"My boy," he exclaimed. "Americana! That's the stuff to collect!" In 1885 Philadelphia bookseller Moses Polock emphatically expressed his fascination with early American history. A generation later William L. Clements shared this sentiment and built his collection inspired by his great predecessors in the arena. Rarities from the remarkable holdings of the Clements Library such as John Eliot's A Brief Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in New England and a manuscript diary of the 1763 Siege of Detroit make this exhibit a panoramic window on the early story of Americana appreciation, collecting and description. From White Kennett, the first great director of Americana, to Hubert Howe Bancroft, who broke new ground in concentrating on the American West, this exhibit tells the stories of sixteen noteworthy specialists who created and nurtured the Americana field from the late seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries.

The companion book will be available in January 2018.  It is available for preorder  here.

Clements Library Earhart Fellow Dr. Sarah E. Gardner has been appointed as Distinguished University Professor of History in the College of Liberal Arts at Mercer University.  " The appointment recognizes extraordinary scholarship or creative work by faculty who have achieved national and international distinction in their fields. "

Read more  here .

We are now accepting applications for 2018 Clements Library Research Fellowships. More information can be found here.

As part of the StoryCorps project, John Dann and Arlene Shy talked with Angela Oonk about their memories of working at the William L. Clements Library. John Dann was Curator of Manuscripts from 1972 to 1977 and Director from 1977 to 2007. Arlene Shy was a member of the  staff, serving in a variety of positions from 1973 to 1999 and is currently a Clements Library Associates board member.

Listen to the full interview  here .