Guest post by Cheney Schopieray, Assistant Curator of ManuscriptsOn January 26, 1837, Michigan became the 26th state of the Union.This detail from David Burr’s Map of the Northern Parts of Ohio, Indiana And Illinois With Michigan And That Part of the Ouisconsin...
The Star Spangled Banner: A Pariotic Song. Baltimore: Printed and sold at Carrs Music Store, 36 Baltimore Street, [1814].The lyrics of “The Star Spangled Banner” come from “Defence of Fort McHenry,” a poem written by Francis Scott Key after...
With classes starting at the University of Michigan today, and the football season already begun on Saturday, we offer this selection from the Clements Library in keeping with the theme. Nathan Hayward’s College Scenes, a collection of satirical drawings of...
Today in History: Greek Independence Day Cheney J. Schopieray, Assistant Curator of Manuscripts, has worked at the Clements Library since 2002. His list of favorite manuscripts grows longer on a daily basis, but in honor of the 190th anniversary celebration of the...
Guest post by JJ Jacobson, Curator of American Culinary HistoryIf Americans have any one person to thank for the Thanksgiving holiday, it is Sarah Josepha Buell Hale. Hale waged a decades-long campaign for the establishment of a national Thanksgiving Day on the last...
When Columbus returned from his 1492 voyage to the New World, he reported his discoveries in a letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Editions of this letter were printed in major cities across Europe, spreading the news of his travels. This book is significant...
Saint Valentine’s Day was first established in 496 A.D., and became associated with the celebration of romantic love in the Middle Ages. In the United States, mass-produced paper valentines were first sold in the mid-1800s. The Ephemera collection at the...
Although we traditionally trace the origins of this holiday to the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving celebration in 1621, it did not become an annual celebration in the United States until 1863 and a federal holiday in 1941. In the colonial era, days of thanksgiving...
To celebrate the opening of the University of Michigan 2009 football season, we offer this selection of football-related items from the Clements Library collection.University Foot-Ball: The Play of Each Position Treated by a College Expert, 1893This book, edited by...
