Resources
Explore a curated collection of resources designed to inspire learning, reflection, and engagement as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Clements Library: Online Exhibits
Founded in 1923, the University of Michigan’s Clements Library preserves and provides access to rich collections of print and manuscript materials on North American and Caribbean history, with a focus on 18th and 19th century America. The library produces online exhibits to offer a unique look at their collections.
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"Bloody Work: Lexington and Concord 1775” explores the early months of 1775 in Massachusetts, the battles of April 19, and their immediate aftermath, giving an account of the events that ignited a nearly eight-year Revolutionary War between the British Empire and its American colonies.
Exhibit curated by Cheney J. Schopieray, Curator of Manuscripts
Today the Emancipation Proclamation is one of the nation’s founding documents. It symbolizes a remarkable turning point: slavery’s extinction in the United States became possible and indeed highly likely. Still, our views of that moment may be as varied as they were 150 years ago. 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.
Exhibit developed by The William L. Clements Library and the University of Michigan Law School Program in Race, Law & History in cooperation with the University of Michigan Library Martha S. Jones and Clayton Lewis
Explore the Exhibit
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 relations 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 presents an exhibition drawing on the rich array of primary sources about this conflict found in its collections.Curated by Brian Leigh Dunnigan
For more online exhibits, visit the Clements Library website. Topics include:
- More Than Gray: Reimagining Early America in Full Color;
- An Ungentle Art: Pat Oliphant and the American Tradition of Political Satire;
- The Art of Resistance in Early America;
- Family Secrets: Uncovering Identity in 19th Century America;
- Spy Letters of the American Revolution;
- Framing Identity: Representations of Empowerment and Resilience in the Black Experience;
- And more.
