Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society Papers Transcriptions
The William L. Clements Library is pleased to announce that the digitized Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society Papers are now fully text searchable. Each digitized page is accompanied by a complete transcription, which will transform the way researchers interact with the collection, streamline research, and assist scholars who have difficulties reading the at-times challenging handwriting. When library staff started working from home in mid-March, we quickly upgraded our demo...
Conservation Close-up Part 2: Sea Charts used in Whaling
Clements Library Conservator Julie Fremuth provides a follow-up to our recent post about the arrival of 14 tightly-rolled sea charts and early conservation steps. The initial post Conservation Close-up: Sea Charts used in Whaling discusses Fremuth's months-long process to safely and gradually flatten the maps. Generously donated to the Clements Library by Frederick and Janet Stingel, these charts were once used for navigation aboard whaling vessels. *** This is a...
Writing the Injured Body
Guest post by Jean Franzino, Clements Library 2019 Norton Strange Townshend Fellow * * * In 1904, New Jersey Civil War veteran George R. Shebbeard published his life narrative, a 32-page booklet of the sort sold by disabled veterans for their economic support. The Clements Library’s copy of the text includes a photograph of Shebbeard, lying in the wagon that serves as his mobility aid, in which he faces the viewer and presents a calm smile. The note printed on the back...
2020 Fellowships awarded to 23 Scholars
The 2020-21 competition for research fellowships at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan saw the library receive its largest number of applications ever. As a new arrival at the Clements, reading the fellowship proposals was a wonderful way to learn about the library’s collections, since the scholars who submitted the proposals knew far more about the details of the Clements’ strengths as they related to their projects than I do. I was both delighted to...
New Finding Aids: January – April 2020
The Clements Library is pleased to announce that the following collections are now described online. These materials may be requested for use in the reading room when we are able to resume library services. Before planning your research visit, please contact us to verify in advance if our normal open hours for researchers have resumed. * * * Mélange de Toutes les Couleurs Propres au Dessein du Plan manuscript ([1750-1800]) - Processed by Meghan Brody This 32-page manuscript notebook, dated to...
Whaling Voyage Logs Recently Acquired
Guest post by Ellen Gleason, Clements Library Student Intern As a student pursuing the Graduate Certification in Archival Administration at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, I completed a 135-hour practicum applying my classroom learning to work in the field. For my project, I had the pleasure of processing two 19th century whaling logbooks recently acquired by the William L. Clements Library in Ann Arbor. * * * The whale is a majestic figure in the human psyche. Long...
Latest Quarto: The Best of the West
The Winter-Spring 2020 Quarto is now available online. This issue is titled “The Best of the West,” inspired by an exhibition of the same name at the Clements Library. In the words of retiring Director Kevin Graffagnino, the exhibit “concentrates on printed books and pamphlets, but readers of this issue of The Quarto will learn that the Library has tremendous strength in western Americana manuscripts, prints, photographs, and maps as well.” "The Best of the West," Introduction by J. Kevin...
Conservation Close-up: Sea Charts used in Whaling
While our team adheres to restrictions from the current public health crisis, this post replicates one of the Clements Library's most popular Facebook posts ever. The post was shared 40 times and reached thousands of Facebook users when it was published on December 26, 2019. Connect with the Clements Library today on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! * * *Almost one year ago, a set of sea charts once used for whaling voyages was donated to the Clements Library by Frederick and...
Public commemorations honor pioneering figures from Clements archives
It can be easy to think of the archive as a self-contained space, where staff collect, conserve, and process collections while researchers come to quietly study them. But the historical figures whose papers fill the Clements Library stacks have far-reaching influence that reverberate across the centuries. Beyond the important scholarship that grows from the work done in our reading room, occasionally we catch wind of modern commemorations honoring the stories we help preserve. In recent...
A Q&A with Clements Library Director Paul Erickson
In January 2020, Paul Erickson joined the University of Michigan community as Randolph G. Adams Director of the Clements Library. Erickson’s five-year appointment was announced last September by the U-M Board of Regents. Following an undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago, Paul received Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in American studies from the University of Texas at Austin. For more than a dozen years he was a program director for the American Antiquarian Society and the...