The Clements Library website includes events, exhibits, subject guides, newsletter issues, library staff, and more.

National Winston Churchill Day

National Winston Churchill Day

by | Apr 9, 2019 | Clements Library Associates, Manuscripts, Today in history

Guest post by volunteer Richard Marsh, Clements Library Associates Board of Governors Thanks to the contributions of Dr. Duane Norman Diedrich (1935-2018), the Clements Library holds selected original documents from Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the great Prime...
Printing and Painting Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie

Printing and Painting Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie

by | Nov 20, 2018 | Featured, Graphics, Manuscripts, Today in history

Nestled in the Clements Library’s Oliver Hazard Perry Papers are remarkable documents detailing the commodore’s naval career, with some 200 pieces highlighting his service in the War of 1812. In September of 1813 he famously won the Battle of Lake Erie, a...

Today in History: The Stamp Act Repeal, March 18, 1766

by | Mar 18, 2016 | Graphics, Manuscripts, Today in history

Guest post by Kayla Carucci, Book Division student assistant and graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Information. With the move from Ellsworth back to campus finally complete, the Clements staff and volunteers grow more excited by the day for the...

Today in History: Father’s Day

by | Jun 21, 2015 | Graphics, Holidays, Manuscripts, Today in history

Post by Jayne Ptolemy, Manuscripts Curatorial AssistantIn 1880 William Brunton, a Unitarian minister from Boston, began composing a special diary that recorded the everyday activities of his young son, Herbert, whom he affectionately called Bertie. “It is a work...

Today in History: Mother’s Day

by | May 10, 2015 | Books, Holidays, Manuscripts, Today in history

Post by Jayne Ptolemy, Manuscripts Curatorial AssistantOn May 24, 1873, Kate Edgerly finally found the time to return her sister’s letter. “You want to know how I get along with four children,” she wrote, with more than a little exasperation,...

Today in History: Miniature Hand-Cut Valentines

by | Feb 14, 2015 | Holidays, Manuscripts, Today in history

According to Ruth Webb Lee’s A History of Valentines (1952), the creation and distribution of valentines in America began sometime in the mid-18th century. Prior to the advent of mass-produced, printed notes and cards around 100 years later, women and men made...

Today in History: Thanksgiving

by | Nov 27, 2014 | Holidays, Manuscripts, Today in history

Post by Jayne Ptolemy, Manuscripts Curatorial AssistantThe William L. Clements Library sends warm Thanksgiving greetings and offers a glimpse at holidays past via our Manuscripts Division. In November 1857, William H. Ireland, Jr., sent an illustrated, lyrical letter...

Today in History: Veterans Day

by | Nov 11, 2014 | Manuscripts, Today in history

Post by Jayne Ptolemy, Manuscripts Division Curatorial AssistantVeterans Day serves as a poignant reminder of the great sacrifices the men and women of the military have made for their country. In the United States, Veterans Day evolved out of the annual celebration...