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In honor of James Earl Jones, here is a look back at his legacy at Michigan:

James Earl Jones won a scholarship to U-M, and actually began his studies as a pre-med student.

(He later ended up switching to focusing on drama, which he truly enjoyed.)

Jones joined the ROTC while on campus, then spent two years in the army before coming back to finish his education, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1955.

As his success as an actor grew, James Earl Jones visited U-M for events like the opening of the Power Center, as seen in this photo.

He told the Michigan Daily that he felt like U-M gave him a sense of “the scope of humanity.”

He also made time to talk with students, sharing happy memories of fall days on the Diag, and living in West Quad.

Students were so fond of him that they even petitioned for him to be the voice of CRISP, U-M’s old Class Registration telephone system, in 1971. (This petition did not succeed, to their dismay.)

James Earl Jones gave back in many ways to the Michigan community, sharing his time, his voice, his talents, and even co-chairing the William and Claribel Halstead scholarship endowment, helping others access education.

You can learn more about James Earl Jones’ remarkable life and legacy through the Michigan Daily Digital Archives, the Michigan Alumnus magazine, the Claribel Halstead papers, the Raymond Mullins papers, and the Eva Jessye papers.

#JamesEarlJones #StudentLife #MichiganIcon #Wolverine #RestInPeace

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Happy Upper Peninsula Day! 🎉

Did you know that the Bentley’s archives include some fascinating history from the U.P.?

Here are four collections featuring Upper Peninsula history, that everyone is welcome to explore:

🌉 The Prentiss Brown papers: Prentiss Brown was a senator from St. Ignace, and the iconic Mackinac Bridge wouldn’t exist without his work!

His papers include speeches, scrapbooks, letters, and more.

📖 The Miners’ Bulletin: These papers mark a crucial point in Michigan's past, describing the astonishing history of the copper strikes of 1913.

🚢 The Lizzie Puro papers: You can explore some early U.P. history with these writings from Lizzie Puro, a Finnish immigrant who arrived in Ironwood over 100 years ago!

🌲 The ⁨⁨Jean Worth papers: Get the details on the history of forestry and farming in the U.P. with these papers and photos, from a newspaperman in Escanaba, spanning the 1860s-1980s.

There’s even more to explore in the archives!

Everyone is welcome at the Bentley, so if you’d like to see these collections, and others like them, you can drop into our Reading Room during our open hours!

Click through to take a brief tour of U.P. history, with pictures from the archives.

We’re curious: what’s your favorite place in the U.P.?

Sources: R. McClelland Brown papers, the historic Postcard Collection, Prentiss Brown papers, Expedition to Lake Superior photograph collection, and the Marquette photograph vertical file

#UpperPeninsula #MichiganHistory #NorthernMichigan #Michigander #UpperPeninsulaDay #906Day #UpperPeninsulaHistory

$Welcome to the Archives Olympics! ⭐ We’ve got some serious contenders in the sports of Speed Reshelving, and Synchronized Page Turning! 😂 “Sports” like these are just some of the ways we keep the archives running, by: 〽️ Helping people research Michigan-related history topics! 📦 Bringing out carts of books, boxes, and more, for researchers to use! 📚 Reshelving materials that our visitors have used in the Reading Room! 📸 Making sure that photos are handled with gloves (and that non-photo papers are safely handled with clean, bare hands!) Wheeling a cart of heavy boxes across the library definitely counts as a feat of athletics, too! Trust us on that one. 😉 This is just a fraction of the work behind the scenes in the archives. Archivists also work to bring in new collections, write guides called “Finding Aids” to help you research, and more! 📖💙 Questions about how the archives work? Let us know in the comments below! #Archives #AboutTheArchives #ReadingRoom #BentleyHistoricalLibrary #BehindTheScenes #ArchivesOlympics$

#historyofum

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