The "American Intervention in Northern Russia, 1918-1919," nicknamed the "Polar Bear Expedition," was a U.S. military intervention in northern Russia at the end of World War I. Since many of these soldiers originated from Michigan, the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, an archive documenting Michigan history, has collected materials related to this event since the 1960s. The Bentley has amassed one of the largest groups of materials on this topic, consisting of over sixty individual collections of primary source material as well as numerous published materials.
In 2004, the Bentley proposed a project to digitize all of the Polar Bear materials in order to increase access as well as protect and secure the fragile originals. In 2005, faculty and students from the University of Michigan School of Information began a research project investigating next generation finding aids. The Polar Bear Expedition Digital Collections are the first example of rethinking traditional archival finding aids to provide better access to primary sources on the web. We are experimenting with different ideas for displaying archival content as well as implementing added functions so that researchers can interact with online collections using collaborative tools. (read more…)
What's new?
* Search by item.
* Audio from Salchow Interview available.
* You can now bookmark individual items
and collections (logged in users only)
There are several ways to begin your own expedition into the Polar Bear Collections:
