In the coming months, the University of Michigan will welcome the 17th president in its 209-year history. Here at the Bentley Historical Library, we are honored to preserve the records of how each of these individuals has led the University and the impact they have made on the landscape of American higher education. In our collections you can find everything from correspondence written by President Henry Tappan to the speeches of President Mary Sue Coleman, and a whole lot more in between.
From its earliest days, the University’s leaders have put innovative ideas at the center of their efforts. In the 1850s, Tappan, a former minister and professor of philosophy, sought to create a secular research university. Tappan set U-M on a course to become the internationally recognized research institution it is today. By the 1870s, James Angell pushed the University in other new directions. Perhaps most famously, Angell was known as a vocal supporter of coeducation. While women were first admitted to the University the year before his arrival, Angell’s advocacy for coeducation ensured its survival and success. At the Bentley, you can read Tappan’s correspondence covering his time in Ann Arbor and an address by Angell on coeducation from 1886.
While Tappan and Angell were central to the establishment of the University in the 19th century, several 20th- and 21st-century U-M presidents shepherded the institution through significant social and cultural shifts. President Robben Fleming led the University at a time of national tumult and student unrest. While the Michigan campus was a center of student activism during Fleming’s tenure, his patience, negotiation skills, and genuine empathy for student concerns helped the University thrive during a challenging time. Fleming’s communications about student protests in 1968–69 are part of his archived collection.
By the late 1980s, the University was facing a globalizing world and the economic and cultural shifts that came with it. President James Duderstadt led Michigan through this period, creating the Michigan Mandate to bring more diversity to campus and emphasizing the importance of pluralism. His changes to the academic curriculum ensured students were better prepared for the emerging digital age. Duderstadt’s papers contain some of the first digital content archived at the Bentley, including speeches and strategy documents.
These leadership efforts continued into the 21st century as Mary Sue Coleman championed Michigan’s commitment to diversity as being central to the modern university, including the establishment of international academic partnerships on three continents. She also supported an increase in interdisciplinary teaching and research and successfully led the University through the financial crisis of the late aughts. The collection includes a picture of Coleman, U-M’s first female president, alongside Jennifer Granholm, Michigan’s first female governor, whose papers are also at the Bentley.
As we look to welcome a new president, the Bentley will continue to steward the history of presidential leadership. It is through these records that future generations can learn from past leaders by understanding the ways that presidents have innovated, adapted to a changing world, and successfully steered the University of Michigan through challenging times.
