The University of Michigan made plans in 1940 to obtain microfilms of all 18th century American magazines that were previously absent from the university libraries. Microfilms are photographic reproductions of printed material stored in small rolls of film for use in a projector. The objective was to develop a complete record of all magazine literature printed in the United States before 1801 and for it to be stored at the Clements.
The second ever Microfilm camera was developed in Ann Arbor by Eugene Power, founder of University Microfilms, Inc. in 1938. He later brought the camera to the British Museum in London, where it was commissioned to to microfilm manuscripts in British libraries that were considered vulnerable to German bombings in World War II. Power spent ample time at the Clements as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, and was first introduced to Early Americana as a student by Randolph Adams.