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Timeline [Ford School of Public Policy]

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Project Overview

Creator

Ford School

Format

Timeline

Publication year

2014

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Stay Connected to U-M History

#historyofum

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Flashback to the Ann Arbor Art Fair in 1964!

The same year that these photos were taken:

🪕 Visitors enjoyed banjo music from a local musician, who set himself up behind the art tents

✈️ Local businesses held Art Fair deals on everything from raincoats to model airplanes

🎡 The fair included a ferris wheel, as you can see in the second photo!

🎨 Later that year, U-M held a "Diag Art Fair" with a free exhibition of art made by U-M students, inspired by the Ann Arbor Art Fair.

Today, the Art Fair consists of three separate fairs, spread across Ann Arbor!

You can find these photos, and others like them, in the Joyce Jones papers in the archives at the Bentley, which anyone is welcome to view in our reading room.

#FlashbackFriday #AnnArbor #ArtFair #1960s

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🎉 Our new website is here! 🎉

We’re excited to showcase the same trusted historical resources with a new, updated look!

Check out our new site for:

🔎 Even more ways to discover Michigan history

❤️ Additional resources and help

🎨 Better design and navigation

Explore our new website today at the 🔗 in our bio, and at this URL: bentley.umich.edu

#Announcement #Launch #NewWebsite

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This is what U-M’s old Law Library looked like in the late 1920s, before the Law Quad library existed!

This library was located in the early Law Building, on the northwest corner of the Diag. Here you can see U-M students studying in the reading room in 1929!

The same year these photos were taken, U-M accepted a gift from U-M alum William Cook for the future Legal Research Building on the Law Quad. Two years later, that gift became a reality when construction was finished on a new home for U-M's Law Library, with soaring stained glass windows!

After the Law School moved out of this early building, it was used by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts for many years. Today, it no longer exists, except in photos like these!

U-M’s Law Library has expanded since then, and is now home to an enormous collection of legal research books, legislative documents, and more, from all over the globe.

Click through to see more photos of the late 1920s Law Library. Anyone is welcome to view photos of U-M's early Law Building in our reading room!

These photos are from the Ivory Photo collection, which is available for you to explore online, showcasing thousands of pictures from local history for anyone to see.

#UMich #LawLibrary #1920s #OldHavenHall

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Did you know there’s a Summer Game badge for exploring Ann Arbor’s Japanese History?

As you explore Ann Arbor for the @aadlgram Summer Game, discover how Japanese emigrants and their descendants, known as Nikkei, have been an essential part of the Ann Arbor community for decades.

Around World War II, the University of Michigan hired Nikkei employees to staff places like the Michigan Union. But during that same time period, U-M also excluded the majority of Nikkei from becoming students here. The U-M Center for Japanese Studies and Bentley Historical Library have teamed up to put together some clues to help you learn more about this chapter of Japanese-Ann Arbor history with this web-based badge.

Take a moment to explore this local history, and claim this badge with your newfound knowledge!

Check out this URL to learn about the badge, and sign into your Ann Arbor District Library account to see clues: https://aadl.org/node/671037

New to the Summer Game? Visit aadl.org/play to learn more!

#SummerGame #AADL #Nikkei #AnnArbor

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#TBT to Nickels Arcade in the 1930s!

Imagine walking through Nickels Arcade back when this photo was taken! You can spot some changes here between the early arcade and the arcade you know today.

The shape of the glass skylight has changed, and the lollipop-shaped "penny scale" that used to stand at the entryway, against the central column, is no longer there.

In the 1930s, passers-by would insert a penny into that penny scale to get a printed card with their fortune, an estimate of their weight (this particular scale was known for being highly inaccurate), and a printed photo of a movie star.

While some things have certainly changed, some remain the same; you can still spot the same stone-colored terracotta decorations on the walls, and the same decorative brickwork!

Nickels Arcade has become a beloved local building since the first business opened inside it in 1915. You can find this photo, and others like it, in the Ivory Photograph collection at the Bentley, which is digitized and available online for anyone to explore!

#AnnArbor #NickelsArcade #LocalHistory #1930s

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Meet research fellow Frank Cirillo! As a historian who specializes in anti-slavery research, Frank is deeply interested in the impacts of the anti-slavery movement, known as abolitionism.

