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| Clements Library | |
|---|---|
| Name | Clements Library |
| Established | 1923 |
| Location | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Type | Special collection, research library |
| Collection size | Manuscripts, rare books, maps, prints |
| Director | (see Governance and Funding) |
| Website | (not included) |
Clements Library is a research library and rare-book repository at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in the early 20th century by bibliophile William L. Clements, the library emphasizes primary-source materials for the study of American Revolution, Colonial America, Westward expansion, and related topics. It serves scholars, curators, and public historians with manuscript collections, printed materials, cartographic holdings, and graphic arts spanning the early modern and modern eras.
The library was founded by William L. Clements, an industrialist and collector active in Detroit, Michigan, Yale University donor circles, and the network of Gilded Age bibliophiles connected to Henry Cabot Lodge, Andrew Carnegie, and J. Pierpont Morgan. Its initial endowment and building in Ann Arbor were influenced by trustees drawn from University of Michigan leadership, Regents of the University of Michigan, and collectors associated with American Antiquarian Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, and New-York Historical Society. During the interwar period acquisitions linked the library to agents in London, Paris, and Amsterdam who negotiated items formerly in collections of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington. In the postwar decades, curators collaborated with historians at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and Princeton University to expand holdings relevant to Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Manifest Destiny. Recent administrative developments have connected the library to digital initiatives like those at Library of Congress, Digital Public Library of America, and HathiTrust.
The holdings include manuscripts, rare imprints, maps, broadsides, newspapers, and visual materials documenting figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Washington, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Benedict Arnold, and Paul Revere. Printed materials span works by John Locke, Edmund Burke, David Hume, Adam Smith, and pamphlets associated with the Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts. Map collections contain cartography by John Rocque, Abraham Ortelius, Gerardus Mercator, Thomas Hutchins, and Lewis and Clark Expedition field maps, as well as military maps used in the Battle of Saratoga, Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Bunker Hill, and Battle of Long Island. Manuscript groups feature letters from Ethan Allen, Horatio Gates, Nathanael Greene, Rufus King, and diplomatic papers linked to Treaty of Paris (1783), Jay Treaty, and Treaty of Ghent. The graphic arts holdings include prints and engravings by Paul Revere, John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale, and broadsides advertising performances at Federal Street Theatre. Holdings also intersect with collections on African American history figures like Frederick Douglass, Phillis Wheatley, and abolitionist ephemera tied to William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Tubman. The library’s newspaper archives document colonial and early national period publications such as the Pennsylvania Gazette, Boston Gazette, and Gazette of the United States.
Scholars from institutions including Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, Harvard University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Ohio State University, University of Chicago, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Virginia consult the collections. The reading room supports on-site hands-on examination of materials conforming to standards used by Bodleian Library, British Library, and National Archives and Records Administration. The library participates in interlibrary collaboration with Newberry Library, American Antiquarian Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, New-York Historical Society, and William L. Clements Fellowship programs that foster research in early American history. Digital access initiatives coordinate with HathiTrust, Google Books, and Digital Public Library of America for selected items.
Public programs include lectures, seminars, and exhibitions developed with partners such as Department of History (University of Michigan), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Detroit Institute of Arts, American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Archivists. Fellowship programs support scholars affiliated with National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Educational outreach engages local schools in Ann Arbor Public Schools and collaborates with university courses focused on Early American Studies, Atlantic World, Native American history figures and treaties, and research methods used by curators from Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress.
The original building, designed in an early 20th-century architectural mode, is situated near Hatcher Graduate Library and the University of Michigan Law School campus. Facilities include climate-controlled stacks, a conservation lab equipped for paper, leather, and map repair used by conservators trained at Winterthur Museum and Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, and secure reading rooms modeled on practices at the Bodleian Library and Vatican Library. Exhibition galleries have hosted displays curated in collaboration with William L. Clements donors and external institutions such as New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Significant acquisitions have included manuscript letters linked to George Washington’s correspondence, rare editions of John Smith and William Bradford’s works, and maps related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Henry Hudson. Exhibits have showcased artifacts and documents connected to American Revolution personalities, the War of 1812, and transatlantic print culture featuring items from Benjamin Franklin, Mercy Otis Warren, John Peter Zenger, and Phillis Wheatley. Loan exhibitions have partnered with New-York Historical Society, American Antiquarian Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, and Library of Congress to present themed shows on the Founding Fathers, the Atlantic slave trade, and early American print networks.
Governance has involved a board of trustees and university oversight with connections to University of Michigan Board of Regents, philanthropy from families and foundations including the William L. Clements estate, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Kresge Foundation, Ford Foundation, and private donors with ties to Detroit Historical Society and regional benefactors. Endowment management aligns with university fiscal offices and philanthropic practices similar to those at Harvard Library and Yale University Library. The director and curatorial staff coordinate acquisitions and grants with agencies such as National Archives and Records Administration and scholarly organizations like the Organization of American Historians.
Category:Libraries in Michigan