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Adopt a Piece of History

Honor a loved one or commemorate a special event with a tribute through our Adopt a Piece of History program. Your gift will be acknowledged via a virtual bookplate. Digital bookplates are flexible and can bear the name of the individual being honored or remembered, as well as the name of the thoughtful donor. Your support strengthens our collections by helping with acquisitions, conservation, digitization and other priorities of the Clements Library.

Virtual Bookplates Gallery

This digital and commemorative program is a wonderful way to convey your personal commitment to the study of history and preservation of past knowledge and voices. Adoptions are an excellent way to commemorate an occasion, celebrate a milestone, or honor a great achievement.

Please explore the available tributes highlighted below!

Do you have something in particular in mind? We are always happy to help identify more historical materials needing support that are meaningful to yourself or a loved one. To discuss your ideas or if you have any other questions, please contact:

Anne Bennington-Helber, Assistant Director of Development
[email protected] / 734-649-3370

Although he was famous on two continents, visual images of the bandleader and composer Francis Johnson are rare. The horn player in this 1844 illustrated cover may well represent Johnson in his band uniform. Johnson was the first African American composer to be published in the sheet music format and is considered to be America's first band master.

Francis Johnson Sheet Music, “Boone Infantry Brass Band Quick Step”

$1000 | Books, Graphics

This rare 1844 musical score by African American composer and virtuoso musician Francis Johnson is dedicated to the famous Planters' House hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. The illustration shows the hotel with a brass band performing in front— possibly the only known image of Johnson's band, which traveled the Eastern U.S. and Britain. Missouri, a slave state, issued a fine to Johnson for violating its strict laws against free Blacks entering the state.

Francis Johnson Sheet Music, “Planters’ House Assembly Waltz”

$1000 | Books, Graphics

Relief Map of North America created by L. R. Klemm (1845-1925) in 1889. He developed the idea of printed tactile maps to engage sighted students kinesthetically, an educational strategy about which he learned in Europe and one that was successful for teaching the blind.

Klemm, “The Relief Practice Map: North America”

$1000 | Maps

Bound in marbled goatskin, covers and spine tooled in gold. An account of the early history of Catholic missions in California, and the relations of the missions to the Native Americans.

“Histoire Chrétienne de la Californie.” 1851.

$1256 | Books

The Clements is fundraising to greatly expand capacity to digitize our substantial manuscript collections from the American Revolution. By sponsoring the purchase of an HP ProDesk 600 G5-Performance computer and 27” monitor, you make a critical contribution to this effort.

Computer Station for Scanning

$1350 | Digitization

The Salomon Family Photograph Album

$1500 | Graphics

We are seeking contributors to help offset the costs of unhinging and re-boxing approximately 11,600 manuscripts in 232 volumes of the Henry Clinton Papers. A donation of $2,000 will support the conservation of Volumes 109-120, which includes a coded letter written by Benedict Arnold in July 1780 describing how he could secure West Point for the British, a singularly powerful document that shows the extent of Arnold's treason.

Conservation of the Henry Clinton papers (1736-1850), Volumes 109-120

$2000 | Conservation, Manuscripts

We are seeking contributors to help offset the costs of unhinging and re-boxing approximately 11,600 manuscripts in 232 volumes of the Henry Clinton Papers. A donation of $2,000 will support the conservation of Volumes 23-34, which contain documents dated August 1777 through May 1778.

Conservation of the Henry Clinton papers (1736-1850), Volumes 23-34

$2000 | Conservation, Manuscripts

Handwritten letters from husbands attempting to contact their deceased spouses, sisters carrying on correspondence between the living and the dead, and many others provide vivid testimony to the grief that fueled Mansfield’s enterprise. Few of these evidential letters survive despite Mansfield’s claim that he wrote well over 100,000 over the course of his career as a writing medium.

Letters to James Mansfield Requesting his Services as a Medium, 1860s-1880s. 30 items.

$2100 | Manuscripts