He is fascinated by the ways that abolitionist language shaped later groups, such as the suffrage movement!

Building on his previous book, "The Abolitionist Civil War," Cirillo visited the Bentley's reading room to explore how other progressive movements reused anti-slavery rhetoric for their own ends, between the Gilded Age and World War I.

His project looks at "how abolitionist leaders were co-opted, their methods copied, and their words quoted to support different causes," in his own words.

The peace, temperance, and suffrage movements all interest Cirillo for that reason, showcased in collections like the Jabez Thomas Sunderland papers, the Rebecca Shelley papers, and more, from the archives here!

Cirillo intends to use his latest research to write about the crucial impacts of the anti-slavery movement on later social reform!

#Archives #AntiSlavery #Abolitionism #MichiganHistory #ResearchFellow

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Happy Fourth of July from the archives! This photo of an early Fourth of July parade was taken #OTD over 100 years ago in Manchester, Michigan.

At the time, buildings on the parade route were decorated with ribbons, draped fabric, and American flags. You can see a marching band, including a tuba and a large drum, parading on the right side of this image!

If you look closely, you can also spot a child who appears to be holding his father’s hand while they watch the parade together, near the center of the photo.

You can find this 1896 parade photo, and other early images of Michigan, in the Sam Sturgis photograph collection at the Bentley.

We hope you have a wonderful Independence Day! 🎆

#4thOfJuly #MichiganHistory #IndependenceDay

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Did you know that this historic U-M observatory hosts free events in Ann Arbor?

The Frankel Detroit Observatory is the second oldest building at U-M, and it serves as a local museum. It is also part of the Bentley Historical Library!

Anyone is welcome at these upcoming events in July to enjoy free history talks, walking tours, and more.

Click through to see a list of upcoming events, and check out the Judy & Stanley Frankel Detroit Observatory website for details!

#UMich #AnnArbor #HistoricBuilding #Museum #UpcomingEvents

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Our new website is coming soon! ⭐

We’re excited to share that our new and improved Bentley Historical Library site will launch on July 16, 2026, featuring:

🔎 Even more ways to discover Michigan history

📖 Additional resources and help for researchers

🎨 A better design and a fresh, new look

Stay tuned, we can’t wait to share it with you!

#Update #NewWebsite #ComingSoon

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#TBT to this early view of Hill Auditorium!

Hill Auditorium was first dedicated on this day over 100 years ago! The ceremony was held on Alumni Day during U-M's commencement week in 1913, alongside alumni receptions, baseball games, and class reunions.

It began with a bugle call, and included a grand parade! 🎺 According to the Michigan Daily at the time, the Hill Auditorium dedication parade featured “faculty, regents, and distinguished guests” from “universities all over the globe,” followed by hundreds of alumni.

"On either side marched a guard of honor composed of 100 seniors, each carrying a Michigan flag,” the Michigan Daily reported. “Behind came graduating classes attired in caps and gowns and headed by a drum corps."

You can find more historical photos of Hill Auditorium in the archives at the Bentley with collections like the U-M Photograph Vertical Files and the Ivory Photo Collection, both featured here.

Anyone is welcome to visit and view photos like these in our reading room, and you can also explore historical photos of Ann Arbor with the digitized Ivory Photo Collection online!

#OTD #AnnArbor #HillAuditorium

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#OnThisDay in 1972, Title IX opened the door for women’s varsity sports at U-M! In honor of the landmark moment when Title IX was signed into law, here’s a look back at U-M women’s athletics in the 1970s.

This was a pivotal time for women’s sports at the University of Michigan. U-M women’s varsity teams for field hockey, volleyball, basketball, synchronized swimming, tennis, and swimming and diving all started in the 1973/74 academic year!

That decade would go on to see the start of women’s varsity teams for gymnastics, golf, softball, track, and cross country. More teams were added as the years went by, including sports such as soccer, rowing, water polo, and lacrosse.

You can learn more about how women’s sports at U-M have changed over time with the article “Equal Footing” by Katie Vloet on the Bentley’s website. This article features our amazing volunteer Alyce Sigler, who was a top U-M athlete when she was a student, and who now researches Title IX in the archives!

Are there any women’s sports at U-M whose history you’d like to know more about? Let us know!

#TitleIX #OTD #1970s #WomensAthletics

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