Our Donors Make History
Generous donors like you help preserve and share invaluable records that document the state of Michigan and the University of Michigan.
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Support the Past, Give Today
Your gift will help more people engage with primary source materials to foster a connection to history. This means you’re helping the Bentley do more than collect papers—you’re helping us celebrate and share history! Thank you for supporting our work.
Unbox Your Support
Explore the many ways you can support the Bentley Historical Library!
The Director’s Priorities
You can help preserve Michigan history by giving to this fund, which supports initiatives such as repairing collections for future generations of researchers, and digitizing collections to make them available online.
Michigan Sports History
Help us maintain and enrich U-M’s athletics history. This fund supports the historical archives of all men’s and women’s U-M varsity sports including photo galleries, digital recordings, sports programs, rosters, statistics and more.
Digital Strategic Fund
In a Google world, library users want and need their materials to be accessible online, and the Bentley is working tirelessly toward this end. With your help, we can continue to digitize our collections and make our materials available 24/7.
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Public Outreach
The fund will support the Bentley Historical Library and the Detroit Observatory public outreach programs, including presentations, exhibits, classes, and any activity that is made available to the general public.
Student Engagement
Support both undergraduate and graduate students who are interested the archival field by employing them in meaningful work that furthers their interests and pays a higher wage so they can pursue this line of work with less financial struggle.
Detroit Observatory
Help us preserve and update this campus treasure, which was built in 1854 and launched U-M as a premier research university. Gifts to this fund will increase access to the building and will expand its role as a teaching facility.
Digital Technologies and New Media
Honor the legacy of founding Computing Center Director Dr. Robert Bartels with a gift to this endowment for the study & curation of digital technologies & new media.
Meet the Donors
Read stories about the generous Bentley supporters who have fallen in love with primary sources and fostered a connection to history.
Impact Story | July 2, 2026
A Grand Scan Plan
by Lara Zielin
Generous donors during the most recent Giving Blueday made it possible for the Bentley Library to purchase a new scanner for patrons in the reading room.
Impact Story | July 2, 2026
Equal Footing
by Katie Vloet
Once a top athlete whose options were limited in the time before gender equity in sports, Alyce Sigler now volunteers at the Bentley, where a bit of serendipity has her researching Title IX.
Learn more
Impact Story | June 20, 2026
New Peikert Fellows Announced
by Lara Zielin
Berkley Sorrells and Jaxson Kaplan-Rudolph are the latest cohort of a student fellowship program that helps preserve and share University of Michigan athletics history.
Learn more
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Your Story Can Leave a Legacy
Learn more about the ways you can become part of an active, engaged archive that celebrates and shares its rich collections. Bentley archivists will work closely with you to discuss whether the Library is the right home for your papers.