Within the walls of the Bentley Historical Library are collections that tell the stories of the University of Michigan. These stories document the growth of the University from a small school in the Northwest Territory into a major research university with an international reputation.
The path to becoming a world-renowned institution of higher education was not always smooth. Through the years, leaders, faculty, students, and alumni demonstrated resilience and employed creative problem-solving in the face of unexpected challenges and uncertainty. This issue of Collections magazine tells two such stories from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
James Burrill Angell, U-M’s third and longest- serving president, faced a crisis after the state legislature appointed two professors of homeopathic medicine to the faculty in 1873. Homeopathy was a medical practice founded on the idea that “like cures like.” Homeopaths prescribed highly diluted substances that produced symptoms similar to the diseases they were meant to treat with the idea that they would stimulate the body’s self-healing ability.
However, homeopathy was not based on the scientific method, and, as a result, nearly all of the department’s faculty threatened to resign. Faced with a potential disaster, Angell found a way forward that saved the university and its potential as an emerging research powerhouse. (You can read the full story on p. 16.)
Another inspiring figure is Gertrude Buck, the first person to earn a Ph.D. in rhetoric at U-M. Buck reimagined the field of rhetoric by creating a democratic and student-centered pedagogy. Until Buck, rhetoric was focused on argument and competition. Buck saw things differently, arguing that language was fundamentally a social action and community experience. Her imaginative approach, which she applied in support of women’s rights in the early 20th century, set the stage for the development of the field of feminist rhetoric in the late 20th century. (Read more about Buck’s pioneering work on p. 4.)
The Bentley is not simply a repository of facts or dusty old documents. It’s a dynamic resource that shows how individuals and groups at U-M—and beyond—have risen to challenges and devised innovative solutions to difficult problems.
While Bentley collections help us understand the choices of the past, they also inspire current and future generations to meet today’s difficulties with flexibility and resolve. We remain committed to telling the story of the many ways in which members of our community respond—creatively, passionately, and, often, transformationally—to the challenges of their time.
