About
Stories
Resources

Search

0 Results

Home
Stories

No Admittance

When women tried to enter the University of Michigan in 1858, the all-male Board of Regents slammed the door shut "for the sake of the young ladies themselves."

women at Michigan

Related Articles

Michigan Today
When ‘Red Emma’ came to town
James Tobin | October 27, 2023
Early in his tenure as director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover called Emma Goldman “the most dangerous woman in America.” While not widely known, this dangerous woman spoke in Ann Arbor on several occasions.
women at Michigan
read more
Michigan Today
From Hopwood to Hollywood to joy in the morning
James Tobin | August 26, 2023
Dive into the life of writer Betty Smith, who spent years in Ann Arbor with her first husband. During her time in Ann Arbor, she audited playwriting classes and learned from Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.
women at Michigan
read more
Bentley Historical Library
Vaulting Fences, Chopping Wood, and Shocking Delicate Nerves
Madeleine Bradford | Fall 2023
One of U-M’s first female students defied gender norms and wrote a book about her experiences on campus.
women at Michigan
read more

Throwback to U-M’s first buildings in Ann Arbor! 🏠

Did you know that the first official U-M buildings built on the Ann Arbor campus were actually houses?

These four structures, known as the “Professors’ Houses,” were approved for construction over 180 years ago! 🕑

They not only served as homes to U-M’s earliest professors, but also housed things like the early “library,” which was a small collection of books, at the time, stored on temporary shelves.

Over the years, these buildings were transformed as the university expanded! Dentistry, medical care, psychology, and pathology were all studied in the Professors’ Houses over the course of U-M’s history.

One of these buildings even went on to become the U-M President’s House!

That makes the U-M President’s House, which still survives today, one of the oldest buildings on U-M’s Ann Arbor campus!

📸: Jasper Cropsey painting of U-M’s early campus, and a circa 1925 photo of the U-M President’s House from the U-M Photo Vertical Files

#TBT #UMich #AnnArbor #MichiganHistory #Campus

Did you know that dog sleds were sometimes used to deliver mail during snowy Michigan winters, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? 🐶

It’s true! This post office in Cheboygan used dog sleds to deliver mail to places like Walkers Point on the nearby island of Bois Blanc, relying on a winter ice bridge to cross the water.

Here, you can see a historical dog pulling a U.S. mail sled from Cheboygan, circa 1910!

The use of dog sleds to deliver winter mail was often limited to specific regions in Michigan, and largely petered out over the years, but the memory of this unusual period of Michigan history is preserved in photos like this one!

📸: Historical Postcard Collection

#DYK #MichiganHistory #Dog #OldPhoto #HistoricalPostcard #Cheboygan #Winter

Today we remember Raoul Wallenberg, a U-M alum whose quick thinking and hard work saved lives during World War II.

At the University of Michigan in the 1930s, Wallenberg loved drawing, dancing, and visiting the Michigan Union for breakfast.

He traveled often during school breaks, selling sketches along the roadside to earn money.

Few could have guessed that this young architecture student, who went by the nickname “Rudy,” would go on to play such a pivotal role in the survival of so many.

Using his artistic and architectural talents as a Swedish diplomat in Hungary, he would go on to set up safe houses and forge passports for Jewish people, helping them escape the Holocaust.

He’s estimated to have saved tens of thousands of lives. There are so many people who would not be alive if it weren’t for his work.

In 1945, he disappeared, taken into a Soviet prison. He was never heard from again.

Wallenberg’s memory lives on: both a medal U-M gives to outstanding humanitarians, and a U-M institute dedicated to pushing back against discrimination, are named after him.

If you walk up to the U-M Art & Architecture building, you will find a sculpture created in honor of Wallenberg, titled “Köszönöm Raoul Wallenberg” (meaning “Thank You Raoul Wallenberg” in Hungarian) by artist Jon Rush.

It’s engraved with the motto: “One person can make a difference.”

#HolocaustRemembranceDay #RaoulWallenberg #UMich #Alumni

Behind the scenes in the archives! 📖

Did you know that the Bentley contains around 11,000 collections?

These photos, which provide a glimpse into our stacks, are just the tip of the iceberg!

All of the collections you see here are related to the history of U-M or the state of Michigan, and each box can hold thousands of historical papers.

