Revolutionary Paine
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?
New Books at the Clements: Bandits, Phrenologists, and Counterfeits
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...
National Nonprofit Day: Philanthropy in the Clements Collections
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.
Newly Cataloged Books, Winter 2025
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!
The “Quick & Unnatural Interludes” of Organist Benjamin Bowen
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...
Clements Library Acquires Rare American Edition of Phillis Wheatley Peters Poems, Pursues Crowdfunding
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’...
Pair 18: The Bestseller List
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...
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...