William L. Clements Library
Current Exhibit
Exhibit in the Great Hall of the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.
The War of 1812: A Bicentennial Exhibition
February 27 — June 1, 2012
Curated by Brian L. Dunnigan
The War of 1812 has sometimes been called a forgotten conflict, one that resolved none of the issues that brought it about. 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 relationships with Canada, Native Americans, and Europe. The bicentennial of the war of 1812 begins this year. To mark the events of 1812-1814, the Clements Library will present an exhibition drawing on the rich array of primary sources about this conflict found in its collections.
Also on display in the Great Hall:
The David P. Harris Collection: A Collector's Look at the War of 1812
In the exhibit case at the east end of the Main Room, this exhibit supplements our main exhibit, The War of 1812: A Bicentennial Exhibition. It presents selections from the David P. Harris Collection on the War of 1812, a significant addition to the Library's holdings on this topic.
David P. Harris, a graduate at Kenyon College, received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan in 1954 and retired as Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University in 1990. In his retirement he has pursued his longtime interest in early U. S. history, collecting original documents with a concentration on the War of 1812 and particularly on materials that reflect the effects of the war on so-called ordinary people or illuminate the personal lives – as distinct from the official acts and decisions – of the better known military figures of the time.
The Languages of Early American History
The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts has designated language as the theme of its Winter 2012 semester. Language plays a central role in virtually all human activity, and it was a critical element in the encounters of peoples that characterize the history of the Americas. While linguistics is not a collecting area for the Clements, the primary source material held by the Library - books, manuscripts, maps, and graphics - were produced in a wide variety of languages representative of the people of the Americas. This exhibit provides a modest but eclectic sampling of the languages represented in the Library's holdings.