We also preserve large maps and architectural drawings, which are stored in flat drawers to keep them safe!

Digital materials live on at the Bentley too, including things like archived websites, and digitized football films.

There’s so much history in the archives, and we love sharing it with you. 💙

Happy Library Shelfie Day!

#LibraryShelfieDay #Archives #UMich #MichiganHistory #BentleyHistoricalLibrary #BehindTheScenes

Proof that squirrels have been popular in Ann Arbor for over 100 years! 🐿️

Here are three historical squirrels from the archives, including:

🍽️ A student feeding a squirrel on a snowy day at U-M, over 100 years ago

📖 A squirrel photo from an early student photo album, labeled “Everybody’s Friend"

⭐ A special bonus squirrel photo from the 1930s!

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!

📸: John J. Smolenski scrapbook (circa 1905), Roy Barlow photo album (circa 1914), Ivory Photo collection (1937)

#SquirrelAppreciationDay #OldPhotos #UMich #Squirrels #AnnArbor #History

TBT to these U-M students sledding on a toboggan in the 1890s! ❄️

Winter sports like sledding were popular across Ann Arbor history!

"Since the crisp, snowy weather has put the hills in such fine condition for coasting, there has been some talk of building a student toboggan slide,” the Michigan Daily wrote in 1904.

Through the following years, students would gleefully sled down the side of Palmer Field, and the hills of the Arboretum! 🛷

Seeing the popularity of winter sports, Engineering Professor Ferdinand Menefee even proposed building a dam across a section of the Huron River to create a small, artificial lake for skating in 1922.

"Perhaps as soon as next winter we shall see the venerable hills of the Boulevard dotted with skiing figures, and scooting tobogganists,” the Daily proclaimed.

(That lake, as far as we can tell, was never created.)

Whether you enjoy skiing, skating, “coasting” on a toboggan, or even just walking through freshly fallen snow, we hope your wintery adventures have been fun! ❄️

Click through to see more cyanotypes of sledding students from the 1890s.

📸: Cyanotypes from the Mary Burton photo collection

#TBT #Winter #UMich #StudentLife #Sledding #Toboggan #1890s #Cyanotypes #GoBlue!

A mysterious collection of black-and-white photos sat dormant for a decade.

Then, historian Karen Majewski took a closer look, and began to wonder if those photos belonged at the Bentley.

Written on them, she spotted the name of artist Cveta Popovich, who painted over 100 murals in the city of Detroit—many of which are now lost.

A majority of Cveta Popovich’s work was destroyed over the years, as buildings crumbled, burned, or were torn down to make room for new structures.

“Murals last only as long as the walls on which they’re painted,” writer Amy Probst points out, in the article “Rescuing History,” in the latest edition of the Bentley’s “Collections” magazine.

This means that many of Popovich’s paintings now survive only in photos like these.

Karen decided to give these photos to the Bentley’s archives, where they could be kept safe, and shared with future researchers.

“Today, the ability to see Popovich’s work in person is sadly rare, and so we are grateful to Karen for recovering the images and donating them to the Bentley,” says Archivist Michelle McClellan.

“This perfectly illustrates our mission: we preserve materials that might otherwise be lost and we make them accessible for everyone to explore and appreciate.”

📸: Photos of murals from the Cveta Popovich collection

#DetroitHistory #OldPhotos #Rediscovered #CvetaPopovich #ArtHistory #Detroit

A tiny snowman visited the archives today! ⛄📖

So, of course, we interviewed him! Here’s what this snowman had to say:

Q: Who’s your favorite poet?
A: Robert Frost. He was the first poet-in-residence at U-M!

Q: What’s your favorite sport at U-M?
A: Ice hockey! I actually love to skate.

Q: Favorite historical athlete?
A: I know you'd expect a hockey player, but Neil Snow is my favorite!

He was on U-M's football, baseball, and track teams from the late 1890s to the early 1900s.

Q: Why did you decide to stop by the Bentley today?
A: I love Michigan history! I grew up in Ann Arbor, from a snowflake to a snowball to the snowman you see before you today, so it has always interested me.

There’s snow place like home! ❄️

Do you have any questions about the archives for this scholarly snowman?

Let us know in the comments!

