Resources

The African American Student Project, a project of the Bentley Historical Library that began research in 2016 and launched its database of African American students who attended UM-Ann Arbor in 2022, receives support from the IHP as an affiliate project site. IHP funding has enabled updates to data visualizations that integrate information from the AASP database with maps of Ann Arbor and the nation to show both where African American students lived while at U-M and the hometowns they came from. These data visualizations are a collaboration between Bentley researchers and University of Michigan Visualization Librarian Justin Joque and his team.

To formally take possession of the 1,920 acres of Anishinaabe land granted in Article 16 of the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs, the University of Michigan’s leaders had to operate within a property system established by the Continental Congress in the 1780s. The 1817 Project research team created an ArcGIS StoryMap to show how this system was implemented across the Michigan Territory, document its consequences for the area’s Indigenous people, and present a case study of its application to 640 acres of U-M’s land in Farmington, MI.

This new site provides free digital access to previously undigitized oral history interviews focusing on the history of UM-Dearborn. The interviews displayed on the site come from earlier initiatives by UM-Dearborn faculty, librarians, and staff to preserve institutional knowledge. Starting with those archived recordings, the 1959 Project research team utilized digital humanities tools, including the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) and Omeka S, to expand the usability of the legacy recordings. Access to these interviews is provided in partnership with the University of Michigan-Dearborn Campus Archive and Mardigian Library.

This visual report created by the 1817 Project research team contextualizes U-M’s acquisition of land in the early- to mid-19th century, including lands acquired through the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs. The report visualizes the landholdings and links them to the treaties that dispossessed Indigenous people and made land available for purchase and settlement.

On April 2, 2025, the Inclusive History Project and the Jewish Communal Leadership Program co-presented a conversation with world-renowned food writers and U-M alums Joan Nathan, Ruth Reichl, and Ari Weinzweig. The three writers discussed the rich cultural encounters they experienced as students in Ann Arbor and reflected on the ways their time at U-M in the 1960s and 1970s shaped their career trajectories.

The legendary actor came to U-M to become a doctor. He left on the path to stardom. Read more from Lorena Chambers, IHP Research Fellow, in Michigan Alum.

James Earl Jones’ narration of the opening video at Michigan football games brings his pride in his alma mater to life. But looking back at his undergraduate experiences is a reminder of often-contradictory moments of exclusion and inclusion at universities like Michigan over the past 80 years. Read more from Lorena Chambers, IHP Research Fellow, in TIME’s Made by History.

The Oral History Resources LibGuide, created by the IHP research team at the Dearborn campus, contains helpful resources for anyone looking to undertake the work of oral history. The guide unpacks the process and procedures used by the IHP team at UM-Dearborn and the 1959 Project to craft accessible and curated oral history collections with the help of digital humanities tools, including the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) and Omeka S.

On November 12, 2025, the Inclusive History Project and the Jewish Communal Leadership Program co-presented a panel discussion with pioneering activists Gayle Rubin, Rayna Rapp, Ellen Meeropol, Beth Schneider, and Joanne Parrent. Together, they reflected on the rise of feminist consciousness and activism at U-M and in Ann Arbor from 1968–1972, exploring the central role of Jewish and other identities in shaping the movement.

The Native American Student Stories Project is a community history of the Native American Student Association (NASA) on the Ann Arbor campus of U-M. The website created as a result of this project is a living archive of memories, photographs, histories, and events shared by the Native American community at U-M. It also features a timeline of events, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped NASA’s journey.

This project led by Manan Desai includes eleven exhibits describing the trajectory of Asian and Asian Americans at UM-Ann Arbor from the late 19th century to the present. Exhibits trace histories of organizing in the 1970s, early collaborations with international students, LGBTQ+ activism, and multicultural spaces. The project was produced in part with support from the IHP Teaching Fund for American Culture 301: The History of Asian Americans in Michigan (Ann Arbor campus).

This digital companion to a campus tour developed by Tonya Kneff-Chang is meant to accompany users during their exploration of the history of the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor campus, with a particular emphasis on the role of Michigan Medicine. The project was produced in part with support from the IHP Teaching Fund for Medical Administration 7300: History of Race and Racism in Medicine (Ann Arbor campus).

This archival project led by Lorena Chambers, IHP research fellow, seeks to document how Chicanas have transformed the way we analyze and write history as well as who is included in U.S. history. Video oral histories are available through a digital collection at the University of Michigan Library, which is funded in part by the IHP, and include U-M alum Natalia Molina and former U-M faculty member Maria Montoya.

This digital archive produced by Amy Stillman and students from American Culture/Asian Pacific American Studies 352 over the course of twelve years (2013-2025) brings together information about student organizations, links to recorded performances, performance programs, articles from the Michigan Daily, and student research conducted in the course. The archive is organized so that users can see materials from a range of student orgs, ongoing and now inactive shows, and performance groups on the Ann Arbor campus. The project was produced in part with support from the IHP Teaching Fund.

Fourteen Stamps artists, graduating between 1982 and 2026, created new work about the history of the Michigan Union and League, as centers of university life. Alison Rivett (MFA ‘07), Associate Director of the Arts Initiative, shared a list of hundreds of resources to give each artist as a sample of the kinds of stories the artists could consider. The artists were invited to reimagine our shared history, highlighting the less known stories from our institution’s past. The project was produced in part with support from the IHP Research & Engagement Fund.