Potato Power: The Magic of Autochromes
One of the most rewarding aspects of working at a place like the Clements Library is that you never know what you might stumble across on any given day. For instance, last summer I noticed a box out of the corner of my eye with the word “Autochromes” scribbled in pencil on the side. I had coincidentally been reading about autochromes a few days prior, so naturally I took this as a sign that I should take a quick plunge down this particular rabbit hole. The autochrome is considered the first...
Conservation of a 1737 South Carolina Manuscript Document – May 2023
Recently, Clements Library Curator of Manuscripts Cheney J. Schopieray brought Conservator Julie Fremuth a six-leaf manuscript document written on both sides. This document was a generous donation by former Clements Library Director John C. Dann. The manuscript, which measures approximately 20 inches by 26 inches, had been folded in two places for a very long time and was badly deteriorated. Together they discussed treatment possibilities and considerations. Cheney suggested that this...
New Manuscript Finding Aids: Winter 2023 Part Three
We are excited to continue sharing new finding aids to connect students and researchers with the extraordinary manuscript collections at the Clements Library. In this post we will highlight materials relating to the Revolutionary War and the Civil War; Law, Crime, and Punishment; Health and Mental Health; the Caribbean; Land and Property; and the Civil War.War The four finding aids listed below signal the Clements’ remarkable strengths relating to the military and social histories of wars and...
New Manuscript Finding Aids: Winter 2023 Part Two
Collections of manuscripts continue to be added to the Clements Library’s holdings to benefit the learning and research of our community of users. The most recent batch of new finding aids includes several thematic groupings, underscoring how archival collections speak to each other and work together to deepen our collective knowledge about the past. We are excited to continue sharing new finding aids to connect students and researchers with the extraordinary manuscript collections at the...
Clements Library announces 2023-2024 Fellowships
The William L. Clements Library is delighted to announce 2023-2024 visiting research fellowship cohort: With 26 awards, this cohort will be the largest in the fellowship program’s history. Awardees include postdoctoral scholars and faculty from both public and private institutions, graduate students, independent researchers, public historians, and curators. The library will support long-term, short-term and week-long residential fellows over the coming academic year, and will also fund remote...
Stitched Together
As a mother to a kindergartener, I have gotten quite adept over the past few years mending a variety of things. I have sewn patches on torn pants, stitched together a jacket mysteriously sliced open on a slide, taped ripped pages in favorite books, and even once tried to figure out how to put a peel back on a banana when my son got offended that it was ‘naked’. Which is to say that caregivers get creative. I am also a historian and a curator, working with the remarkable collections at the...
New Manuscript Finding Aids: Winter 2023 Part One
Collections of manuscripts continue to be added to the Clements Library’s holdings to benefit the learning and research of our community of users. The most recent batch of new finding aids includes several thematic groupings, underscoring how archival collections speak to each other and work together to deepen our collective knowledge about the past. * * *Children and Education Materials that demonstrate educational practices have much to tell us about how children learned, what Americans...
2023-2024 William L. Clements Library Research Fellowships: Applications Now Open
The William L. Clements Library invites applications for week-long, short-term, long-term, and digital fellowships to support research in the library’s rich collections. Our Fellowships Program enables researchers at all levels of study to make use of our world-class materials related to the history and culture of America and the Caribbean before 1900. We are proud that the Clements will continue to prioritize research support by offering four new fellowship opportunities in addition to those...
Breaking into the Past: An Instance of Code Cracking in the Tinder Postcard Collection
Claire Danna is the current Joyce Bonk Fellow at the Clements library and a graduate student at the University of Michigan’s School of Information. Their primary work at the Clements has involved scanning the Tinder postcard collection and helping to shape the library’s first Zooniverse project. She has also presented on aspects of the collection and its connection to U.S. postal history in the Clements Library Bookworm webinar series.The David V. Tinder real photo postcard collection provides...
The 1893-1894 Tour of Linus, “The $100,000 Oregon Wonder” Horse
In October 2021, the Clements Library obtained a cabinet card portrait of one of the famous late-19th-century "Oregon Long-Haired Wonder" horses. It is a beautiful photograph, showing this chestnut-colored Clydesdale with his hair braided and done up with ribbons, standing beside a currently unidentified man. On its own, this photograph has something valuable to say about horses and their appearance in the late-19th-century United States, the value of unusual animals to entrepreneurs and...