Map of Little Traverse Bay & Mackinac with Native place names added
“Scenic shore drive Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Cross Village = Ne-naw-bing te-baw me-dah-ba-nick : Be-das-sa-ga-ing, We-kwe-do-ing, Ah-na-maw-wa-te-zo-ing [map].” Scale not given.
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Library Digital Collections
Towards Community-Based Shared Stewardship, a project at the Bentley Historical Library in collaboration with the School of Information, focuses on the history of U-M and the complexities of its impact, but the project goal is to develop both a deeper understanding and a working model for community-based shared stewardship work that can be employed in most local contexts. Unlike most of the other IHP project sites, this project is not focused on a single archive, community, topic, or context. Rather, we seek to develop a repertoire of best practices for shared stewardship that can be applied to multiple types of sources and adapted for each collection through collaboration with a range of community partners. Our hope is that this deepened understanding of shared stewardship will inform reparative actions archivists can take to improve the present and future.
Attendees at the banquet of the Sixth Annual Convention of the Federation of Islamic Associations in the US & Canada, 1957
Attendees at the banquet of the Sixth Annual Convention of the Federation of Islamic Associations in the US & Canada, August 2, 3 & 4, 1957 held in Detroit, MI, 1957. Mary A. Cuardy Photograph. Bentley Historical Library. University of Michigan Library.
Allen Hamood (left), President of the Youth Group of Islamic Associations, chats with Besma Useen, third Secretary, and Edward Mahfuz, third Vice President, at a banquet at the Federation of Islamic Associations annual convention in Detroit. Federation of Islamic Associations–Photographs. Bentley Historical Library. University of Michigan Library.
The project centers around three core practices of shared stewardship: cultivating relationships, creative engagement, and collaborative stewardship. The project goal is to identify best practices within each of these core areas of shared stewardship.
Shared stewardship begins with creating relationships built on trust and mutual respect when community members visit the Bentley Historical Library and engage with its materials. Reading through documents and correspondence and physically holding the materials and photographs are ways to spark conversations among community members and with library archivists. In this early phase of shared stewardship, the aim is for people to discover personal and community connections to the past and envision ways the materials can inform and support the current needs and interests of communities throughout Michigan.
Once community members review archival materials and discuss their interests, questions, and connections, the Bentley and IHP can support creative engagement with the materials. There are many possibilities for doing so, including reparative description, public exhibits and installations, publications, or anything that can serve communities and their work around Michigan. These forms of creative engagement not only broaden archival practice into public scholarship but also bring multiple perspectives and voices to the collections. Creative engagement with the archives in the present moment enhances our understanding of the past while looking ahead to stories that will be told in the future.
Continued collaboration sustains the shared stewardship of archival collections and ensures that more voices and perspectives are included in our understanding of the past. The Bentley Historical Library aims to foster enduring relationships, cultivating them through in-depth projects over time with community partners and organizations.
As part of the shared stewardship project, the project team is planning the Community Archives Symposium in Spring 2026 to bring together libraries, archivists, and community organizers to share and discuss various strategies for co-stewarding archival collections. Workshops will focus on collaborations, projects, and multiple initiatives across the state of Michigan.
International Center Group Members. International Center (University of Michigan) Records, Bentley Historical Library. University of Michigan Library.
Co-Principal Investigator, Director, Bentley Historical Library
Co-Principal Investigator, Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Information
Project Affiliate, Associate Director of Public Engagement, Bentley Historical Library
Joanna Meijer Magoon Principal Archivist for Michigan Historical Collections, Bentley Historical Library
Graduate Research Associate
Graduate Research Associate
