Clements Library acquires rare hand-drawn map of Detroit from 1761, pursues crowdfunding
The last time the general public had the opportunity to see the “Plan of the Fort at De Troit” was in 1967 when it was offered for sale at Sotheby’s. Now it will be part of the University of Michigan’s William L. Clements Library collection. Not knowing to whom the original was sold back then, former Clements curator Brian Dunnigan studied the photo included in the Sotheby’s auction catalog to write about this hand-drawn map for his book Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit. “This map...
New Graphics Finding Aids: Fall 2021
The Clements Library is pleased to announce that the following collections in our Graphics Division are now described online and may be requested for use in the reading room. The Clements Library is now open for research by appointment. Learn more at clements.umich.edu/coronavirus. All researchers are encouraged to contact Clements Library staff for guidance on how to complete their research with both digital and physical materials. Please contact us with any questions about your research....
Joseph Cabay, or Kewakezhig: A Home in the Skies
The Clements Library is thrilled to have recently acquired a mid-19th-century calling card for a Saginaw Band Ojibwa man named Joseph Cabay which will be a welcome addition to the Native American History Collection. Born around 1837 in Saganing, Michigan, to Ca-ba-o-sau-dung/Elliot Cabay (a son of Chief O-ta-was) and Pedah-bore-no-qua, Joseph was living at 5 Tremont St., Boston at the time this calling card was produced. Like many Native Americans of his day and age, Joseph had to navigate...
Clements Library invites applicants for 2022-23 Research Fellowships
The William L. Clements Library collections exist to be used.Nothing makes the staff of the Clements Library happier than to see the Avenir Room full of researchers using the collections. At any given moment, the tables may host innovative work on topics as varied as gender in 18th-century Yucatan (the topic of Alfred A. Cave Fellow Samantha Davis’ project) to the spatial politics of sheet music (as exemplified by the project of Jacob M. Price Fellow Colin Anderson), just to name only two. We...
The Digitized William Howe Orderly Book, 1776-1778, with notes on the Howe Papers and the many orderly books of General Howe
The William L. Clements Library is pleased to announce the availability of a digitized version of the William Howe Orderly Book, 1776-1778. This volume of orders for the British Army under General Howe, covering around two years of the American Revolution, is a treasure of the Clements Library. The volume contains copies of orders dating from March 9, 1776, to May 1, 1778, reflecting the progress of the British Army under Howe from their embarkation at Portsmouth, England, through New York and...
New Manuscripts Finding Aids: Fall 2021
The William L. Clements Library's new batch of finding aids pertains to a variety of 19th century topics. The collections document variolation and childbirth, primary to higher education, Mississippi plantation life, teenage girls' experiences, textile mill work, beekeeping, Civil War life on the home front, a surgeon's experiences in the field, and more. We would like to express our special thanks to the late Paul Duane Haynes for donating letters of his father Irl Potter Haynes, which...
A nesting doll of copies: a digital facsimile of an engraved facsimile of a medieval manuscript copy of a Roman map
This image comprises all the engraved segments of a half-size facsimile copy of a medieval manuscript map known as The Peutinger Map. The engraved facsimile is found in later editions of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, edited and published by Abraham Ortelius (and often noted as the "first" modern atlas). The Clements Library’s copy is in the 1624 Theatrum (Atl 1624 Or).All engraved segments of the Ortelius Peutinger map, digitally stitched togetherDetail showing the first segmentAbrahami Ortelii...
“Adopt a Piece of History” Fest on September 9 at 7:00 pm
Launched online in May 2020, “Adopt a Piece of History” is both a way for the public to learn more about the Clements Library as well as a vivid demonstration of the impacts of donor support. “Adopting” materials at the Clements—giving towards the costs of acquisition, conservation, and digitization—directly supports the work while also recognizing the donor through a virtual bookplate.Before the program was on the website, it was conducted through events where selected items from the...
Transcription Project Mid-Year Update
As part of the Clements Library's digitization program, we have started to make selected archival collections available online. To make these materials fully available for research, we welcome volunteers to help us create searchable full-text transcriptions for each page. Learn more and join the project.Currently Available for Transcription German Auxiliaries Muster RollsDocuments relating to Hessian soldiers in the American Revolution. Great Britain Indian Department CollectionMaterials...
New Manuscripts Finding Aids: Summer 2021
The Clements Library is pleased to announce that the following collections are now described online and may be requested for use in the reading room. (The Clements Library is currently open by appointment only for U-M faculty, students and staff and Clements research fellows.) Before planning your research visit, please verify in advance if our normal open hours for researchers have resumed. For all researchers, we are happy to schedule a video consultation instead of a visit to the library....