The uartoISSUED FOR THE CLEMENTS LIBRARY ASSOCIATES

Up-to-date Gifts

Tru: LIBRARY WISHES to gratefully acknowledgethe contribution of two photoduplication ma­chines and a computer from the Ford MotorCompany. Technologically speaking, we havepreviously been indebted only to Gutenberg andthe inventors of the typewriter for OUf day-to­day business, but we enter the modern age withenthusiasm! The copying machines, one of themwith reduction capability particularly suited tosheet music, will minimize the security risks in­volved in taking rare materials out of the build­ing for photoreproduction. The computer hasgreat potential for cataloging, initially at least fornon-book material such as music, prints, andperhaps manuscripts.

New in the Manuscript Division

Two I\lANUSCRIPT LOTS of Revolutionary Wardate acquired at auction in the past year deservenotice. Last fall we added to our extensive Loyal­ist holdings three dozen letters from HenryAddison (1717-1789) to Jonathan Boucher(1738-1804) . The majority were written duringthe war from England , where both Anglicanclergymen had Iled in 1776.

Addison , well connected by family ties inMaryland, matriculated at Oxford and wasordained in England in 1742 before returning tothe colony. He befriended aud helped to advancethe career of Boucher in Maryland and Virginia.T he letters provide an interesting picture of thedifficult situation Loyalists faced in Britain.Highly enamored of a British society which paidthem little respect, they were critical ofAmericanpolicies, but homesick for their native land, andoverly optimistic as to the effectiveness of Britishtroops against American forces.

Boucher, an Englishman by birth, remained inBritain and attained some recognition as a philol­ogist and historian . Addison returned to Amer­ica in late 1781, and he remained within British

NUMBER 138, SEPTEMBER, 1983

lines in New York until the evacuation . His lettersduring this period offer much insight into theuncomfortable position of a British sympathizerat a time when American success had beenassured but peace negotiations were not yet com­pleted. The correspondence, which sufferedwater damage at some point in the present cen­tury, is being carefully restored.

The other acquisition is a merchant's letter­book of considerable importance in document­ing events in Revolutionary South Carolina. Thelarge folio volume contains correspondence oftwo distinct but related individuals. The first twothirds, several hundred letters, is the businesscorrespoudence of Peter Leger and the Charles­tou firm of Leger & Greenwood between 1770and 1775. By the latter date, non-exportationagreements put an end to a moderately lucrativetrade by which rice and indigo were collected atCharleston and Georgetown and sent to Britain,Portugal , and Grenada, aud "dry goods" wereimported from England for sale and barter in thefirm's Charleston store. The letters, particularlythose with Greenwood & Higginson, the firm'sLondon supplier of goods and credit, provide athorough portrait of the workings of imperialtrade in a colony which had a unique economicbase in the American colonies.

Leger & Greenwood made the mistake ofsecuring the contract for selling East India Com­pany tea in 1774, and there is interesting cor­respondence relating to South Carolina's equiv­alent of the Boston Tea Party. The firm alsoexecuted special orders for its leading colonialcustomers. There is information on importationof such items as fowling pieces, a billiard lable, amarble tombstone, and house furnishings. Inone unusual transaction, they even shipped apre-fabricated house to the island of Grenada!

The final portion of the book is the cor­respondence of Abram Greenwood , dated 1788,when the imminent ratification of the UnitedStates Constitution indicated the possibility ofcollecting pre-war debts owed to British mer-

THE CLEMENTS LIBRARY ASSO CIATESof The University of Michigan

B O ARD OF G O V ERN ORS

Appointed by the Regents of the University

Mrs. John Alexander, Ann ArborMrs . Noyes L. Avery, Jr. , Grand Rapid,Robert P. Briggs, Elk RapidsMrs . Margaret B. Cameron, Ann ArborC. E. Frazer Clark, Jr. , Bloomfield H illsBly Corning, FlintThomas N. Cross, Ann ArborDuane N. Diedrich , Muncie, l nd.,

V ICE C HA I RMAN

Harlan II. Hatcher, Ann ArborWalt er Hayes, A nn ArborPeter N. Heydon, Ann ArborKeith D. Jensen , Ann ArborDr. T homas C. Kingsley, Atlanta. Ga.J am es M. Klancnik, ChicagoCleveland Thurber, Jr. , Grosse Pointe FarmsRoy 1\1. Tolleson, Jr., DetroitMrs . David F. Upton, St. J oseph, CHA IRMANJ ohn D. Wheeler, Bay CityJohn C. Dann, Director of the Library ,

SECRETARY

HONORARY BOARD M EMB ERS

Ca rl W. Bonhright, FlintEdward W. Bowen, Bay CityWilliam C. Finkenstaedr, Grosse Pointe FarmsHoward H. Peckham, Hendersonville, N.C.J am es S. Schoff, New YorkLee D. van Antwerp, Northbrook, Ill .

chants. This Greenwood famil y member be­longed to the Brit ish firm , which was onl y dis­tantly related and not particularl y fri endl ytoward its South Carolina cousins. In effect,Abram was actin g in Charleston as a collection

agent for Leger & Greenwood in the interest ofpaying off that defunct bu sin ess's debts to itsLondon supplier, Greenwood & Higginson . Thiswas an emotio nal political issue in co lonies whichhad been ravaged by British armies, and it is anaspect of post-war history abo ut which we havefew hard facts. In providing a very detailed rec­ord of on e particularly important firm's ex peri­ence , the corres po nde nce is of much greater re­search value than is found in most mercantilerecords.

