The IHP is a new initiative, and much work has already been done on the topic of U-M’s history. That work exists in both well-known and lesser-known projects and in the pages of published scholarship, on wide-ranging websites, and in scores of syllabi.
Indeed, many projects led by students, faculty, and staff have been completed or are in progress across the university’s campuses: in and through the Bentley Historical Library; in courses and projects led by members of the faculty; in the exhibits, courses, and lectures that attended the Bicentennial and programming related to the 50th anniversaries of the Dearborn and Flint campuses; in departments and schools that have also celebrated momentous anniversaries; and through partnerships with our local communities.
The IHP is entering an already populated landscape, but one that stretches across our decentralized and sprawling university. Our ambition is to identify and catalog as many of these existing efforts as possible in order to learn from and credit their achievements.
The IHP began this work in Winter 2023 through the efforts of two Master’s Research Opportunity Program students from the Marsal Family School of Education’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, Judah Doty and Wynter Douglas. Many people also got in touch to share projects on U-M’s history that they had worked on or knew about, and so our catalog of such projects grew.
In Summer 2024, the IHP partnered with the Department of History on the Ann Arbor campus and the Bentley Historical Library to conduct additional research into existing resources on U-M’s history, in a variety of forms and media. The IHP is continuing work with the Bentley in the 2024-25 academic year to update The History of U-M website.
In finding ways to amplify these existing efforts and share their findings and insights with new audiences, the IHP aims to make sure that the knowledge they have created and the lessons they offer are broadly known–and that this work continues across our campuses.
The History of U-M site collects and links to numerous resources on the university’s past, from oral histories to exhibits and databases to timelines. It also features stories about the university’s history drawn from The Heritage Project, Michigan Today, Michigan Alum, and Collections Magazine. Begun and maintained by the Bentley Historical Library, the site originally sought to continue the momentum of the university’s Bicentennial celebrations in 2017. The IHP is currently partnering with the Bentley Historical Library to expand the resources available on the site and to make exploring and searching those resources easier.
These are just a few examples of the many existing resources that illuminate U-M's history and that the IHP seeks to build upon. Explore the sites linked below to learn more.
Project
Michigan in the World
Michigan in the World is a public history initiative focusing on the University of Michigan and its connections to the wider world. Working with a faculty expert and graduate student coordinator, undergraduates engage in extensive original archival research and present their findings in digital exhibits designed for public and classroom audiences. This public history program is a partnership with the Bentley Historical Library and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
Activism, Organizing, and Leadership within U-M Asian American + Pacific Islander Communities and Spaces
This collection of materials is an ongoing project in collaboration between the United Asian American Organizations (UAAO) and the Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program. By focusing on the longstanding political history of Asian American and Pacific Islander students on the U-M Ann Arbor campus, this collection is a part of a continuing initiative that aims to acknowledge and document the lasting impact of AA+PI student activists, leaders, and organizers. This project was initiated and headed by student activists who have been involved at every stage of the collection, digitization, and archiving process.
This ongoing series of public talks from the Bentley Historical Library explores the history of the University of Michigan. Announcements of future lectures and recordings of past ones are available on the site linked below.
Courses offered during the Bicentennial LSA Theme Semesters in Fall 2017 and Winter 2017 critically addressed the past and future of U-M and its place in the development of public higher education, in American life and culture, and in world affairs.
ReConnect/ReCollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections at the University of Michigan is a diverse group of faculty, librarians, archivists, curators, collections managers, students, and members of the Filipino/Filipinx community committed to developing models for culturally-responsive and historically-minded stewardship of the Philippine collections at the University of Michigan.
Historical Name Reviews by the President’s Advisory Committee on University History (PACOUH)
In January 2017, the university established a review process for considering questions raised by the U-M community about historical names in and on university buildings. Requests for review were forwarded from the Office of the President to PACOUH, which produced reports and recommendations on specific research questions related to the historical names in question.
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