Angela Oonk

Director of Development

James Sayer produced this etching in 1788 of Alderman John Sawbridge holding out his hat in supplication with a paper inscribed, “Motion for a Reform in the Representation.”

The tradition of passing the hat reflects the power of grassroots fundraising. Now, we can be part of a community like the Clements Library Associates even when we are too far apart to place our contributions into a physical hat. As new needs arise at the Clements, online crowdfunding campaigns have brought people near and far together as they pool their resources in a virtual contribution box.

We invited you to throw your hat in the ring by participating in a recent crowdfunding campaign, “Bit by Bit: Digitizing Clements Collections.” These donations help make invaluable primary sources available online, anytime, anywhere, for free. To do this critical work, we need specialized, state-of-the-art digitization equipment that costs $50,000. This machine is specifically designed to be safe enough to work with fragile and valuable collections like those at the Clements. This is just one example of the power of coming together and passing the hat to bolster the work at the Clements Library. Hats off to our supporters and friends!

As you may know, I wear many hats in my role at the Clements. Once a month, I look forward to hosting The Clements Bookworm gathering together on Zoom to discuss books and historical topics. The virtual circle is further strengthened through engaging conversations and thought-provoking questions among participants. Our west coast friends deserve a feather in their caps for arising at the crack of dawn to join us for the live broadcast. We’re not talking through our hat — this year, the registrations for the Bookworm surpassed 2,500.

In other news, hold on to your hats, because we have begun marking important milestones in celebrating the U.S. Semiquincentennial like the upcoming student-curated exhibit marking the 250th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. The Clements collections offer a rich array of materials to better understand the conflict and follow the variety of individuals impacted.

Please invite your friends to visit the Clements — there is no reason to keep the information under your hat. (As an aside, do you know that Abraham Lincoln kept important papers in his top hat?) After all, it’s not too late to visit even if you graduated and threw your cap in the air!

Longtime Head of Reader Services Terese Murphy retired in early August. Terese first joined the Clements as a volunteer, and then later joined the staff, processing and cataloguing maps before spending fifteen years managing the library’s reading room and remote reference requests. Of more relevance to readers of this publication, she also served as editor of The Quarto. She has been succeeded by Joshua Sulser, who joined the staff in late August. Josh previously served as the Librarian of the Ingalls Library at the Cleveland Museum of Art. An Ohio native, Josh received his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University and his MLIS from Kent State University. We’re delighted to have Josh as a member of the Clements Library team! And congratulations to Terese on her retirement!

Curator of Books and Digital Projects Librarian Emiko Hastings published a review of Kate Ozment’s The Hroswitha Club and the Impact of Women Book Collectors in the September 2025 issue of The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America.

Curator of Maps and Graphics Sierra Laddusaw attended the 2025 annual meeting of the Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML) in Moscow, Idaho. She co-led a pre-conference session on the future of the Online Guide to U.S. Map Collections. She also gave a presentation titled “Come to dwell among us”: Maps, Monsters, and a First Year Literature Course.” The presentation focused on how map librarians can adapt techniques students are learning in class for thinking about and critiquing literature to cartographic materials.

Associate Curator of Manuscripts Jayne Ptolemy presented at the Organization of American Historians conference in Chicago in April. Jayne was part of a panel called “Joy and Pleasure in the Early Republic,” organized by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. Her paper, “Interrupted Histories,” looked at evidence of interruption in manuscript sources to consider how people overcame (or at least acknowledged) the ever-present reality of distraction, and showed how irritating annoyances can shift into moments of community and connection.

Librarian for Instruction and Engagement Maggie Vanderford was awarded the University Librarian Recognition Award at the annual faculty awards ceremony on October 30. The award recognizes active and innovative early career achievement in library, archival or curatorial services. The award is a wonderful recognition of Maggie’s standing as a campus leader in library instruction.

This fall semester, the Clements Library has fourteen student workers and interns working at the library—an all-time high. (You can read about them on the Clements Chronicles blog.) They include undergraduates (majoring in fields from public policy to statistics to German) as well as graduate students in U-M’s School of Information. Thanks to all of the members of the Clements Library Associates whose gifts have helped support these important work opportunities.

Brian Leigh Dunnigan

Many members of the Clements Library community will share our deep sadness at the passing of Brian Leigh Dunnigan, Curator Emeritus of Maps. Brian passed away in Spring Arbor, Michigan on April 10, 2025, following a struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

Born in Detroit in 1949, Brian developed a lifelong passion for early American history—especially the French and Indian War, the Great Lakes, and the War of 1812. He was the son of Dorothy and James Dunnigan, one of Mackinac Island’s longest serving State Park Commissioners.

Brian spent his childhood and many summers on Mackinac Island, where he worked for ten seasons as a historic interpreter at Fort Mackinac and conducted research on the fort’s special collections related to the history of the island and its military outpost.

Brian earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from the University of Michigan, followed by a second graduate degree in museum management from Cooperstown Graduate Program in Cooperstown, New York.

He became the first Director of Historic Fort Wayne in Fort Wayne, Indiana, before moving on to direct and oversee the development of Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York. During his tenure, Brian established numerous historical reenactment programs and publications, and fostered cross-border collaborations with Fort George in Niagara-on-the- Lake, Ontario, and Fort York in Toronto. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at the University at Buffalo.

Among his many accomplishments at Old Fort Niagara, one of the most significant was the return and restoration of the fort’s historic War of 1812 flag from Megginch Castle in Scotland to its home in Youngstown, New York. In 1996, Brian joined the Clements Library as the Curator of Maps.

In addition to caring for the map collections and pursuing his own research, Brian expanded his responsibilities to serve as the Clements’ Interim Director from 2007 to 2008 and was appointed Associate Director in 2010. He also provided leadership for the library’s fellowship programs and served as editor of The Quarto

His scholarly achievements were numerous, but among his most notable publications are Frontier Metropolis (2001) and A Picturesque Situation (2008), both of which reflect his deep expertise and enduring passion for early American history and cartography.

Brian retired from the Clements in July of 2019. In recognition of his many contributions, the Clements Library established the Brian Leigh Dunnigan Fellowship in the History of Cartography to support researchers using the library’s collections of maps. Brian is deeply missed by all of his former colleagues for his vast knowledge of the library’s map collection, as well as his thoughtfulness, generosity, and good humor.