by Isaac Burgdorf | Jan 15, 2026 | Books, Collections, Exhibits, Featured
In 2026, “going viral” refers to a piece of content spreading rapidly across the Internet and into common parlance, becoming a widespread sensation or defining a cultural moment. In 1776, Common Sense did just that – without the Internet.
by Isaac Burgdorf | Jan 15, 2026 | Books, Collections, Exhibits, Featured
The William L. Clements Library holds 58 editions of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America. Upon the 250th anniversary of its January 1776 publication, one might ask: Why so many?
by Clements Library | Dec 12, 2025 | Acquisitions, Books, Collections, Library Work
By Naomi Yu, Graduate Assistant Cataloger Graduate student book cataloger Naomi Yu has been churning out catalog records all semester, and these five publications caught her eye! Read on to learn about the adventurous Captain Jack, phrenology in the Clements...
by Clements Library | Aug 17, 2025 | Acquisitions, Books, Collections, Exhibits, Giving, Graphics, Holidays, Manuscripts
Happy National Nonprofit Day! Here at Clements, we are proud of the work that we do on a daily basis and are honored by the support that we get from our community. Let’s look back in time through some examples of early philanthropic endeavors.
by Clements Library | Mar 21, 2025 | Acquisitions, Books, Library Work
The Book Division has been hard at work making rare and historic books available for research. Check out some of our newly cataloged works from 2025!
by Cheney Schopieray | May 9, 2024 | Books, Collections, Manuscripts
In the second week of February 2015, longtime Clements Library donor Dr. Duane Norman Diedrich shared a laugh with the Curator of Manuscripts. They had formally added a manuscript letter to the Diedrich collections, pertinent to a hired organist whose upbeat music...
by Clements Library | Feb 9, 2024 | Acquisitions, Books, Exhibits, Featured, Giving, News
The University of Michigan William L. Clements Library has acquired one of the most important American books of the late eighteenth century–the first American edition of the earliest book of poetry published by an African American author. Phillis Wheatley Peters’...
by Kayla Robinson | Apr 28, 2023 | Acquisitions, Books, Exhibits
Contents Building on a Century of Collecting at the Clements Library Pair 1: Columbus and Cuba Pair 2: The Power of the Unseen Pair 3: The Fabric of History Pair 4: From the Big Picture to Individual Lives Pair 5: Picturing African-American Identity Pair 6: Leadership...
by Jakob Dopp | Nov 3, 2021 | Books, Featured, Graphics, Manuscripts
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...
