Building on a Century of Collecting at the Clements Library

One of the questions staff members of the Clements Library are asked most often is “Do you still add to your collections?” When people hear that the answer is most definitely Yes, the frequent follow-up question is “Well, how do you decide what to add?”

This exhibit is an attempt to answer those questions, as we prepare to celebrate the library’s centennial. It builds on the landmark publication of the library’s 75th anniversary, One Hundred and One Treasures From the Collections of the William L. Clements Library, edited by former library director John Dann. This exhibit—and its expanded online version—pairs items from 101 Treasures with related items that have for the most part been acquired since 1998. Those that were acquired earlier are items about which we’ve learned new things in the intervening 25 years.

Some of these items are connected by common themes, others by geography, and others by format. We hope these pairings of items that speak to each other in various ways will illustrate how collections at the Clements have grown over the past century, building on previous strengths to expand into new areas. Some of the paired items also illustrate how new directions of scholarship lead us to look with new eyes at items that have been in the collection for decades. Thus the development of the library’s collections is not purely numerical. It is also intellectual, as we ask new questions of familiar sources.

This exhibit is also a celebration. A celebration of generations of supporters of the library, whose gifts have helped us expand the library’s collections. A celebration of countless students and researchers who have benefited from these materials. And a celebration of the members of the Clements Library staff who have made our collections accessible to the University of Michigan community and the wider world.