U-M Heritage

  1. April 25, 2022 The Ann Arbor campus was barely 20 years old when Andrew Dickson White first saw it. He arrived from Yale in October 1857 to teach history and English literature. He was less than impressed with the look of the campus upon which sat the buildings dedicated to learning. The place needed trees, and he went to work.

    Professor White’s Diag

    The Ann Arbor campus was barely 20 years old when Andrew Dickson White first saw it. He arrived from Yale in October 1857 to teach history and English literature. He was less than impressed with the look of the campus upon which sat the buildings dedicated to learning. The place needed trees, and he went to work.

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  2. April 18, 2022 For a few days in March 1970, U-M hosted what may have been the most important single event in its history, an event that pushed on the wheel of history and launched the modern movement to save the planet from environmental disaster. It changed lives, especially the lives of the organizers.

    Earth Day eve

    For a few days in March 1970, U-M hosted what may have been the most important single event in its history, an event that pushed on the wheel of history and launched the modern movement to save the planet from environmental disaster. It changed lives, especially the lives of the organizers.

    Read a summary of this story
  3. April 11, 2022 When Professor Edward Campbell lost his sight in an 1892 laboratory accident, only a tiny minority of blind adults in the nation was self-supporting. The most potent antidote given to the newly blind Campbell was the encouragement of his family, friends and students. The pursuit of science would continue to be his calling.

    Blinded by science

    When Professor Edward Campbell lost his sight in an 1892 laboratory accident, only a tiny minority of blind adults in the nation was self-supporting. The most potent antidote given to the newly blind Campbell was the encouragement of his family, friends and students. The pursuit of science would continue to be his calling.

    Read a summary of this story
  4. April 4, 2022 Avery Hopwood was a gay Midwesterner with a superb sense of humor who, in the span of a few months in 1905, wrote his first play, graduated from U-M and sold the play to a Broadway production company for an advance against royalties of $250. This combination of quick effort and quick reward set the pattern of his life.

    Carpenter in the Dream Factory

    Avery Hopwood was a gay Midwesterner with a superb sense of humor who, in the span of a few months in 1905, wrote his first play, graduated from U-M and sold the play to a Broadway production company for an advance against royalties of $250. This combination of quick effort and quick reward set the pattern of his life.

    Read a summary of this story
  5. March 28, 2022 On a Friday morning on the U-M campus in February 1925, eight young men made their way into the President’s House to accept a solemn invitation. They would do something none had done in the history of the university: lift a casket to their shoulders and carry away the body of U-M president Marion Leroy Burton.

    Death of a president

    On a Friday morning on the U-M campus in February 1925, eight young men made their way into the President’s House to accept a solemn invitation. They would do something none had done in the history of the university: lift a casket to their shoulders and carry away the body of U-M president Marion Leroy Burton.

    Read a summary of this story
  6. March 21, 2022 U-M scientist Elzada Clover and her graduate assistant, Lois Jotter, made history in 1938 by becoming the first known women to navigate the Colorado River. The historic trip down 40 miles of treacherous rapids to discover new specimens to elevate U-M’s botanical gardens garnered national media attention.

    River rat

    U-M scientist Elzada Clover and her graduate assistant, Lois Jotter, made history in 1938 by becoming the first known women to navigate the Colorado River. The historic trip down 40 miles of treacherous rapids to discover new specimens to elevate U-M’s botanical gardens garnered national media attention.

    Read a summary of this story
  7. March 14, 2022 Where women students had once fended for themselves and mixed freely with men, by 1920 they lived in a segregated, regulated and tightly supervised sphere marked “Women Only.” The pattern of women’s lives outside the classroom that would prevail until the 1960s and ’70s had been set.

    Women apart

    Where women students had once fended for themselves and mixed freely with men, by 1920 they lived in a segregated, regulated and tightly supervised sphere marked “Women Only.” The pattern of women’s lives outside the classroom that would prevail until the 1960s and ’70s had been set.

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  8. March 7, 2022 Madelon Stockwell stepped onto the Ann Arbor campus on a Wednesday, the second day of February 1870. Her arrival from Kalamazoo disrupted a world that had been wholly male since the fall of 1817, when U-M first opened its doors in Detroit. She was 24 years old and the object of curiosity and stares.

    Madelon’s world

    Madelon Stockwell stepped onto the Ann Arbor campus on a Wednesday, the second day of February 1870. Her arrival from Kalamazoo disrupted a world that had been wholly male since the fall of 1817, when U-M first opened its doors in Detroit. She was 24 years old and the object of curiosity and stares.

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  9. February 21, 2022

    ‘Lonely as Hell’

    A white graduate student at U-M named John Behee explored how many Black athletes had played for U-M, and he found several of the 187 who lettered at U-M before 1972. Their conversations — including Willis Ward, who said, “It was lonely. Lonely as hell.” — are preserved on tape at the Bentley Historical Library.

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  10. February 14, 2022 After a busboy at a restaurant set a pile of dirty dishes between Lenoir Bertrice Smith, a Black student, and her white friend Edith Kaplan, the two went to see Oakley Johnson, a young instructor in the Department of Rhetoric. They gathered friends and declared themselves the Negro-Caucasian Club of U-M in 1925.

    Negro-Caucasian Club

    After a busboy at a restaurant set a pile of dirty dishes between Lenoir Bertrice Smith, a Black student, and her white friend Edith Kaplan, the two went to see Oakley Johnson, a young instructor in the Department of Rhetoric. They gathered friends and declared themselves the Negro-Caucasian Club of U-M in 1925.

    Read a summary of this story