📸: Tiny snowman with a miniature book, the cover of which is a printed photo of the 1900 "Cyclopedia of Michigan" from the archives

#Snowman #UMich #Archives #SnowBlue #Winter #MichiganHistory

On this day in 1920, a new library building was dedicated at U-M! 📖

It was known as the “General Library” back then, but today you might know this building better as the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library!

U-M's old library building had become a fire hazard, due to its wooden frame, so the library you see here was built to replace it, including:

🎨 Paintings in the entryway inspired by ancient art from Pompeii

📑 A study room floored with “special flecked cork" from Spain which, the Michigan Daily reassured readers, would not “chip up like regular cork tile”

📚 Two fireproof sections of shelving saved from the old library

🕊️ A large vaulted reading room featuring two arched paintings titled: “The Arts of War,” and “The Arts of Peace,” by Gari Melchers, originally created for the World’s Fair in Chicago

During the dedication ceremony in Hill Auditorium, the audience enjoyed singing and organ music, as well as speeches from people including U-M librarian William Bishop, and famous architect Albert Kahn!

In honor of the newly built library, rare book expert Wilfred Voynich loaned an exhibit of beautifully detailed “illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period” to the library for three days, according to the Daily.

Happy birthday to the Hatcher Library building! 🎂🥳

📸: Photos from the Ivory Photo Collection and the U-M Photograph Vertical Files

#OnThisDay #1920s #UMich #HarlanHatcherGraduateLibrary #LibraryDedication

Welcome back! 🎉

We're so excited to see you back in the reading room this year!

Everyone is welcome to visit the Bentley to explore things like:

📸 Early photos of Ann Arbor neighborhoods!

📖 University of Michigan yearbooks dating as far back as 1866!

🐿️ Student scrapbooks full of things like squirrel pictures, football scores, and hand-painted valentines.

🍩 Vintage Michigan recipes involving lots and lots of gelatin.

🗺️ Historical maps of the state of Michigan (fun fact: early mapmakers thought Michigan was pointy!)

⭐ And even more Michigan history!

Come visit our reading room on North Campus any time during our open hours, Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 4 PM, and see what treasures you can find in the archives.

Remember; you don’t have to have a research question in mind!

We’re glad to help you, whether you’re visiting for the first time, or you've visited a hundred times.

We can’t wait to see you in the reading room! ♥️ Happy 2025!

#Archives #UMich #HistoricalLibrary #WelcomeBack #2025 #HappyNewYear #AboutTheArchives #MichiganHistory

Looking back at 200 years of Ann Arbor history! ⭐

In honor of the final day of the city’s Bicentennial year, we’re sharing some glimpses of Ann Arbor history from the archives:

🏢 Shops on Main Street circa 1855-1862

🚃 An electric trolley on Main Street circa 1893

🚂 The Michigan Central Railroad Station in Ann Arbor in 1905

🐴 A horse-drawn buggy and an automobile on Ann Street in the 1920s

🚗 A view of State Street between 1920 and 1930

👞 Students walking across U-M’s campus in the 1930s

🚲 Student bikes outside the Frieze building in 1962

🏈 Michigan Stadium seen from above in 1999

✈️ An aerial view of Ann Arbor in 2000

We can’t wait to share more history with you in 2025!

Have a happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! 🎉

If you're interested in seeing more local history, you can find many scanned historical pictures of Ann Arbor in our online Image Bank, which everyone is welcome to explore.

You can also explore more photos like these in archival collections at the Bentley, listed below! 📖

📸: Photos from the archival News & Information Photos, Ivory Photos, Sam Sturgis Photos, Postcard Collection, Athletic Department records, University Planner’s Office records, Robert Kalmbach photos, and the U-M Photograph Vertical Files

#AnnArbor #Bicentennial #History #Archives #200Years #HappyNewYearsEve

TBT to these U-M students boarding buses for the winter break in 1939! 🚌

As you head back home for break, we hope you’ll have a wonderful time, whether you’re:

♥️ Spending time with friends and family

📖 Catching up on all the tv shows and books you’ve been meaning to get around to

⭐ Or just basking happily in the fact that you’ve finished your final exams!

Happy holidays, from all of us here at the Bentley! ❄️

📸: Ivory Photo Collection

#TBT #WinterBreak #HappyHolidays #StudentLife #UMich

On this day in 1868, an early bicycle was ridden through Detroit’s streets for the very first time, according to the Detroit Free Press! 🚲

"Yesterday the first Detroit man that had the temerity to bestride the velocipede, and show his skill in the public streets, might have been seen moving slowly along Jefferson avenue," the 1868 Detroit Free Press wrote.

