Home » Public Programs » Exhibits Online Exhibits Submit This exhibit examines how 19th- and 20th-century African American artists and intellectuals expressed identity through portraiture, photography and literature. Framing Identity: Representations of Empowerment and Resilience in the Black Experience This exhibit examines the photographic styles and practices that recorded the people, activities, stereotypes, and myths during the early development of photography, focusing on the Anishinaabe people of the Great Lakes region and beyond. “No, not even for a picture”: Re-examining the Native Midwest and Tribes’ Relations to the History of Photography A project to catalog, digitize, and present a selection of bird’s-eye prints of American cities held by the Clements Library. Birds’-Eye Views of America: An Interactive Map American Encounters highlights the great range and depth of the Clements Library’s collections related to Native American history. The exhibit features items drawn from many areas of the collection, including books, maps, manuscripts, prints, and photographs, which document over four centuries of hi … American Encounters: Native American History at the Clements Library This online exhibit highlights the Clements Library’s best holdings related to the Barbary Wars. Featured items include manuscripts, books, maps, and engravings documenting the United States’ first interactions with the Arab world and the early development of the U.S. Navy. Barbary Wars at the Clements The War of 1812 has sometimes been called a forgotten conflict. This second confrontation between the United States and Great Britain did, in fact, have a considerable influence on the future development of the country as well as its relations with Canada, Native Americans, and Europe. The War of 1812: A Bicentennial Exhibition In 2009 the Clements Library marked the 250th anniversary of the British victories of 1759 by presenting a few of the treasures from its collections that illustrate the events and participants in that momentous year. This online version has been enhanced by the addition of further materials. 1759: Britain’s Year of Victories An introduction to the diverse elements of the 18th century fortifications in America. This online exhibit features examples from the Library’s rich collection of plans and maps. The Geometry of War: Fortification Plans from 18th-Century America The exhibit aims to showcase the spy letters of the Sir Henry Clinton Papers and to situate them in an educational framework. During the war, a complex network of spies, double agents, and traitors emerged in an effort to learn the plans of the enemy before they were enacted. Spy Letters of the American Revolution Norton Strange Townshend (1815-1895) had a long and multi-faceted career in politics, medicine, social reform, and agricultural education. This exhibit illuminates many aspects of his career and life through biographical information and materials from the Norton Strange Townshend Family Papers. “Honest Independence”: The Life of Norton Strange Townshend “Reframing the Color Line: Race and the Visual Culture of the Atlantic World” examines early constructions of race in visual culture and asks “what were the origins of racism’s visual vocabulary?” Reframing the Color Line: Race and the Visual Culture of the Atlantic World Mortality is a useful lens through which we may view many aspects of early American society. This exhibit explores American practices and traditions for coping with death, from the early years of European exploration and discovery to the early 20th century and the burgeoning modern funeral industry. “So Once Were We”: Death in Early America Through an exploration of freedom, military service, executive power and visual representations, Proclaiming Emancipation pays tribute to a near-sacred document steeped in the logics of history and the imaginings of myth. Proclaiming Emancipation A recent acquisition of the largest existing archive of Henry Burbeck papers, dating primarily from the period of Henry Burbeck’s service as Chief of Artillery in the United States Army from 1802-1815. The Henry Burbeck Papers