Just after the 1909 football season, ‘The New York Times’ broke news of a scandal in Ann Arbor: Wolverine James Joy Miller, Fielding Yost’s star halfback and captain-elect, had neglected to enroll at Michigan. ‘The whole university is sick about the business,’ the paper reported.

Future literary icon Arthur Miller outperformed him in class. Playwright/author Sinclair Lewis trashed his Hopwood entry. But when an observant professor championed Edmund Love’s tenacity and native talent, the 1936 graduate wrote his way to a thriving career.

In 1964, U-M students invited George Lincoln Rockwell, self-declared ‘commander’ of the American Nazi Party, to speak at Hill Auditorium, setting off a heated campus contest over the limits of free speech.

Roger Wilkins, BA ’53/JD ’56/HLHD ’93, was a civil rights activist, professor, journalist, and member of the LBJ administration. But as a U-M student, this future leader’s grades were unimpressive, so he asked why he’d been admitted to the Law School. The answer surprised him.

U-M’s Clements Library holds some 60,000 picture postcards dating to the late-19th/early-20th centuries. Vintage photos and scrawled notes open a fascinating window into Michigan’s past. Help make this historic trove digitally searchable.

Shirley Wheeler Smith was Michigan’s classic behind-the-scenes man in 1949 — chief financial officer, liaison to the Regents, and all-around troubleshooter — until he wrote an ‘America’s-Pastime’ story that took him to Hollywood.

A new database lists the names and years of attendance of every African American student who enrolled at the University between 1853-1956. It features anecdotes, autobiographies, and biographies — and reveals some significant family legacies.

The Michigan Union button, a tiny symbol of loyalty pinned to the lapel, once held tremendous power for alumni. One 1904 graduate traveled around the world to replace the button he lost in World War II.

In 1965, U-M professors took the lead in stirring national opposition to the war in Vietnam. Their example inspired a new form of campus protest nationwide.