Our Adopt a Piece of History asks people to fund purchases and conservation at the Clements Library. There are many books, manuscripts, maps, and visual materials that we should add to the collection, and some of our holdings require expert repair because of fragility and age. Please consider a gift to the Clements Library to purchase an item or to conserve an item so that you can adopt a piece of history. Your contribution will strengthen our collections and make them available to researchers and students for generations to come.
Our current exhibit highlights the Clements Library’s holdings related to Native American history, including books, maps, manuscripts, prints, and photographs that document more than four centuries of history. These primary sources illustrate cultural encounters over the course of American history and feature some of the library’s greatest materials. Exhibits such as this one and scholarly research based on our collections are possible only with the gifts from loyal supporters.
Exhibit Case 4:
A William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians; broadside engraving (1857): $150
Exhibit Case 8:
B Charles McCormick document (1785): $200
Exhibit Case 11:
C The Cherokee Phoenix & Indians’ Advocate newspaper: $50/issue
D Map Showing the Lands Assigned to Emigrant Indians West of Arkansas & Missouri (1836): $200
Exhibit Case 14:
E Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, Explained in English (1853): $250
(currently located in the Adopt a Piece of History display case in the Main Room)
Represented below are items for which we need help to either purchase or conserve.
1. Laws of the Choctaw Nation : made and enacted by the General Council from 1886 to 1890 inclusive (Atoka, I.T. : Indian Citizen Print, 1891). $500
2. The Constitution and Laws of the Cherokee Nation, passed at Tah-Le-Quah, Cherokee Nation, 1839 (Washington : Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1840). $2,250
3. Integrated school group. Daguerreotype, circa 1850s. $850
4. Bridge across the west branch of the Raritan river. Ink drawing by David Claypoole Johnston, circa 1840s. $1,500
5. Civil War ephemera. Pull-tap envelope, by David Claypoole Johnston. $500
Uncle Tom’s Cabin performance advertising ephemera (E. Wharton & Co.):
6. Rial & Draper’s Ideal Uncle Tom’s Cabin. $65
7. Rial & Draper’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. $75
8. Anthony & Ellis’ Famous Ideal Uncle Tom’s Cabin. $150
9. Emma Francis Voris, The New Columbian White House Cookery (Philadelphia, 1893). $100
10. Regulations for the Medical Department of the C.S. Army (Richmond, 1863). $3,500
11. A.W. Wilde’s daybook, 1849-1863. $1,800
12. Francis Francis, Jr., Saddle and Mocassin. $350
13. George Catlin, Nord-Amerikas Indianer (Stockhold, 1848). Swedish translation of: Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians. $1,250
14. Map of North America. Printed on cotton between 1836 and 1845. It features an enlarged area for Texas, extending from the Rio Grande to the Canadian border and westward to the Rocky Mountains. Only known copy. Purchase price $4000 Estimated conservation cost $600
15. George Catlin, Die Indianer Nord Amerikas (Brussels, 1851). German translation of: Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians. $1,500
16. Helen Campbell, Women Wage-earners : Their past, their present, and their future (Boston, 1893). $225
In addition to personal gifts, we welcome gifts in honor of a person or a special occasion, in someone’s memory, or to celebrate a special event. Each book will receive a bookplate to honor the donor. All contributions will be recorded in our electronic catalog with the name of the donor. Your support for our recent acquisitions will help to offset the cost of these additions to our library while those in need of conservation have been in our collections for many years.
For more information, please contact:
Ann Rock
William L. Clements Library
University of Michigan
909 S. University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109=1190
[email protected]
(734) 358-9770