Lecture by Sakina Hughes, “Celebrating African American Authors in the Culinary World,” February 21, 2013
Lecture by Sakina Hughes, Du Bois-Mandela-Rodney Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies"Celebrating African American Authors in the Culinary World"Thursday, February 21, 2013, 4:00 p.m.Main Room, Clements LibrarySakina Hughes will talk about how the Janice B. Longone Culinary Archive (JBLCA) allows users to explore the relationship between food and African American history and culture.Free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Library at...
Brown Bag Lecture by Patricia Majher, “Getting Published in Michigan History Magazine,” February 11, 2013
The William L. Clements LibraryBrown Bag Lecture SeriespresentsLecture by Patricia Majher, Editor of Michigan History magazine"Getting Published in Michigan History Magazine" Monday, February 11, 2013, 12:00 p.m.Main Room, Clements LibraryMichigan History is the most-read state history magazine in the country, with a circulation of 25,000. Please join Patricia as she discusses what it takes to get an article published in Michigan History.Please bring lunch. Beverages will be served.
Lecture by Richard Rabinowitz, “Curating the Silence,” February 7, 2013
Lecture by Richard RabinowitzFounder and President of the American History Workshop"Curating the Silence" Thursday, February 7, 4:00 p.m.Main Room, Clements LibraryAwarded the 2012 Herbert Feis Award for distinguished contributions to public history by the American Historical Association, Dr. Rabinowitz will explore how historians, and particularly public historians, confront the dilemma that evidences of African American lives, voices, and perspectives are seldom available in the...
Today in History: Remember the Raisin
January 18 and 22 mark the bicentennial of a pair of battles of the War of 1812 that deeply affected the American population of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Michigan Territory. The battles were fought in Frenchtown or River Raisin (today Monroe, Michigan), and they were a costly blunder and setback for United States forces attempting to regain Detroit and drive British forces from the region.The fall of Detroit on August 16, 1812, included the loss of Brigadier General William Hull’s entire...
Orphaned Manuscript Volumes and NHPRC Processing Grant Update
Many if not all of us have seen orphaned tomes and incomplete sets of multi-volume works in used book stores, in library sales, and on private bookshelves. Similarly, manuscript collections are rarely complete, as letters, diaries, and documents are often divided, discarded, or selectively preserved by their owners.In 2011, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) awarded the Manuscripts Division a basic processing grant to create finding aids for over 1,600...
Current Exhibit: “Making Their Own Way: African Americans in the Culinary World”
Now on display in the center cases of the Main Room:Making Their Own Way: African Americans in the Culinary World With a selection of the Longone Archive’s African American–authored works from the early 19th to the late 20th century, this exhibit presents the voices of household employees, restaurateurs, chefs, caterers, teachers, ministers, and other unsung heroes who shared their expertise in print. These stand in for the countless cooks and other accomplished individuals whose...
Today in History: Constitution Victorious Again
Post by Brian Dunnigan, Associate Director and Curator of MapsFor many years now, two oil paintings have looked down on the supervisor’s desk in the Clements Library reading room. They depict two phases of a battle at sea between a pair of warships, one British the other American. In one scene the fully functioning American vessel pounds the partially dismasted Britisher. In the second, the US ship sails away while her defeated adversary slips beneath the waves as her...
Today in History: A Christmas Carol
Guest post by Sarah Fitzgerald, Book Division volunteer *** Many of our Christmas traditions come from the Victorian Era, including the decoration of Christmas trees and Charles Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol. The Clements has several versions of A Christmas Carol, including an original 1843 printing illustrated by John Leech. John Leech's colored etchings are very expressive. In the illustration of Mr. Fezziwig's ball, which serves as the frontispiece, Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig look well fed...
From the Stacks: “Britain to America” Satiric Puzzle
A rebus is a puzzle in which pictures are used to represent words or parts of words, sometimes used as a form of political satire. One such example from the Book Division of the Clements Library is Britain to America, published by Matthew Darly in 1778. It is a mock letter written from a mother to her daughter, in which Britain asks America to put aside her recent French alliance: "So be a good girl, discharge your soldiers and ships of war and do not rebel against your mother. Rely upon me...
Recent Acquisition: Rare Detroit Plan of 1836-37
The Clements Library has just acquired a very rare and possibly unique plan of Detroit from the last years of the Michigan Territory. All that is known about Part of the City of Detroit, Michigan is that it was lithographed and published in New York at 22 Nassau Street by George Endicott (1802-48). Endicott is known to have had a shop at that address in 1837 and perhaps a few years before. Details in the plan suggest that it was likely produced ca. 1836-37.The Endicott plan...