On Friday, Oct. 26, the Mitchell Research Center opened up a new collection of books donated by Hillsdale College graduate John Pulver ’72. The collection of more than 5,000 books focuses on Michigan history and culture and includes books from 1812 to the present day.
Pulver, a Hillsdale native, currently works as a purchasing agent in Grand Rapids, Mich. He donated the collection to the library so he could give back to the community he grew up in.
“When someone says ‘library,’ I picture this building. My mother would bring me here when I was a kid. I wanted to give back to my library,” he said.
Pulver was also able to work with Hillsdale city officials to secure a grant for the installation of a heating and cooling system for the Mitchell building. In addition to the Michigan history section, Pulver donated 2,500 additional books for the creation of a fiction section on the second floor of the research center.
“I’ve just been collecting them one at a time for over 50 years. At some point, it was like, ‘What am I going to do with all these books?’ It’s a great honor to be able to have them here,” Pulver said.
The nonfiction Pulver collection houses books that detail many aspects of Michigan. The books range in topics from the history of Michigan industry and government, to works by Michigan authors, to Jimmy Hoffa.
“The benefit is that we have them here to use. There are things in this collection that you’d otherwise never have,” said Linda Brown, city manager.
Pulver echoed these sentiments about the books.
“The collection gives the Hillsdale community access to more Michigan history books than anywhere else,” he said. “There are books here from the last 200 years. You’d be hard-pressed to find anything else like this outside of the state library.”
Economic Development Coordinator and City Councilwoman Mary Wolfram hopes that the collection will draw people from the community to the research center.
“We’d like to bring more students through this building. Once kids know their history, they begin to take pride in where they’re from. Maybe it’ll keep them from engaging in vandalism. Maybe it’ll encourage students to stay here and start businesses. We want to use the building and the collection to spur historical tourism,” Wolfram said.
The Mitchell building, located next to the Hillsdale Community Library, is staffed by volunteers and is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ebrune@hillsdale.edu