THE MICHIGAN DAI
-Dal-Robert Kaner
LOOKING AT HISTORY-An observer in the Main Room of the William L. Clements Library finds
herself looking back in time at early Americana, as she is surrounded by period furnishings and
cases of books dating from the late 15th century to the early 19th century. The Mlain Room is also
used on occasion for special lectures, teas and receptions honoring University guests.
-Daily-Robert Kanner
CAMPUS LANDMARK-A familiar sight along South University Street is the Italian Renaissance
marble facade of the William L. Clements Library of Americana. The building, erected in 1923,
houses one of the country's few collections on all aspects of American history and life, from the
discovery of the New World to the 19th century westward movement.
Clements Library Preserves Collection of Americana
By CHARLAINE ACKERMAN room carries the observer from A dark mahogany concert piano
Warm, sunny days invariably the architecture of Columubs' day sits imposingly in one corner,a
bring out a dozen or so student to the furnishings of pre-revolu- while a great studded "treasure
artists who, sprawled on the tionary America. chest" that once held the papers',
benches in front of the William L. History of Conquests of Sir Henry Clinton. BritishI
Clements Library of Americana. It is this Main Room that holds Revolutionary commander-in-
are intent on depicting its white the bulk of the Library's 38,000 chief, sits mysteriously in another.
Italian Renaissance facade inprinted books. Enclosed In tall, Oil Portraits
water colorsu . glassed-in cages, they are ar- A balcony takes up a sizable
Were they to capture its true ranged in chronological order portion of the wood-paneled walls,
personality and for once go inside around the large room. from which several historical fig-
the building, they would find a When the light flecks of dust ures done in oil look sternly on.
nmableeteriorOersmteacsare blown away from their en- The only sound to be heard, other,
marble exterior. One step across graved leather bindings, they re- than one's own movements, is that
the threshhold and into the main veal titles in Latin, Spanish, of the grandfather's clock, as it
French. German and English, seems to tick back the centuries.
spanning the history of European The most valuable books in the
For the best bU conquests in the Americas. Library are given maximum pro-
Not only the books create the tection against fire and theft in
still atmosphere of a library. The the Rare Book Room. Later period
on campus furnishings give the observer the furnishings relieve it from the
feeling that he is violating the rather musty atmosphere of the
See Page I of large drawing room of an early adjacent Main Room, although it
American mansion. Stiff, upright is considerably smaller than its,
Student Directory upholstered chairs are grouped neighbor and protected with steel
around large colonial tables in shutters over the windows at
%arious parts of the room. night.
Heart of Collectiont
The heart of the Library's ol-
the Library to find its other dis-
play areas, the Map and Print
Division and the Manuscript col-
lection. As graphic materials,
maps reveal the extent of geo-
graphical knowledge about North
America at any given time, oftenj
providing an explanation of whyl
Europeans thought as they did
about this country.
About 42,000 maps in sheets or
in atlases, of which 1,000 arel
unique manuscript maps, consti-
tute the map collection, the prints
being comprised of engraved and
etched portraits, views of places1
and events and political cartoons.
American Revolution
Among the 200,000 letters and
documents gathered in the Manu-
script Division, the most impres-
sive are several large collections
dealing with the American Revo-
lution. The Library is especially
noted for its collection of the cor-
respondence of British generals in
the latter half of the 18th cen-
tury.
Although the Library, with its
antique furnishings and musty,
yellowed collections, seems to sug-
gest a stagnant, non-progressive
organization, the opposite holds
true.
Since the Libr ary was presented
and later a University Regent, the
University has continued to sup-
port and enlarge the Library as
a center for advanced research in
early Americana,
Tripled in Size
Since he donated his original
collection of 12,000 books on
American Histor . efore 1900, the
Library has tripled in size. The
original building, in the style of
architecture that was in vogue in
northern Italy when Columbus
first sailed to the New World,?
still stands.,
The scope of the Library's col-
lection has also expanded. It now
covers the period between 1493'
and 1830, including the discovery
and exploration of the New World,
early settlements in America, the
Indian Wars, the American Revo-
lution, the beginnings of the fed-
eral government, the War of 1812
and the westward movement.
Contains 'Americana' y
"The Library's holdings com-
prise more than military and
political history," Director of the
Library Prof. Howard H. Peckham
of the history department, said.
"We try to have material on all
aspects of American life; and
consequently, we often speak of
the collection as Americana rath-
er than American history. We
have books, therefore, on econom-
ic history, astronomy, botany, lit-
erature, philsophy and geography,
"The material on the shelves is
'source material,"' Prof. Peckham
explained. "Our ideal is to try to
obtain the eyewitness account of
an event written and published
shortly after the event took place.
