

  1. January 23, 2014

    Rare civil rights-era newsletter now available online

    The U-M Library has digitized the complete set of Selma Inter-religious Project Newsletters and made them available to the public via the HathiTrust Digital Library.

  2. January 20, 2014

    Janitor and bell ringer

    William Bliss Jolly spent 10 years working as a janitor and bell ringer for U-M in the mid-1800s, but he dressed more like a statesman than a janitor. 

  3. January 10, 2014

    MLK at U-M

    In November 1962, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke from the stage at Hill Auditorium to an audience. He also spoke before a small gathering at the Michigan Union during his visit to campus.

  4. December 16, 2013

    Boiler Rats

    The Central Power Plant was erected in 1914. Coal was delivered to the plant by a small locomotive towing a coal car and was shoveled by hand by staff members known as stokers or “boiler rats.”

  5. December 9, 2013

    Missing statue

    A plaster cast of the Winged Victory of Samothrace was exhibited in Alumni Memorial Hall through the 1920s, then relocated to University High School, now the School of Education building. It was reported missing in the 1960s.

  6. November 25, 2013

    President Ford returns

    In November 1977, alumnus and former President Gerald R. Ford viewed the site and blueprints for the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library on North Campus. 

  7. November 19, 2013

    New website celebrates staff contributions to U-M history

    The new Stories of the Staff project celebrates the contributions of U-M staff members, current and past, to the university’s history, and provides a venue for collecting stories about staff members who have helped make U-M great.

  8. November 18, 2013

    Past traditions

    In 1876, students pose at a smoker’s club gathering. Smokers were social events that became popular in American universities near the beginning of the 20th century, specifically among male students. Female students were known to hold smokeless smokers.

  9. November 4, 2013

    First woman

    U-M professor Elzada Clover made history as the first woman to navigate the notoriously treacherous Colorado.

  10. November 4, 2013

    Exhibit presents Jewish cookbooks’ contributions to American cuisine

    Jewish cookbooks from 50 states, including the first one printed in America and the first Jewish charity cookbook in Detroit, are part of the Hatcher Graduate Library exhibit “American Foodways: The Jewish Contribution.”