U.S. Sen. Carl Levin’s digital files and more can now be found in the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library.
By Mike Smith
Featured photo Courtesy of Liz Gadelha
Former Michigan U.S. Sen. Carl Levin has left a rather large paper trail — 1,122 boxes of documents and more than one terabyte of digital files. Levin donated his archive to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. After six years, the work of 16 archivists and several students — who organized the records and prepared a 1,600-page detailed inventory of the collection — the Carl M. Levin Papers are now open for research at the Bentley Library.
Carl Levin was the first Jewish U.S. senator from Michigan, serving for 36 years from 1979-2015. He is the younger brother of recently retired Congressman Sander Levin, who also served for 36 years in Congress, and who is the father of Andy Levin, current U.S. congressman from Michigan’s 9th District (In 2018, Sander Levin also donated his papers to the Bentley Library).
The Bentley Library is open to the public and holds the largest collection of historical records about Michigan. It welcomes all researchers from students and professors to journalists, local historians and community members. In short, anyone interested in the history of Michigan and its people.
Now, researchers can explore the history of one of Michigan’s great senators and Jewish community leaders: Carl M. Levin.
To see the finding aid to the Levin Collection, which lists the various subjects within the Levin Collection, go to: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-2014150.