CLA Board Memb ers

A GLANCE at our list of th e Clements Libr ar yAssociates ' Board of Gov ernors will indicatesome changes. By action o r the Regents of theU nive rsity, a n evv• catego ry of member ship ,"Ho no rary Board Members," has been createdfor former members whose schedules or placesof residence make active participati on impos­sible, but whose interest in the welfare of theinstitution and the Associat es co ntinues.

Six individuals have been elected to the group:Ca rn y. Bonhright ofFlint, Edward W. Bowen ofBay City, William C. Finke nstaedt of GrossePointe Farms, Howard H. Peckham or Hender­so nville , North Carolina, James S. Schoff ofNew York , and Lee D. van Antw erp of North­brook, Illinois.

In addition , the Board of Governors is pleasedto anno unce the addition of two new members toits active ranks: Keith D. J ensen of Ann Arborand Cleveland Thurber. Jr. , o r Gro sse PointeFarms.

M onu mental Acquisition.

IFYo u SHO ULJ) P ASS By the front of the Library,it might appear on first glance that the spaceproblem referred to in ou r last issue had sud­denly reached such a critical stage that we hadbegun to shelve our largest book s o n the frontlawn . In reality, these volumes, unquestionablythe weightiest tomes in our inventory (close too ne ton for the three volumes) , have spent theirentire "lives"of a centuryor more weathering theelem ents o f Ann Arbo r.

Those with memories of our town stretchingback thirt y years or more will remember thestately Beal home at the corner of Fifth andWilliam Streets. Rice A. Beal purch ased th ehouse shortly afte r it was built in the 1860 's. In1869 he bought the famous Stea m Press of Dr .A. \V . Chase and took over the publication andmarketin g of Chase's well-know n receipt book

and the Ann Arbor Courier. Under the editorshipof his son, Junius E. Beal, the Courier-Registerbecame one of Michigan's leading newspapers,while the press continued to publish occasionalbooks.

Junius Beal was a classmate of WilliamClements in high school and at the University(class of '82), and they were to serve together asregents for a quarter of a century, from the lastyears of Angell's presidency until that of Ruth­ven. Like Clements, Beal was a true book lover.His personal library was voluminous and particu­larly noteworthy for examples of fine printingand incunabula (books printed between 1450 and1500). When Clements began dropping broadhints about establishing a rare book library at theUniversity, no one was quicker to grasp his visionor more supportive in making it a reality thanBeal. He donated the Americana he possessedwhen the Clements opened its doors in 1923.

To return to the books on the Library's frontlawn, the Real home was graced with a ratherremarkable and appropriate set ofcarriage steps,fashioned, presumably by a local monumentcarver, in the form of three leather-bound books,two of them with spines outward, and a thirdacross them on top. They were carved from ahard brown sandstone similar in color to theLibrary's exterior. _

Loretta Real Jacobs, daughter ofJunius Real,and her children presented these remarkablevolumes to the Library in a small, informal cere­mony on August 29th. They are a wonderful,delightfully unusual addition to the Universitycampus. They will serve as a fitting memorial toJunius E. Real, regent with the longest tenurein the University's history (1907-1939), biblio­phile, and close, personal friend of William L.Clements.

Book Beat

AN ESSAY entitled "Nineteenth-Century Amer­ican March Music and John Philip Sousa," byPauline Norton, our sheet music curator, wasrecently published in Perspectives on John PhitipSousa, edited by John Newsom. Ms. Nortonattended the grand celebration of the book'spublication by the Music Division of the Libraryof Congress last August. The gala included astirring performance by the U.S. Marine Band.The handsome book is available either throughthe Government Printing Office or the Libraryof Congress, for $17.00, and we highly recom­mend it to your attention.

Spectator Sport

DAVE WINFIEl.D, formerly a Rig 10 athlete at tbeUniversity of Minnesota and now the nemesisof the Detroit Tigers as an outfielder with theYankees, was recently hauled into court inToronto for accidentally killing a seagull whilereturning a practice ball to the infield. The presshad a field day with the incident, which high­lighted the exceptional sensitivity of the modernage to animal preservation.

Our ancestors were not so fastidious. A news­paper clipping of 1874, reprinting an 1827 letterfrom Ruffalo, New York, is included in a scrap­book on Great Lakes navigation which recentlycame our way. It describes a rather strange spec­tator event staged on September 8, 1827, atNiagara Falls.