We also attempt to procure first
editions of an author's work,
As authors reveal the treasures
of the Library to the general read-
ing public, the dusty books on the
glassed-in shelves are opened for
those other than researchers and
histrians to read.
"Tradition fades but the writ-
ten record remains ever fresh,"
says the inscription on the Li-
brary's facade, near one of its
graceful, curved arches. Perhaps
the Library's many painters will
include it for posterity in their
works.
r1
I
t
lection is found in this treasure
room. Selected titles, encompass-i
ing manuscripts from Columbus'
report of his first voyage to the
first Detroit city directory of 1837,
are given special care here be-1
cause of their importance and
uniqueness.
The observer must steal about
Housing Units To Compete
For Lantern Night Positions
to the University in 1923 as a gift
by William L. Clements, an alum-
nus of the Colleg e of Engineering
4
I
RELAX! Enjoy Yourself!
cone to
International Folk Dancing
TONIGHT at 7:30
and Every Tuesday Eveningf
B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation.., 1429 Hill
l
i
st
t
j
i
C ,
W1ESTINGHOUSE
presents
SSelf-Service laundry in one hour
Wash, fluff dry, and SAVE
* Drop-off Service-Same Day
* 48-hou SHIRT S ERCVICE
* Same-day Dry Cleaning
on Request
* SAVE 25% on Budget Plan
HOURS: 7:30 A.M. to 9 P.M.
510 EAST WILLIAMS
More than 400 women will takej
part in tonight's Lantern Night
Sing eliminations, as 21 housing
units compete for the 12 places
on the Lantern Night program.
This year, Lantern Night will
honor all freshmen and new trans-
Latin Amea
Scholarships
Now Available
An increased number of nation-
al scholarships for study in Latin
America have been made available'
by the International Exchange
Service of the State Department.
Applications for approximately
75 new scholarships under the
Inter-American Cultural Conven-
tion program will be taken until
Jan. 15, 1959, by the Institute of
International Education.
The added scholarships provide
for study in Bolivia, Colombia,
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guate-
mala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicar-
agua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay
and Venezuela.
Information and application
forms may be obtained from the
Institute of International Educa-
tion, 116 S. Michigan Ave., Chi-
cago 3, Ill.
LAKE DESIGNS
-ARTS AND CRAFTS-
-MOSAIC S--
-JEWELRY-
209 SOUTH STATE STREET
Below Bob Marshall's
Book Store
fer women students on campus.
Special personal invitations will
be delivered to all new women
students for the Nov. 3 Lantern
Night program.
For tonight's eliminations, the
groups taking part in the program
will be judged for the sing on the
basis of best performance, accu-
racy, interpretation, artistic ef-
fect, rhythm, tone diction, pre-
sentation and appearance.
Two cups are awarded to the
winning groups on Lantern Night.
A silver loving cup with the
group's name engraved on it will
go to the winner of the sing. An-
other cup will go to the group
judged on elimination night to
have displayed the best posture.
Judges for the sing will be Prof.
John A. Flower and Sally A. Mon-
sour of the music department and
Beth Hyde. Posture Judges will
be from the women's physical edu-
cation department. Prof. Esther
French of the education school
will award the posture cup on
Lantern Night.
PSYCholo1gist
To Give Talk
Prof. L. R. Hoffman of the psy-
cholgy department will discuss
the role of psychology in business
at the Society for Advancement
of Management meeting at 7:30
p.m. tomorrow in Rm, 64 of the
Business Administration Building.
The topic of the discussion will
be "Are Business and Industry
Mantraps?" N o r w o o d Dixon,
SAM's vice-president of publicity,
said,
The problems revolving around
an individual's productivity and
conformity to the business organ-
ization will be discussed. Prof,
Hoffman will talk about some of
the findings of recent research
into these fundamental problems
of effective management.
Prof. Hoffman has been engaged
in research for business and in-
dustry on such problems,
'I
e
~4
4i
DEP
T. OF SPEECH
I
PLAYBIL '58/59
"COSI FAN TUTTE"and an Original
HOPWOOD AWARD PLAY.... FBEE
~mx~z* * * *-* *a I*I*I
i
i
COMING
ON STAGE IN PERSON
THURS., OCT. 30th
DON'T MISS ITI
bill gT [ DDITCm ~ _______
Imo'> " t .. I I ..ffi .:..s
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