20 March 14 • 2019
jn

Carl Levin Papers 
Now Searchable

U-M’
s Bentley Library holds a treasure trove 
of Michigan documents.

T

alk about leaving a paper trail! 
To say the least, Carl Levin 
has left a rather large one. His 
personal archive that he donated to 
the Bentley Historical Library at the 
University of Michigan consists of 
1,122 boxes of documents and more 
than one terabyte of digital files. 
That is a huge legacy of import-
ant historical documents, literally, 
hundreds of thousands of individual 
records. And, 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).
Terry McDonald, director of the 
Bentley, and Arthur F. Thurnau, 
professor of history, summarized the 
Levin’
s historical legacy: “The arc 
of Sen. Levin’
s political career and 
the political levels at which he has 
served literally form a kind of map 
of Michigan history in the late-20th 
century. 
“His first elective office was as a 
member of the Detroit City Council, 
where he served from his election 
in 1968 until 1977 and from which 
he was elected to the U.S. Senate 
in 1978. That he has been the lon-
gest-serving U.S. senator in Michigan 
history is the least of it. His career 
has touched every major event in 
a crucially important period of 
American history and, therefore, his 

papers will be consulted for decades 
to come.” 
Processing the Levin Collection, 
that is, organizing the records and 
preparing a 1,600-page finding aid 
or detailed inventory to the collec-
tion, was a massive undertaking for 
Bentley Library archivists. 
According to Olga Virakhovskaya, 
the supervising archivist for the proj-
ect, “The Levin collection is perhaps 
the largest archive of personal papers 
the Bentley Library has ever pro-
cessed. A total of 16 archivists and 
students had a role in organizing and 
describing these records over a peri-
od of six years to prepare them for 
researchers. I am greatly honored to 
have worked on this collection.” 
And, the library is still working 
on some of the digital files. In this 
respect, preparing the Levin archive 
was not only a challenge because of 
the vast size of the collection, but 
it also required new methods for 
making digital records accessible to 
researchers. 
The Bentley Library is open to 
the public and holds the largest col-
lection of historical records about 
Michigan. It welcomes all research-
ers, from students and professors to 
journalists, local historians and com-
munity members. In short, anyone 
interested in the history of Michigan 
and its people.
And, now, researchers can explore 
the history of one of Michigan’
s great 
senators and Jewish community lead-
ers: Carl M. Levin. ■

To see the finding aid to the Levin Collection, 
which lists the various subjects within the 

Levin Collection, go to bit.ly/2UyVr0I.

jews d
in 
the

MIKE SMITH DJN FOUNDATION ARCHIVIST

The Carl Levin collection at the Bentley Library

PHOTO BY LIZ GADELHA 

A two-day summit of workshops and networking 
with innovative thinkers and leaders.

MAY 20-21, 2019 

HILTON 
WOODCLIFF LAKE 
Northern New Jersey 

Join a nation-wide community of engaged and inspired 
female lay-leaders who are impacting synagogues, schools 
and other community organizations. 
 
Designed for a woman who is:




 

SPACE IS LIMITED | SIGN-UP DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2019 

APPLY TODAY AT OU.ORG/SUMMIT

Connect. Develop. Impact. Grow.

ERICA BROWN 
Associate Professor, 
George Washington 
University. Director, 
Mayberg Center for 
Jewish Education and 
Leadership. Author.

AVITAL 
CHIZHIK- 
GOLDSCHMIDT 
Journalist, Life editor 
at The Forward.

ALLISON 
JOSEPHS 
Founder and 
Director of Jew 
in The City, 
Project Makom.

CHANI 
NEUBERGER 
Senior Advisor to the 
Director of the National 
Security Agency. Founder 
of Sister to Sister resource 
and support network for 
Jewish divorced women.

P R E S E N T E R S I N C L U D E :