Blogs

With the school year now upon us, the Reuther Library presents a look back at summers past as recorded in the Merrill-Palmer collections. As Edna Noble White, first director of the Merrill-Palmer Institute, once said, "The children of a nation are its greatest potential asset." This belief was reflected in the Institute's main role, which was the understanding and interpretation of the individual from birth to adulthood.  read more »

Bernard “Bernie” J. Firestone was one of Detroit’s foremost social activists, a nationally recognized labor leader, and a champion of causes great and small. Influenced by everyday struggles, he was an advocate for anyone who faced oppression or injustice.  read more »

There is a select group of people who place the needs of others above their own, do so against formidable forces and at great risk to their own welfare and well-being. They take these risks never knowing exactly how they will fare, but recognizing that their convictions demand that they cannot do otherwise. General Gordon Baker, Jr., a Detroit revolutionary, was among this select group of people. On May 24, 2014, a packed audience at Dearborn, Michigan’s UAW Local 600 memorialized his life that ended six days before. It was there that attendees gave tribute to a man whose impact did not pass with his death.  read more »

Devin Erlandson was the fourth recipient of the Ronald Raven Annual Award, a scholarship providing a tuition stipend and a semester-long internship in the Wayne State University Archives. At the end of her internship, Devin wrote this summary of her experience.

I first learned about the Ronald Raven Annual Award from Dr. Louis Jones in his archival administration class.  read more »