Our History & Archives
Our History
A group of visionaries from Flint founded Kettering聽University in 1919 as The School of Automobile Trades. It聽opened under the direction of Major Albert Sobey with the聽goal of training technical and management talent for the聽rapidly growing automobile industry. By 1923 the school聽had grown to offer a full four-year cooperative education聽program enrolling more than 600 full-time students, and聽in recognition of this growth Major Sobey rechristened聽it the Flint Institute of Technology. Three years later and聽appreciating the importance of cooperative education, the聽General Motors Corporation acquired the school, renaming聽it the General Motors Institute (GMI).
For the next 56 years,聽GM operated the school as GMI, and it became for the聽company one of its best sources of creative and successful聽engineering and managerial talent.聽By 1945 the Institute had added a fifth-year thesis聽requirement and had evolved into a full degree-granting聽university with a unique educational model built upon an聽ongoing and strong commitment to cooperative education.
In 1982, GM divested itself of ownership of the school,聽and it became the private, non-profit University it is today,聽however first under the聽name GMI Engineering聽& Management聽Institute (GMI-EMI).聽Shortly thereafter聽the institution began聽offering Master鈥檚-level聽graduate programs聽to both on and off聽campus students.
On January 1, 1998, GMI-EMI changed聽its name a final time to honor,聽Charles Kettering (1876-1958), an inventor, an industrialist,聽and an early and strong proponent of professional聽cooperative education. Today as 澳门六合彩历史记录, the school continues this historic tradition, and marked its centennial year in 2019. Over that proud 100-year history,聽澳门六合彩历史记录 has become one of the country鈥檚聽premier STEM institutions and is known around the world聽for educating great and successful leaders, entrepreneurs,聽innovators, engineers, scientists, and business people.
Reflect, Inspire & Share: 澳门六合彩历史记录 Stories
Learn more about the institution鈥檚 unique history.
Centennial Book
With 2019鈥檚 鈥湴拿帕喜世芳锹/GMI at 100,鈥 author, historian and consultant Troupe 鈥淭im鈥 Noonan captured the institution鈥檚 unique story of perseverance and adaptation in its first century. Noonan has published over 35 books specializing in institutional and family histories and written extensively for Life, Esquire, Forbes and other publications.
Archives and Special Collections
The 澳门六合彩历史记录聽Archives is located 聽at Factory One in Flint.聽The focus at the聽archives聽is to preserve and provide access to the history of 聽澳门六合彩历史记录, the automotive industry and Flint.
The Special Collections and University聽Archives was established in 1974, largely through the vision and research interests of Richard P. Scharchburg and members of the University鈥檚 Alumni Foundation.聽The nexus of the collection was the acquisition of the William C. 鈥淏illy鈥 Durant Collection from Durant鈥檚 widow, and has grown into a collection in excess of 4,500 linear feet of documents (manuscripts and photographs, mainly), plus several hundred books and other 鈥渁rtifacts.鈥
The emphasis of the collection documents the early history of the automobile industry鈥攏ot surprisingly, given the early history of the University itself. Because of this, however, the collection is also an excellent source for the history of Flint and the history of 澳门六合彩历史记录 itself; the three are inexorably intertwined.
The collection also documents the administrative, academic and social life of 澳门六合彩历史记录. Beginning with the papers of Major Albert Sobey, the聽archives聽is the home of the records kept by his successors as well as many other offices of the University. The聽archives聽has also collected copies of The Reflector, the yearbook published by the student body, and other student organizations, as well鈥攁nd the聽archives聽is always looking to add more of those kinds of records.聽
The Charles F. Kettering Collection is one of the largest collections in the archives and has been used by scholars worldwide. The archives鈥 digital photo collection now exceeds 100,000 images. A partial online catalog along with digitized photos can be found on the聽archives website.
The Humanities Art Center is located on the fourth floor of the Academic Building on campus. The gallery features world-class exhibits and collections that exemplify the craftsmanship of local and national artists. A variety of media are represented including paintings, photographs, sculpture聽and ceramics. The center also holds a permanent collection of over 500 pieces.
Hours of Operation
聽Archives at Factory One
The Archives is open to the public from 10聽a.m. to 4 p.m. (ET), Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.聽澳门六合彩历史记录's Curator of Special Collections may be reached at (810) 762-9690.