New at UMMA: LIFE Magazine 1947 Homecoming Photographs

In October 1947, just two years after the end of World War II, the popular weekly news magazine LIFE sent staff photographers Lisa Larsen and Ralph Morse to cover homecoming weekend at the University of Michigan.

The subsequent article, “Michigan Homecoming,” which brought national attention to UM’s athletic program, featured a seven-page spread with photographs of the campus during a much-anticipated football game between the number-one ranked Michigan Wolverines and the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers. This installation provides a unique opportunity to view twenty-one images of that weekend, many of which were not published in the original article, recently donated to UMMA by John and Susan Edwards Harvith. Considered alongside the article, these photographs of fervent fans, strolling couples, alumni making their annual pilgrimage, and the game itself present LIFE magazine’s view of a giddy post-war public enjoying a return to American pastimes.