“American institutions are of more consequence than the wealth or power of the country.” At least that’s what the wealthy lawyer William W. Cook believed. And from 1922-1930, Cook acted on that belief by creating a magnificent law school for his alma mater: the University of Michigan. Retired Director of the U-M Law Library Margaret Leary will share the story of Cook’s gift and how it—and the clashes over it—not only created Michigan’s iconic Law Quadrangle, but also helped inspire a wave of donations that reshaped the University.

Margaret Leary is Librarian Emerita of the University of Michigan Law School, having served as Director of the Law Library from 1984 to 2011. For many years she served on American Bar Association teams that visited law schools seeking re-accreditation and worked as a consultant to law libraries around the world giving her wide-ranging exposure to the ways law schools teach and operate. A long-time member of the Ann Arbor District Library Board, she also writes about local issues for the Ann Arbor Observer and is a volunteer researcher on the Bentley Historical Library’s African American Student Project.

In person registration can be found here.