A History of the Eisenberg Institute

Thanks to a generous 2006 gift of $5 million from benefactors Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg, the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies gained its current name and standing. As Terrence McDonald noted, “the Eisenberg gift accelerated and concretized conversations already underway in the department.” The Eisenbergs both received their bachelor’s degrees from Michigan in 1964, he in history and she in education. In the Eisenberg Gift Announcement, Kenneth Eisenberg noted that “Frances and I have always been committed to a liberal arts education, especially history…we could think of no better way to demonstrate our commitment than to provide financial support for the Institute for Historical Studies.” Their gift remains the largest single donation the Department of History has ever received.

The Eisenbergs’ extraordinary contribution ensured that the Institute would fulfill the goals of its founders. It elevated the Institute to national prominence by providing resources to attract renowned historians and scholars to the University, create unparalleled educational opportunities, foster vigorous intellectual exchange, and conduct groundbreaking historical research. 

The construction of the current Eisenberg Institute suite began shortly after this development, with Haven Hall, Tisch Hall, and the Clements Library all contenders for the space. During renovations in the early 2000s, a ballroom was built on the second floor of Haven Hall for student dancers, but it went largely unused. Departmental leadership saw this space as the ideal location for the Institute. In this way, the Eisenberg Institute gained its home overlooking the bustling Michigan Diag. Decorated with donated artwork from the Eisenbergs’ personal collections, it is now a lively gathering place for faculty, students, and guests. From receptions following the Thursday Eisenberg Institute lectures to visitors stopping in to grab a cup of coffee from the espresso machine, the Institute is now an intellectual home for the Department of History’s members and visitors. In addition to the new space, the growing popularity of Eisenberg Institute lectures rendered existing lecture facilities in Tisch inadequate. In the second phase of construction, a wall was removed between 1014 and 1024 Tisch to create the large lecture space at 1014 Tisch, which is still used for major Institute events today.
 

One of the central aspects of the Eisenberg Institute over the past twenty years has been the invaluable influence and contributions of graduate, postdoctoral, and faculty fellowships, as well as residency researchers. Initially funded by Janey Lack, graduate fellows not only receive funding to conduct their own research but also serve as crucial leaders in the Eisenberg programming, leading Friday workshops for graduate students to present on topics related to the Thursday lecture’s theme and their own research. These talks are led by a moderator and followed by a roundtable discussion with the Thursday lecturer. In addition to graduate fellows, the graduate liaison position was established in the early 2010s to coordinate Friday workshops and assist with event advancement. Originally, a graduate fellow handled the graduate liaison's work, but this evolved into a fellowship in its own right to provide a graduate student with experience in program coordination. Graduate and postdoctoral fellows’ projects and specialties span a diverse range of issues and fields. After their time at the Eisenberg Institute, many have become professors, journalists, Fulbright scholars, teachers, archivists, and researchers, among others.

The diversity of the Eisenberg Institute’s members is matched by the wide-ranging nature of its intellectual inquiries. The first guiding theme that Eisenberg embraced was “History and the Visual.” Subsequent ones have included “Topographies of Violence,” “Materials of History,” and “Chaos and Clamor,” among others. Over the years, themes have ranged from historical methodologies to engaged historiographical work, covering one semester to two full academic years. In some years, Eisenberg Institute directors have also selected not to have a theme, allowing different forms of exploratory programming.    

For a brief period, the Eisenberg Institute hosted semester-long graduate and undergraduate courses. Beginning in the Fall of 2011, Jesse Hofnung-Garskof developed an undergraduate history colloquium entitled “What Do Historians Do? A Collaboration with the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies” to give undergraduate history students a “behind-the-curtains view” of the intellectual work historians engage in when not teaching courses. Working closely with the Institute comunity, students attended the Thursday speaker series and read the lecturers’ work beforehand. This course was extremely successful, running for three semesters every Fall until 2013, and faculty noted their admiration for undergraduate students’ contributions during the Thursday lecture series. 

An evolving tenet of the Eisenberg’s mission was to share historical knowledge with the broader Ann Arbor community. In the late 2000s, in partnership with the Ann Arbor Public Library, the Eisenberg Institute invited speakers to present their research to the Ann Arbor community. This ensured that historical advancements and achievements do not remain confined to the walls of Haven Hall. For example, in 2009, Timothy Tyson, a Southern historian at Duke University, presented a lecture ahead of the forthcoming film adaptation of his historical memoir, Blood Done Sign My Name. This initiative was reignited under the directorship of John Carson in 2023, who established an annual public history lecture at the end of the winter semester, an event that continues today.

In 2017, the College of Literature, Science, and Arts (LSA) launched its first Theme Semester, “Making Michigan.” This theme was in honor of the bicentennial of the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. The Department of History and the Eisenberg Institute played central roles not only in the creation of this theme but also in curating historically-centered public events for the bicentennial. These focused on the histories of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University, including times when the institution and the surrounding region did not live up to these values. The focus resulted after national conversations emerged in 2015 surrounding the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement, coupled with the rise in anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim rhetoric, as well as reactions to the student-led social media campaign #BBUM (Being Black at U-M). 

During the University’s 2017 bicentennial, the Eisenberg Institute led the creation of the LSA Themed semesters, after its success in crafting its own themes for year-long lecture programming, to provide students and the Ann Arbor public with the opportunity for “intellectual and cultural immersion in a particular topic” across U-M venues. Students combined coursework with lectures, museum exhibits, music or theater performances, and a film series, taking advantage of the University’s plentiful resources. In the same year, under director Howard Brick, the Institute led efforts to commemorate the centennial of the Russian Revolution, hosting a conference to gather key scholars in the field.
 
COVID-19 and the pandemic’s deep challenges touched the lives of everyone at the University, and the programming at Eisenberg Institute was no exception. For the first time, programming moved to a completely remote format. The adaptation to remote programming enabled community building during a time when in-person lectures and events – hallmarks of Eisenberg Institute programming – were not feasible. These webinars were very successful, and participants noted feeling a continued sense of community even when physically distanced. Additionally, in the summer of 2020, for the first time in its history, the Eisenberg Institute held summer programming. These webinars took a particular focus on histories of pandemics, policing, and protest, providing immediate historical context for ongoing, world-changing events.   

In response to the burgeoning national movements for racial justice, many of the online webinars in the Fall of 2020 explored themes of decolonization, racial justice, and historical memory. As History chair Jay Cook wrote in 2020, “as a nation, we have shown a reluctance to not only learn the basic tenets of our own history, but also to learn from this history, which helps to explain why we continue to witness– and set aside as exceptional– egregious forms of human rights abuses.” This moment underscored the Eisenberg Institute’s enduring commitment to using history as a field for intellectual reflection and accountability. Even in a time of profound uncertainty, the Eisenberg Institute’s critical scholarly engagements and connections forged ahead.

The Eisenberg Institute continues in its active engagement, outreach, and intellectual community. On six Thursdays each semester, the program hosts lectures that bring together faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Over time, more than 225 talks have featured both Michigan faculty and visiting lecturers presenting cutting-edge historical research and new approaches to doing history. In pursuit of lively historical exchange, many of these lectures are standing-room-only affairs. The Eisenberg Institute’s annual public history lectures and symposia maintain its foundational commitment to ensuring the wider sharing of advancements in historical inquiry in the Ann Arbor area. Its intellectual community has national and international standing, as more than 200 scholars from around the world have been awarded Eisenberg Institute fellowships.

In early 2026, Kenneth Eisenberg generously renewed his trust in the institute with an additional $2 million gift, established as the Frances Aftel Eisenberg Fund. This will be used to support new initiatives, including an annual journalist-in-residence program and a biennial Eisenberg conference.

Over the past twenty years, the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies has solidified its reputation as a world-class intellectual hub for the Department of History, the University of Michigan, and the field of history.

This history was researched and written in 2025–2026 by the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies' first undergraduate research fellow, Grace Freitas (History BA '26), with contributions from John Carson, Dario Gaggio, Joseph W. Ho, Gregory Parker, and Terrance McDonald.