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Imperial Spanish Symbolism: The Pillars of Hercules

Imperial Spanish Symbolism: The Pillars of Hercules

by | Oct 9, 2019 | Books, Maps, Volunteers

This essay by volunteer Derek Brereton examines three examples of the same Spanish cultural symbolism found in some of the oldest collection items at the Clements Library.  The Clements Library is fortunate to possess at least three fine examples of illustrations...
Recent Acquisition: The Wilson Globes, ca. 1811

Recent Acquisition: The Wilson Globes, ca. 1811

by | Jul 9, 2019 | Acquisitions, Featured, Maps

That look of surprise and joy on a map curator’s face can only mean one thing: something fine has just landed in his division. And what better acquisition for the Clements Library than a pair–and not just any pair–of Wilson globes. And what, we hear you ask, are...
Keep Your Powder Dry — And Your Map Too

Keep Your Powder Dry — And Your Map Too

by | Mar 29, 2018 | Acquisitions, Featured, Maps

The Clements Library map collection comprises some 30,000 examples of cartography with American subject matter drawn or printed between the years 1492 and 1900. This body of material represents a variety of plans and maps ranging from the most detailed small-scale...
The Ins and Outs of Cataloguing Atlases

The Ins and Outs of Cataloguing Atlases

by | Feb 6, 2018 | Featured, Library Work, Maps

Many years ago, a fellow map librarian said to me, “If you want to study old maps, be ready to do gymnastics.”  Those words stuck in my mind as I undertook to help a Dutch colleague by photographing all the maps in a series of Dutch atlases in our collection.  As the...

Map Division: Mapping Sugar Production

by | Oct 3, 2017 | Maps

The hurricane season has once again seized our attention as enormously powerful storms form over the North African desert and move out to sea, drawing up moisture as they drift westward.  Concern for family members who have moved to a warmer climate (and for...

Learning Through Maps

by | Feb 1, 2017 | Maps

Americans in general—and younger people in particular—are often criticized for being woefully deficient in a geographical understanding of their country, continent, hemisphere, and world.  In many ways such criticism is justified, and the noticeable reduction in...

Clements Library Acquires Previously Unknown Plan of 1790 Detroit

by | Sep 28, 2016 | Acquisitions, Maps

It seems as if the Director and curators of the Clements Library are always searching—searching for new documentation to make accessible to scholars; searching for collections or parts of collections that they know or hope are still “out there” in the hands of...

From the Stacks: Flag Day

by | Jun 14, 2016 | Books, Graphics, Holidays, Manuscripts, Maps

By Emiko Hastings, Curator of BooksIn honor of Flag Day, we share a variety of U.S. flag-related imagery from across the Clements Library collections. Flag Day, established by President Woodrow Wilson, in 1916, commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United...

Palm Trees, Sugar, Slavery, and More

by | Sep 28, 2015 | Acquisitions, Books, Graphics, Manuscripts, Maps

Post by Brian L. Dunnigan, Associate Director and Curator of MapsThe Clements Library is known to historians and scholars of other disciplines as a primary source repository of “Americana” dating between 1492 and 1900. For all too many members of the history and the...