New Graphics Finding Aids: March – June 2019
The Clements Library is pleased to announce that the following graphics collections are now described online and may be requested for use in the reading room. Andrews' Raid scrapbook and telegraph ledger, 1885-1888 - Processed by Louiegrf Miller The Andrews' Raid scrapbook and telegraph ledger contains newspaper clippings dating from 1887 that recount the story of Andrews' Raid written by William Pittenger. Other clippings, almost all of which focus on the United States Army, are also included...
An Empire of Free Ports
Guest post by Grant Kleiser, Clements Library 2019 Marsh Fellow Almost immediately after English men and women began to inhabit pockets of the Americas in the early seventeenth century, Parliament debated how best to control the trade that would flow from England to these newly-established colonies. Beginning with the stipulations of the first “Navigation Act” of 1651, English overseas commerce was to be tightly-regulated to benefit the “metropole’s” (England) interests over colonial concerns....
Recent Acquisition: The Wilson Globes, ca. 1811
That look of surprise and joy on a map curator’s face can only mean one thing: something fine has just landed in his division. And what better acquisition for the Clements Library than a pair–and not just any pair–of Wilson globes. And what, we hear you ask, are Wilson globes? These two globes–terrestrial and celestial–were produced by Vermont farmer and blacksmith turned globemaker, James Wilson (1763-1855) in the first half of the nineteenth century, giving him the (exaggerated) moniker of...
Clements Library receives $10M gift to name directorship, rare book room
For nearly 100 years, the University of Michigan William L. Clements Library has housed one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of early American History in the world. Its rise to international prominence is largely due to the guidance and vision put forth by the library's founding director, Randolph G. Adams, who transformed the personal archive of William Clements into a leading research library specializing in the collection and preservation of primary source materials from the...
New Manuscripts Finding Aids: February – May 2019
The Clements Library is pleased to announce that the following manuscript collections are now described online and may be requested for use in the reading room. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Prudential Committee minutes, 1848-1892 - Processed by Cari Griffin This collection contains handwritten minutes, many with revisions and excisions, for 49 meetings of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions between 1848 and 1892. Written...
Contemporary Issues Discussion Debut: “New Motherhood”
Earlier this year, I was spitballing some ideas with my colleague Louie Miller in the Reference Division office, and we chatted about how interesting it would be to bring together a historical item from our collection with the modern-day perspectives of people currently working on related topics. With the help of our supportive Development team, we were able to bring this idea to fruition, and we hosted our first Contemporary Issues Discussion event on May 9, 2019, in collaboration with the...
The Last Colonial Governors in Revolutionary America
Guest post by Catherine Treesh, Clements Library 2018 Price Fellow Over the course of 1774 and 1775, letters from distressed governors flooded General Thomas Gage’s headquarters in Boston. Colonial officials all across British North America were watching imperial government collapse around them and scrambling to maintain their power. They wrote to Gage – Commander in Chief of the British Army in North America and Governor of Massachusetts – looking for a solution. They wanted the money, men,...
National Winston Churchill Day
Guest post by volunteer Richard Marsh, Clements Library Associates Board of Governors Thanks to the contributions of Dr. Duane Norman Diedrich (1935-2018), the Clements Library holds selected original documents from Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the great Prime Minister who led Britain during World War II (see the Churchill Collection Finding Aid). A Professor of Speech, Dr. Diedrich collected and utilized historical manuscripts in his teaching. He used documents such as original speech...
Reading a Manuscript, Which Reposes a Thousand Miles Away: Digitized Manuscripts Collections from the William L. Clements Library
The William L. Clements Library is pleased to announce that five of its manuscripts collections are digitized and accessible online. These collections mark the beginning of the Library's efforts to provide free and open digital access to its collections of handwritten early Americana. The digital versions are complete and presented in a manner that reflects their physical/intellectual arrangement. Screenshot of a July 4, 1782, muster roll from the Clements Library's German...
Impressions of France Behind the Lines
The Clements Library exhibition "Over There" with the American Expeditionary Forces in France During the Great War is open through April 26, 2019, on Fridays from 10am to 4pm. The following material is excerpted from a pamphlet produced to accompany the exhibit. Many of the American soldiers arriving overseas to serve in the First World War had never left their home state before joining the service. As a result, soldiers' letters and diaries often depict France as an exotic place. Much of the...