Alexander G. Ruthven Building

Museum into Administrative Hub

Exterior photograph of Ruthven Hall (April 7, 2023) by Colin Brown.

by Colin Brown

The University of Michigan is known around the country for its successful football program, so it may be surprising to find that the University of Michigan President, who once said football should be abolished, now has an important campus building named after him. Today the Alexander G. Ruthven Building serves as a major administrative hub for the university.

Built in 1928 by architect Albert Kahn, the Ruthven Building just finished a three-year, $150-million renovation. According to an article from MLive, the Ruthven Building was originally the Ruthven Museums Building, as it hosted the university’s natural history museum (Dodge). The grand halls that were once filled with large fossil skeletons and other feats of science now hold lots of office space. You can still see an engraving that speaks to the building's original purpose on the outside of the building. The current natural history museum is housed in the Biological Sciences Building right next to the Ruthven Building, now home to the offices moved from the Fleming Administration Building, which has been torn down. Many important decisions are now made inside the Ruthven Building, as the building houses the Board of Regents meeting room and President Santa Ono’s office.

Ruthven's accomplishments and contributions to the University of Michigan make him worthy of having a building named after him. According to an obituary from the New York Times, Ruthven specialized in ichthyology and herpetology, specifically in the study of snakes. Ruthven received his Ph.D. in zoology from Michigan. After he received his doctorate he stayed at Michigan as a zoology instructor and curator of the University Museum of Zoology. He later became the director of all the University’s museums. He then went on to serve as University president from 1929 to 1951.

While he was president he did many things that may be considered unpopular. He was an avid prohibitionist, cooperating "with authorities in their efforts to dry up the Michigan campus by raiding fraternity houses” (“Dr. Alexander G. Ruthven Dies”). Furthermore, the obituary quotes Ruthven as saying, “football should be abolished unless it was given back to the students. The game, he said, had ‘degenerated into an extravagant spectacle [for] professional competition.’” Despite his unpopular stances, “he managed to remain popular with most of the students” (“Dr. Alexander G. Ruthven Dies”).

Alexander Ruthven. Photo courtesy Alexander Ruthven Object Gallery.

According to SurnameDB, a historical name database, the Ruthven surname comes from a famous Scottish clan. The original families in the Ruthven clan had “personal names such as Thor and Swein [which] are Scandinavian, showing the influence of Danish-Viking settlers in the region" (“Last Name: Ruthven").

The Ruthven Building may be appropriately named after someone who had a profound impact on the University of Michigan, but there are still many buildings that are named after people who have questionable histories. Students and community members must learn about the names of campus buildings to make sure they are appropriately named and accurately represent the communities that have impacted the university.

Works Cited

Brown, Colin. Exterior photograph of Ruthven Hall. 7 Apr. 2023. Author's personal collection.

Dodge, Samuel. “Merging Classic with Modern: Renovated Ruthven Building Is University of Michigan Headquarters.” Mlive, 12 Nov. 2022, https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2022/11/merging-classic-with-modern-renovated-ruthven-building-is-university-of-michigan-headquarters.html.

“Dr. Alexander G. Ruthven Dies; U. of Michigan Ex.president.” The New York Times, The New York Times, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/01/20/83200308.html?pageNumber=38.

“Last Name: Ruthven.” The Internet Surname Database, https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Ruthven.

Photo of Alexander Ruthven. Alexander Ruthven Object Gallery https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/objectlessons/alexander-ruthven-object-gallery/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.

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