Clements Library Centennial Celebration
Centennial Exhibit
Timeline
As war historian, F. Clever Bald curated a series of exhibitions related to the war materials the Clements had been collecting. Randolph Adams was very alert in securing materials from men in service, and spoke to classes and convocations of training groups on campus to urge them to send what…
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As part of its wartime collecting, the Clements acquired one of the initial 110 copies of the Charter of the United Nations (published June 1945). The copy was received inscribed by Alumnus-Senator-Delegate Arthur H. Vandenberg. The Clements also decided to keep No. 28 of The Missourian (Sep 1945) produced by…
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University of Michigan students performed the Euripides play The Trojan Women on the steps of the Clements Library.
The library held an exhibition titled “Rare and Historically Important Botanical Books,” which was selected and described by Professor H. H. Bartlett for the summer meeting of the Botanical Society of America in 1949.
The library purchased a model of the sidewheel steamboat “Walk-in-the-Water,” famous in the annals of Great Lakes history as the first steamboat to ply Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. Following its launch in 1818, the “Walk-in-the-Water” sailed the lakes for three years before being wrecked in a gale near Buffalo…
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The papers of Lewis Cass—advocate of U.S. expansion into Indian country, Governor of Michigan Territory from 1813 to 1831, U.S. Senator, Secretary of War and Secretary of State—came to the Clements Library in 1950. The papers had thought for 80 years to have been lost. Once a gift to the…
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During the Christmas vacation, the Library held an open house for Ann Arbor residents and visitors from Detroit. About fifty extremely rare books, manuscripts, and maps were selected for the exhibition cases.
Library director Randolph G. Adams died of heart disease in January 1951 at age 58. Adams had been director for 28 years.
The library boasted its improved policy of accessibility and commitment to education and outreach in 1952. Looking back on its developments, the library stated: “Except in these annual reports, the Clements Library has not publicized its desire to make the Library available to groups of students and visitors interested in…
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The Clements hosts a special episode of the radio show “In Our Opinion” in the Rare Books Room with Howard Peckham and William Sheehan, moderated by George Cushing.