The Book Division of the William L. Clements Library cares for a collection of printed Americana containing over 77,000 books, pamphlets, broadsides, and periodicals. Clements records are searchable in MIRLYN, the on-line catalog of the University of Michigan library.Books acquired before 1970 are surveyed in the Author/Title catalog of Americana, 1493-1860, in the William L. Clements Library (Boston : G.K. Hall, 1970).
History of the Division:
The books collection of the Clements Library had its origin in the collecting activities of William L. Clements (1861-1934) of Bay City, Mich., an 1882 graduate of the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. As a young engineer in the 1890s, Mr. Clements developed an interest in the history of the Old Northwest frontier, and began selecting and acquiring rare Americana. After becoming a Regent of the University in 1909, Mr. Clements made contacts with book dealers Lathrop C. Harper of New York and Henry N. Stevens of London, who helped guide his collecting activities into the period of exploration and discovery, the first settlements in North America, and the American Revolution. These became the strengths of the book collection that Mr. Clements donated to the University of Michigan in 1923.From its beginning, the Clements Library was envisioned as a center for the study of primary source materials, that is, materials published at the time of the events with which they deal. Today the Library is still dedicated to collecting primary source materials documenting the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the American continent, and, somewhat more restrictively, aspects of the cultural, military, political, and social history of the present-day United States, from its beginning through the mid-20th century.
Collecting strengths
The book collections of the Clements Library are particularly rich in the following areas:
- Agriculture
- African-American history
- Almanacs
- American philosophy
- The American Revolution
- Astronomy
- Bibliography (including catalogs of notable book dealers and book sales from the mid-19th century to the present)
- Book collecting
- British political history, 1750-1790
- Colonization
- Christopher Columbus
- Cookery
- Crime
- Discovery and exploration
- Economics
- Education
- Ephemeral literature on travel and leisure-time activities
- Foreign affairs
- Benjamin Franklin
- Geography
- Humor
- Indian captivity narratives
- Land companies
- Latin America
- Abraham Lincoln
- Literature
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Mexico and Texas
- Military history (from the earliest colonial wars to the 20th century)
- Native Americans and their relations with European settlers
- Overland narratives
- Thomas Paine
- Political science
- Printing
- Reforms
- Religion
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Science
- Sermons and orations
- Slavery and anti-slavery
- Sports
- Theater
- Travel accounts
- George Washington
- World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
- Women's Studies
There are also the collections of the "voyages" of De Bry, Hulsius, and Lahontan; of early printings of colonial laws; the Federal Constitution; the Federalist; books for children; and the Jesuit relations. Broadsides, government documents, periodicals, and publications of historical societies are kept in separate classifications. In addition, a separate, select collection of secondary historical works is maintained for use by visiting scholars.
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