Brownbag Lecture by Ruma Chopra, “Deporting ‘Dangerous Enemies,’ 1750-1800,” August 23, 2012
The William L. Clements LibraryBrown Bag Lecture SeriespresentsProfessor Ruma ChopraHoward H. Peckham Research Fellow Deporting "Dangerous Enemies," 1750-1800Noon - 1:00 p.m.Thursday, August 23, 2012Great Hall, Clements LibraryProfessor Chopra will discuss her exploration of the British practice of shuttling suspicious subjects throughout North America and the growing bureaucratic powers that supported these deportation schemes during the revolutionary era.Dr. Ruma Chopra is Associate...
From the Stacks: A Piece of the Wright Brothers’ Airplane
Guest post by Esti Brennan, Social Media InternOn August 19th, 1871, Orville Wright was born. The contributions that he and his brother Wilbur made to American history and technology require little explanation--the image of their fragile-winged plane is imprinted in the memory of every American school child, not to mention on two different State Quarters--their first flight at Kittyhawk, North Carolina is featured on that state's coin while a later model of their airplane appears alongside an...
From the Stacks: Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi
Guest post by Esti Brennan, Social Media Intern.Though it may occasionally be a confusion between 'Samuel L. Clemens' and 'William L. Clements' that brings people to our collections looking for Mark Twain, they won't be disappointed. Among other things, our Book Division currently houses two variant issues of the first edition of Twain's 1883 memoir Life on the Mississippi. The first issue includes a rare image (seen above) that was removed from later copies of the book, apparently at the...
Latest Quarto: On Education
The Spring-Summer 2012 Quarto is now available. The Quarto is a semi-annual magazine published by the William L. Clements Library and sent to members of the Clements Library Associates. This issue of The Quarto focuses on the Clements Library collections related to education. "Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic," by J. Kevin Graffagnino, Director of the Library. "Maps and Education," by Mary Sponberg Pedley, Assistant Curator of Maps. Emma Willard and teaching the study of history through maps....
Volunteer Interview: Phil Zaret
Welcome to our new series of interviews with the wonderful Clements Library volunteers, in which we'll get to know the people who put their time and energy into processing collections, acting as docents, and assisting our curators on special projects.Phil Zaret has been a volunteer at the Clements Library for ten years, and for nearly all of that time has worked on one project—a vast culinary database drawn from the library's manuscript collections. He'd come to the Clements to work with Jan...
In the News: ‘An Imaginary Arctic’ Exhibit at Hatcher Library
As well as featuring the Clements' own exhibit, Murder Most Foul, the University Record has highlighted another excellent presentation that draws from our materials.Recent Community High School Grad Melanie Langa worked for four years on an independent study project in cartography, inspired by her former teacher Mary Pedley, then adjunct assistant curator of maps at the Clements Library. The culmination of Langa's project is 'An Imaginary Arctic: Speculative Cartography in the Search for the...
Today in History: Fort Mackinac Captured by British
Post by Brian L. Dunnigan, Associate Director and Curator of MapsEarly in the morning of July 17, 1812, the residents of Mackinac Island awoke to pounding on their doors. A group of fellow citizens, led by local militia captain Michael Dousman, told everyone that war had been declared and, unbeknownst to the 61-man US garrison in Fort Mackinac, 600 British soldiers, Canadian voyageurs, and Indian warriors had landed on the island. The British had detained Dousman the day before and, after he...
Today in History: Hull’s Proclamation
[From the Clements Library Collections]On July 12, 1812, Brigadier General William Hull initiated the first military campaign of the War of 1812, calling for--and attempting--an invasion of Canada. Unfortunately for Hull, it was an utter disaster--his assumption that Canadians would side with American forces against the British proved terribly wrong, and his rather arrogant proclamation to Canadians that they would "be emancipated from Tyranny and oppression and restored to the dignified...
In the News: Murder Most Foul in the University Record
The University Record interviewed our director, Kevin Graffagnino, about The Clements Library's current exhibit and the endless variety of and fascination with murder in America. Read the article above or watch Kevin introduce the exhibit below.Murder Most Foul: Homicide in Early America is open through October 2nd in our main room. Current hours are 1 pm - 4:45 pm Monday through Thursday.
Brownbag Lecture by Karen Marrero, “Independent Nations and Neutral Powers: Stories of Emerging Identities in the Early 19th-Century Midwest,” July 12, 2012
Clements Brown Bag Lecture Seriesis Proud to IntroduceKaren Marrero2012 Earhart Fellow in American History"Independent Nations and Neutral Powers: Stories of Emerging Identities in the Early 19th-Century Midwest"Noon - 1:00 p.m.Thursday, July 12, 2012Great Hall, Clements LibraryKaren will discuss her current project, which examines the construction of national identities at the U.S./Canadian border in the Midwest in the period following the War of 1812 until the mid-nineteenth century....