"The bold rider," the newspaper declared, was "none other than the irrepressible Ben Fletcher of the Michigan News Company."

This early bicycle ride was reportedly a wobbly one.

Ben would ride along "bravely" for a stretch, and then, when he seemed in danger of losing his balance, "a man on each side of him" would steady the velocipede.

He needed them; many early velocipedes (early versions of what became the modern bicycle) had their pedals attached to their front wheel, making them tricky to balance.

Ben Fletcher did fall off several times, or as the newspaper put it, the velocipede "not infrequently seated the rider on the damp sidewalk."

However, people thought, even then, that the city should start getting used to these early bicycles.

"Before long velocipedes will be as plentiful as carriages in the streets, and velocipeding will become as popular as driving or skating," the Detroit Free Press predicted.

Interested in exploring more history like this, with newspapers like the early Detroit Free Press?

You can use many historical newspaper databases in the Bentley’s Reading Room!

The Bentley's archives also hold physical copies of newspapers from places across Michigan, including Detroit, which you are welcome to explore. 😊

📸: Image from “The velocipede : its history, varieties, and practice” by J.T. Goddard

📰: Quotes from the Detroit Free Press, Dec. 19, 1868 edition

#OTD #DetroitHistory #Michigan #Velocipedes #EarlyBicycles #HistoricalNewspapers

In honor of today’s graduates, here’s what graduation was like at U-M 100 years ago! 🕐

The 1924 graduates were lucky enough to find themselves under clear, sunny skies on Ferry Field, which was the football field back then.

(That field also hosted regional Olympic tryouts that very same year! 🏈)

"Class by class, the graduates took their places in the South bleachers of historic Ferry Field, and class by class they marched upon the platform to receive their various degrees from the University,” wrote the Michigan Daily in 1924.

The graduation stage was set up with long streamers of fabric, two U.S. flags, and a large State of Michigan flag, above the speaker’s podium, and decorated with ferns and flowers.

"With fervent hopes and well wishes in the hearts of friends, parents, and classmates, each of the two thousand Michigan graduates lays aside the gown of University, and their life begins,” the Daily wrote.

You can see photos of that commencement ceremony here, from the Michiganensian yearbook at the time!

Congratulations to this year’s graduates! 🎓 We can’t wait to see the history you make!

#MGoGrad #GoBlue #Congratulations! #GoMakeHistory #HappyGraduation #WeBelieveInYou

A snowy day on the Huron River, over 100 years ago! ❄️

Here are a few wintery ways the Huron River has shaped Ann Arbor life, from the archives:

⛸️ People used to go ice skating on the frozen surface of the Huron River!

🏒 The river was used as an early ice hockey rink!

🧊 Horse-drawn plows and saws were used to carve blocks of ice from the river, for Ann Arbor families to use to preserve their food!

😊 And, of course, people have always enjoyed walking along the banks of the Huron River, through the beautiful snow-covered landscape.

Click through to enjoy photos of a group of historical ice-skaters (and a dog) on the Huron River, and early ice hockey players on the river's frozen surface!

📸 1: Snowy day on the Huron River from the 1919 Michiganensian yearbook

📸 2: Historical ice skaters with a dog, on the Huron River, undated, from the Sam Sturgis Photo Collection (sourced by Sam Sturgis from Frank Maynard)

📸 3: Early Literary Class ice hockey team from the 1912 Michiganensian yearbook

#Winter #HuronRiver #AnnArbor #MichiganHistory #Snow #IceSkating #IceHockey #FlashbackFriday

Good luck on your finals, Wolverines! 📖💙 We believe in you!

If you're getting ready for exams, here are some 1890s study tips from early U-M Professor Martin D’Ooge:

🕑 “Give each lesson its due share of time.”

Professor D’Ooge recommended creating a study schedule, and finding a space where you can work uninterrupted!

🐑 Avoid “wool-gathering,” or aimless and wistful daydreaming.

🧠 Give your brain a break if it needs one!

Professor D’Ooge suggested taking a break from your physics studies now and then, to work on studying a topic you find fun and relaxing... such as Ancient Greek.

