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Spring 2024

Lawyer-activist Belford Lawson’s work helped reshape the national fight for civil rights. Beginning in the late 1880s, U‑M women campaigned for athletic facilities of their own. And one researcher’s quest to revive a nearly extinct rye takes him from seed banks to national parks and beyond.

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Selected Stories

A selection of stories of this issue. Please download PDF to read all content.

A Sporting Chance

Women at U-M fought to have athletic facilities where they could...

The Business of the Hour

Belford Lawson’s work as a lawyer and activist changed the course of...

Fields of Gold

One researcher’s quest to resurrect a nearly extinct strain of rye seed started...

A Riot, a Murder, and a Psychic

After a U-M student was killed in 1890, a psychic visited town claiming to be able to name the murderer.

Teaching Black History in the Early 20th Century

An adult-education class brought Black history to life in a Depression-era Ann Arbor classroom.

Language Lessons

What do you do when the descriptions of archival collections are outdated, even racist? A new initiative at the Bentley is tackling a strategic, long-term fix.

Seeing Stars Through the Clouds

For both astronomers and the public, predicting the weather was long an impossible dream. That is, until U-M’s Detroit Observatory trained a man who created the weather forecast.

The Business of the Hour

Belford Lawson’s work as a lawyer and activist changed the course of civil rights in the United States. His incredible story is told, in part, through archived materials at the Bentley.

A Sporting Chance

Women at U-M fought to have athletic facilities where they could exercise and play sports, same as the men. The battle highlights the ways in which women had to carve out spaces for themselves on campus time and again.

Fields of Gold

One researcher’s quest to resurrect a nearly extinct strain of rye seed started in the archives but quickly expanded to seed banks, national parks, a whiskey distillery, and beyond.