Heritage/Tradition

  1. Three in one: How U-M created the academic medical center

    In the mid-1800s, U-M became the first institution to combine patient care with medical education and research.

  2. Do you believe in miracles? Valentine Davies did.

    ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ is a classic 1947 film about a man who believes he’s Santa Claus. The story came from Valentine Davies, BA ’27, who believed he could spread goodwill.

  3. Poetic plans for Frost House

    Visitors to the Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village can tour the home that poet Robert Frost occupied during his stint in Ann Arbor. The house may soon serve as a center of American literary creativity.

  4. The prisoner’s dilemma

    In 1978, U-M political scientist Robert Axelrod recruited contestants for a baffling test of brains that would resonate across fields from international relations to evolutionary biology.

  5. Who loves America?

    Conservatives often suspect U-M of harboring card-carrying communists, but in the late 1930s it was true. In his book, ‘A Good American Family,’ journalist David Maraniss explores the early life of his father, an editor at ‘The Michigan Daily.’

  6. Semper Fi

    Medals never meant much to U.S. Marine Anthony Procassini, ’47, who was wounded at the Battle of Okinawa while serving in World War II. The proud veteran finally received a Purple Heart in July 2019.

  7. Student-athlete: Oxymoron?

    It depends on where you look, writes sportswriter John U. Bacon, ’86/’94, in this excerpt from his new book, ‘Overtime.’ The author examines Jim Harbaugh’s impact on Michigan football as an athlete and a coach.

  8. Step right up!

    Before and after the turn of the 20th century, spring in Ann Arbor brought parades, circuses, and attendant student mischief – including an elephant stampede set off by hooligans tossing firecrackers.

  9. Negotiating Angell

    Though lauded as one of the most influential presidents ever to helm U-M, James B. Angell was not keen on Michigan at first. It took two years, three offers, and a barrage of letters, telegrams, queries, and concessions to lure the beloved ‘Prexy’ to Ann Arbor.