All money raised through book sales, merchandise sales, and such things as local grocery donation programs and individual charitable donations are used to fund various needs of the library.
Library Equipment
In the past, funds have been distributed to purchase such things as an overhead book scanner, large-format printers, and water bottle filter systems. If you have a suggestion for equipment for the library, email us at fmtl@mtu.edu.
University Archives Travel Grant Program
Each year the FMTL sets aside up to $2,500 to fund travel grants for non-local researchers and scholars who wish to conduct research in the University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections. The grants, typically used for travel, food, and lodging and sometimes reproductions, are for up to $750 and are awarded each Spring for travel in that calendar year.
Grants were suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions, but are back for 2022. For more information, see the update post here.
Recent recipients have included:
- Wesley Thompson, Banking on Copper: An Analysis of National Bank Financial Health and Copper Production within Michigan’s Native Copper Mining District.
- Matthew Liesch, Circling Lake Superior: Rephotography to Document Changing Landscapes of the Lake Superior Circle Tour.
- Gabe Logan, Red Sports on Lake Superior: The Labor Sport Union in the Upper Peninsula, Northern Wisconsin, and Minnesota, 1928-1935.
- Gordon Andrews, The Strength of Steel: Life, Labor, and Politics at the Rouge, 1941-1991.
- Dr. For further information, previous recipients, and application instructions, see Travel Grants on the Library’s website.
University Archives summer intern
Since 2015, FMTL has set aside a stipendiary amount to support a graduate student intern in the University Archives each summer. The applicants are typically completing graduate coursework in a Library and Information Science program at other universities and use this 3-moth placement to give them real-world archival experience. Often they are given a new collection to fully catalog and/or preserve, depending on their skills and the needs of the Archives in any given year.
See the article by Lindsay Hiltunen, University Archivist, in the FTML Views newsletter for fall 2017.
Art in the Library
Over the course of nearly a decade, FMTL dedicated a portion of its annual proceeds to purchase art for the library, usually from local and regional artists. We are currently working on a comprehensive catalog of the art in the library.