Clements Library Centennial Celebration
Centennial Exhibit
Timeline
The Clements was gifted a rare shorthand account of Abraham Lincoln’s final moments. Mrs Nellie Strawheuker donated the account of Corp. James Tanner, a clerk in the War Dept at the time, who was with the former President when he died. The letter is addressed to Henry F. Walch and…
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A significant George Washington letter was discovered in the Thomas Gage papers. John Alden, a PhD student in the U-M history department, found a previously unpublished and unknown letter written in Washington’s hand dated May 17, 1768, addressed to John Blair, president of the council of Virginia. In the letter,…
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A sound film depicting the betrayal of Benedict Arnold was shown to the Men’s Education Club at the Michigan Union. The film was made by Professor Wesley H. Maurer, who based it on original manuscripts at the Clements in collaboration with Eugene Powers of the University Microfilms and Clements director…
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The University of Michigan made plans in 1940 to obtain microfilms of all 18th century American magazines that were previously absent from the university libraries. Microfilms are photographic reproductions of printed material stored in small rolls of film for use in a projector. The objective was to develop a complete…
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The library’s historic copy of the Declaration of Independence from the Lord George Germain papers was lent to the Library of Congress as part of the celebration of the bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson’s birth. This copy featured the original signatures and is generally considered the true original, however, another copy that…
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The first issue of The Quarto, the library’s biannual newsletter, was published during the war. It was introduced by the editors as a “news sheet for the dissemination of interesting information about books, manuscripts, newspapers, maps, and prints.”
Howard H. Peckham, curator of manuscripts in the Clements Library, was appointed University war historian, and charged both with compiling the story of the University’s war activities and with issuing public reports on the subject from time to time. The University, according to the President’s Report for 1943-44, was “determined…
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During the war, the library received invasion notices: “William Clements library at the University of Michigan has just received a set of notices prepared for civilians of France for the invasion. Sent by a former student, they include General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s proclamation that ‘the hour of deliverance had arrived.’…
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