Symposia & Lectures | History of the University of Michigan

Four Years of 'Making Michigan' and Four Decades at Michigan: Some Reflections

December 7, 2023

What are some key moments in U-M history over the past four decades? How did they come about and what might they mean in a larger context? Gary Krenz has hosted Making Michigan the last four years. In this talk, he will reflect on themes that emerge from Making Michigan and from his career at U-M. He will also share anecdotes about some of the activities he has been involved with and some of the people he has known.

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A Stunning Achievement: The Improbable Collaboration of the Bentley Library and the Vatican Archives

November 9, 2023

In this installment of the Making Michigan lecture series, Dr. Francis Blouin joined us to discuss about the nature and content of the Vatican Archives, the history of this unusual collaboration, the intrigue attached to it, and some surprising recent developments.

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A City’s Conscience: The Life and Career of Josephine Gomon

September 14, 2023

Teacher, columnist, social justice activist, politician, advisor, and more: the history of Josephine Gomon

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Wolverine Writers II: Stories of Fire, Ice and Rebirth

June 8, 2023

In this second annual episode of Wolverine Writers, Kim Clarke, director of the Michigan Heritage Project, Deborah Holdship, editor of Michigan Today, and Lara Zielin, editor of the Bentley’s own Collections magazine, explore stories and articles from the past year.

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Poets at Michigan: Then and Now

May 25, 2023

When you think of the University of Michigan, do you think of poetry? You should, because U-M has been home to some of the great poets of the 20th century -- and now the 21st as well. This next installment of the Making Michigan lecture series covers both past and present Michigan poets and their impacts.

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A Library for All: U-M, Google, and the Importance of a Copy

March 9, 2023

Can a universal library be achieved? It is an age-old dream. Google Books and HathiTrust have endeavored to fulfill it in the modern age. They are now well-established digital archives, used by citizens, scholars, and students from around the world. The path to their creation was filled with aspirations and visions, obstacles and hurdles, negotiations and compromises. And the University of Michigan was at the center of these and other efforts in library digitization.

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“Keeping resistance alive”: Chandler Davis and Academic Freedom at Michigan

February 2, 2023

This Making Michigan episode focuses on the activism and life of H. Chandler Davis, champion of academic freedom at U-M and beyond.

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Making Michigan: Native American Students and Activists at U-M, with Bethany Hughes

January 19, 2023

The University of Michigan has a complicated history with Native American communities, which were vital to its very existence. Join us for a discussion with Bethany Hughes, assistant professor of American Culture, on the historic and ongoing activism of Native American students.

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A Difficult Archive: Reckoning with the University of Michigan’s Complicity in the US Colonization of the Philippines

October 13, 2022

In this installment of the Making Michigan lecture series, join us for discussion with Professor de la Cruz about the historical relationship between the University of Michigan and the Philippines in the first decades of the American colonial period, out of which came some of the most extensive collections of Philippine material (historical, cultural, and natural scientific) in North America.

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Discovering a Forgery: Jupiter’s real moons and U-M’s fake Galileo manuscript

October 6, 2022

A discussion with historian Nicholas Wilding and U-M Librarian Pablo Alvarez of the purported significance of the Galileo Manuscript, how its authenticity came to be questioned, and what went into the determination that it was a fake.

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