Book Review: “Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838”
Guest author Jonathan Quint, a PhD candidate in the University of Michigan Department of History and 2020-2021 Clements Library Intern, reflects on one of the Clements' most celebrated publications 20 years after its release. ***Brian Leigh Dunnigan. Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001. Pg 247. Appendices. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Maps. Notes. Cloth. Brian Dunnigan’s Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit,...
Pirates and Indigenous of the Pacific: Reading Between the Coastlines of the Hacke Atlas
Guest post by Danny Zborover; 2020-2021 Mary G. Stange Fellow at the Clements Library; [email protected] *** As the pirates disembarked their ship and prepared to attack, another group of black-attired characters formed a solid line behind the defensive wall. After a short but fierce melee, the makeshift fortification collapsed and the pirates rushed, swords in hand, to seize the town’s church. With the band playing and the crowd cheering, the pirates then broke into a solemn dance in front...
Announcing digitized archival collections documenting the slave trade, Caribbean enslavement, and anti-slavery activities in Michigan
The William L. Clements Library has recently made available online three archival collections pertinent to the trade of enslaved persons, slavery in Jamaica, and antislavery activities in Michigan. They include the Thomas Leyland Company Account Books, 1789-1793; Jacob Aemilius Irving Letterbooks, 1809-1816; and Harriet DeGarmo Fuller Papers, 1852-1857. These collections are made up of bound volumes, which see regular use in the reading room and classes. The digital surrogates have significant...
The Grosvenor L. Townsend Scrapbooks: First-hand insights from the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars
At the beginning of March 2021, a grand total of 59 new finding aids for Graphics Division collections were made available online. While the vast majority of these finding aids were produced for collections that already had pre-existing catalog records, six of them were completely new additions for previously un-cataloged materials. Among these six collections with brand new finding aids, the Grosvenor L. Townsend Scrapbooks are particularly noteworthy specimens. Consisting of seven scrapbook...
Clements Library announces 2021 Fellowship Awards
The Clements Library is delighted to announce its list of research fellowship awardees for 2021-22. Because of the backlog in research visits from last year’s fellowship cohort due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we pushed our application deadline back this year, from January 15 to March 1. Even so, we received close to 100 applications, our highest number ever. From this extraordinarily strong pool, we were able to award 23 fellowships to scholars from 14 states and the District of Columbia, as...
New Manuscripts Finding Aids: Spring 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.) 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. Please email us at...
New and Improved Graphics Finding Aids: Spring 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.) 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. Please email us at...
NEH grant awarded to digitize popular Revolutionary War manuscript collection
The University of Michigan William L. Clements Library has been awarded a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize one of our largest and most utilized collections. The funds will support a three-year-long effort to digitize over 23,000 items related to Thomas Gage, a famed British commander-in-chief in the early days of the American Revolution who was also the governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1774 to 1775. "Multiplying modes of access to our...
“Americana is a Creed” publication now available to order
In the spring of 2019, former Clements Library director Kevin Graffagnino proposed the idea of a book project which would be the sequel to the Clements’ 2017 publication The Pioneer Americanists: Early Collectors, Dealers, and Bibliographers. While The Pioneer Americanists consisted of a curated collection of autobiographical and biographical entries of some of the most noteworthy 19th century American librarians, bibliographers, book collectors, and dealers, this next title would focus on...
United Sons of Salem Benevolent Society Minute Book Transcriptions
The William L. Clements Library would like to announce the completion of transcriptions for the United Sons of Salem Benevolent Society Minute Book, which documents the business proceedings of a mid-19th century organization. A hybrid of an insurance agency and charitable operation, the United Sons bound together members of the African American community of Salem, New Jersey, providing a social network, a financial safety net, and support in the event of illness or death.United Sons of Salem...