Current Exhibit: “The Languages of Early American History”
The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts has designated language as the theme of its Winter 2012 semester. Language plays a central role in virtually all human activity, and it was a critical element in the encounters of peoples that characterize the history of the Americas. While linguistics is not a collecting area for the Clements, the primary source material held by the Library - books, manuscripts, maps, and graphics - were produced in a wide variety of languages representative of...
Happy Holidays from the Clements Library!
The Clements Library often sends holiday cards to members of the Clements Library Associates. Below is a selection of our earliest cards, featuring illustrations from library materials. The Clements Library Associates, founded in 1947, has purchased an estimated $5,000,000 worth of historical material for Clements Library. Members of the Associates receive invitations to library events, discounts on publications, and semi-annual mailings of The Quarto, an award-winning magazine with...
In the News: “Exhibit Examines Death Customs of Early America”
University Record article by Kevin Brown, December 12, 2011.This week's University Record issue includes a front-page article by Kevin Brown about the current Clements Library exhibit, "So Once Were We": Death in Early America. Focusing on the 19th century, the exhibit includes many photographs, manuscripts, books, and artifacts concerning death and mourning in early America. Exceptional rarities include handwritten eyewitness accounts of the deaths of the deaths of George Washington and...
Ghosts in the Library? Spirit Photography at the Clements
Photograph by Mrs. H.F. Stuart, ca. 1865 One of the tools of the ghost-hunting trade is spirit photography, the attempt to capture images of ghosts. Early spirit photographs were usually portraits of living people with faint, ghostly images floating behind them. These figures, supposedly the impressions of departed loved ones, were actually produced by photographic editing methods such as double exposures. William H. Mumler made the first known spirit photograph in 1862, a self-portrait...
Happy Thanksgiving: Postcards from the Clements Ephemera Collections
These Thanksgiving-themed postcards provide illustrations of early 20th century celebrations of this American holiday. The Clements Library ephemera collection contains many examples of printed materials like these, including programs, tickets, brochures, handbills, trade cards, political fliers, postcards, and billheads. Culinary, travel, and theater-related materials are a particular strength. To learn more about the collection, see the Graphics Division page on our website. Related...
Upcoming Event: Janice Longone to Speak at New York Public Library, November 10, 2011
Culinary Historians of New York and the New York Public Library present:The Old Girl Network: Charity Cookbooks and the Empowerment of WomenwithJanice Bluestein LongoneandPresentation of 2011 Amelia Award to Janice Bluestein Longone Thursday, November 10, 2011Before mass media, communication and transit, the first wave of the women’s movement was already active via the most ordinary of objects – the lowly cookbook. “Charity cookbooks,” a legacy of the Civil War, championed many causes:...
Lecture by Art Cohn: “What Should We Do With Benedict Arnold’s Gunboat?,” November 3, 2011
Art Cohn"What Should We Do with Benedict Arnold's Gunboat?"Thursday, November 3, 20114:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.In 1997 the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum's Lake Survey team discovered Benedict Arnold's 1776 gondola, intact and upright, on the bottom of Lake Champlain. Spitfire was the last unaccounted-for vessel of the Battle of Valcour Island. Art Cohn, co-founder and Senior Advisor and Special Projects Director for the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, will discuss the preservation challenges of...
Current Exhibit: “So Once Were We”: Death in Early America, October 17, 2011 – February 17, 2012
"So Once Were We": Death in Early America October 17, 2011 - February 17, 2012Main Room, Clements Library909 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MICurated by Cheney J. SchopierayAssistant Curator of Manuscripts Mortality is a useful lens through which we may view many aspects of early American society. So Once Were We explores American practices and traditions for coping with death, from the early years of European exploration and discovery to the early 20th century and the burgeoning modern...
“Strange Curation,” LSA Magazine Feature on Clements Library Collections
The Fall 2011 LSA Magazine features a Weekly Web Exclusive on unusual items at the Clements Library. From a forged logbook of Christopher Columbus to George Washington's letter about his false teeth, the Clements Library holds a number of unexpected historical artifacts and documents. View the slideshow to see twelve of these items and learn more about the Clements collections. You never know what you'll find in the library.
Clements Library Hosts American Historical Print Collectors Society Regional Meeting
American Historical Print Collectors SocietyRegional MeetingOctober 22, 2011William L. Clements Library,University of Michigan, Ann ArborOn October 22, 2011, the Clements will be hosting members of the American Historical Print Collectors Society for a one-day regional meeting and tour of the Clements. If you are a member that is interested in attending, please contact Clayton Lewis for information. Space will be limited to 25 individuals.Clayton LewisWilliam L. Clements Library909 S....