(Perhaps not coincidentally, he also taught classes in Greek at U-M at the time!)

How do these study tips from over 100 years ago compare to today?

Wishing you the best of luck on your exams!

📸: Early U-M students studying organic chemistry, circa 1893, from the Medical School records

#UMich #Finals #History #StudyTips #Exams #Over100YearsAgo #WeBelieveInYou

Meet Madison Haack! ⭐

As a student assistant, Madison helps visitors to the archives, and brings out historical papers for them to explore in the Bentley’s reading room!

“I'm in one of the more public-facing roles at the Bentley, welcoming guests into our space,” Madison explains.

She is currently working towards her MSI degree at the School of Information, and she’s excited to help visitors dig into the archives for answers to their questions. 📖

“There are so many reasons to utilize the archives! What if you want to know more about your great aunt who used to go here? Maybe you're interested in the grassroots student movements, or are curious about notable figures from the state of Michigan's history… There are so many cool things to be discovered,” Madison says.

In the future, Madison would love to work in an academic setting, either in libraries, or archives.

“I hope to have a role that allows me to work with people, and work in instruction and outreach,” Madison says. “I love sharing everything that institutions like the Bentley have to offer.”

Click through to see one piece of advice Madison would give to new researchers!

Welcome, Madison! 🎉

📸: @umschoolofinformation student Madison Haack

#Archives #UMich #History #HistoricalLibrary #Welcome #OurStudentsAreAwesome

Help open doors for amazing students like these! ⭐

It’s no secret that education is more expensive than ever. Many students work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

This Giving Tuesday, we’re asking if you’ll reach out a helping hand to support students, so that they can study and work with less financial struggle.

Your gifts to the Bentley Fund for Student Support will create more student jobs in the archives, at higher wages, giving more students a chance to have direct, hands-on experience with historic materials.

We believe it’s important to help free students from a difficult choice between a job that provides direct, hands-on experience in the archives, or a non-archival job that pays more.

Students deserve a chance to learn and grow in the archives. Every gift matters! 💙

#GivingTuesday #StudentSupport #MakeAnImpact #SupportMatters #Archives #HandsOnExperience #UMich

Happy Thanksgiving from the archives! 🦃

Did you know that early U-M students had a tradition of raising money each year to buy a turkey for the “hat man,” Jim Ottley, who worked in the library and checked peoples’ hats at the door?

“The twinkle in Jim’s eyes is always bright, but about Thanksgiving time it takes on an added luster, for it has become a custom of the students to give the old man his turkey dinner, and this year was no exception to the rule,” the Michigan Daily wrote in 1900.

The Daily described this annual tradition in an article titled “The Old Library “Hat Man” Gets His Annual Thanksgiving Fowl—Has a Varied and Thrilling Past.”

Jim, who was 86 years old at the time that article was written, had worked as a cabin boy in the English navy, then served as a valet for “a distinguished English nobleman” before making his way to the U.S.

At U-M, he served first as a janitor, and then as the beloved “hat man,” who seems to have very much enjoyed this annual display of Thanksgiving kindness from the students!

You can learn more about Jim Ottley and others in the article “Campus Characters” from the U-M Heritage Project, and you can click through to see a photo of Jim from the David Forbes photograph collection!

#HappyThanksgiving #UMich #CampusHistory #DidYouKnow #ActsOfKindness #TurkeyDay

Love football history? 🏈

Our new & former Athletics Archivists recently teamed up to explore the history of Thanksgiving football at U-M, with CBS Detroit’s lead sports anchor and reporter, @rachelhopmayer!

Click through to see some of the football history they highlighted from the archives, including newspaper clippings, and photos of the Wolverines during early Thanksgiving games! 🦃

Did you know that there was an early rivalry between Michigan and Chicago, that used to play out during an annual Thanksgiving football game?

Check out the Thanksgiving Day Pregame Show on CBS Detroit at 11:00 AM ET on November 28, 2024, before the Lions game, to learn even more about the history of Thanksgiving football from these athletics experts!

#UMich #ThanskgivingFootball #Wolverines #FootballHistory #GoBlue #Michigan

Resources
Stories
About

1150 Beal Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109

ajrutled@umich.edu

The History of U-M site is managed by the Bentley Historical Library

© 2025 Regents of the University of Michigan

Land Acknowledgment Statement