"The schooner Michigan was the largest onLake Erie and too large in fact to enter the var­ious harbors 011 the lake, and being somewhatdecayed in her upper works, the thought struckthe owner, Mr. Frazer, formerly of New York,that she would answer the purpose of testing thefate of a vessel that by accident might approachtoo near the stupendous cataract of Niagara, andalso of the fate of animals that might be caught inthe rapids....

"The proprietors of the large public housesat the Falls, on both sides of the river [seagull­protective Canadians take note], and of stagesand steamboats, made up a purse to purchase theschooner, aware that they would be repaid by thecompany which the exhibition would attract. ...

"For several days previous to the 8th the stagescame crowded, as well as the canal boats.... OnFriday night, the 7th, wagons filled with countrypeople rattled through this town all night, and onSaturday morning Buffalo itself seemed to bemoving in a mass towards the grand point ofattraction.

"The Chippewa was appointed to tow downthe pirate schooner (as she was termed), theMichigan .... Three o'clock was the hourappointed to weigh anchor on the Michigan. Thetask of towing her from Yale's Landing to therapids was intrusted to Captain Rough, the oldestcaptain on the lake. With a yawl and five oars­men, of stout hearts and strong anns, the oldcaptain got the schooner under way and towedher till within one quarter of a mile of the firstrapids ... and cutting her adrift she passedmajestically on, while the oarsmen of the yawlhad to pull for their lives to effect their ownsafety.... The Michigan, unguided by humanagency [but containing a "crew" of life-sized

effigies a nd a stra nge assort men t of a n imals],ap proached , head o n, th e first rapid or descent,and a p pa re n tly keeping th e very co urse that th emost skillfu l navigator would have pursued. hav­ing a n American ensign flying from her bow ­sprit, and the British Jack displayed a t her stern.. . p assed the first rapid unhurt , st ill headon. . . . In her d escent over th e second her mastswe n t by the bo ard.

" Ex pectat ion of her fa te was now at the high­est. Sh e swu ng round and presented her broad­sid e to the d ashing foamin g wate rs, and afterremaining stationary for a moment or two was ,by its force, swung round, ste rn fo re most, a ndhaving passed to the third rapid she bilged b utcarried her hull a p pare n tly whole , bet ween GrassIsland a nd the Bri tish shore to th e Horse Sh oe ,over which she was carried ste r n fo remost a ndla u nc hed into th e a byss below. In her fall sh e wasdashed into a thousand pieces . . .."

But as to the live passengers: "They consistedof a buffalo from the Rocky Mountains, threebea rs from Gree n Ba y a nd Grand River, twofoxes, a racoon, a dog, a cat, and four geese. . ..They were let loose on d eck, except th e buffalo ,who was e nclosed in a temporary pen . Two ofthebears le ft the vessel shortly a fte r she began todescend the rapids, and swam ashore .. . . Thebuffalo was seen to pass over the falls , but was notvisib le a ft e rwa rds . ... Those who had glassescould see one o f the bears climbing th e mast asth e vessels approach ed. T he foxes, crc., were a lsorunning up a nd d own, but nothing was seen ofthem afte r th e schoone r passed over. Two o f th ege ese were th e only livin g things whi ch passedover , a n d th ey were taken up unhurt. .. .Respecting the e ffi gies, o f which there wereseve ral , the only one I saw helow th e falls wasGeneral Andrew J ackson, a p parently uninjured,throwing his a rms abo ut a nd kn ocking his legstogether in th e ed d ies.. . . The re were over30 ,000 people in atte ndance."

To Oxford

Profes sor J ohn Shy , a member of th e ClementsLibra ry Com mittee o f Management, has be e ngiven th e H arm sworth Professorship a t O xfordU n ivers ity for th e 1983-8'1 term. This is the firs ttime a member of the Un ive rsity o f Michiganfaculty has received this cove ted award. ArleneSh y. lI ead of Reader, Research Services, will j oinLincoln Co llege, Oxford, where she will pursu ethe D. Phil. d egree , wo rking in 18th-centuryAnglo-French h istory.

Timely Collecting

H AVI NG RECENTLY ACQUIRED a sizable numbero f Con federate ne wspape rs, we had reaso n tolook over our holdings o f wartime d ate . Amongthose alread y on the shelves are th e first twenty­two issues of The Richmond Whig (Apr il 4-28,18( 5), the earliest paper' to resume pu blica tionafte r the April 3 withd rawal of th e Con federa tea r my. Much of the city co nt in ued to burn whenth e sing le. crud ely-printed sheet hit th e streets.a nd over th e next few week s its pages co nta ine dth e best prima ry documentation o f th e dramaticfall o f Richmond.

While residents began cleaning up debris andputt ing th eir lives back together a mid vast un ­cer tai n ties, northerners flocked to th e city indroves: congressm en , busin essm en a nd specu­lat o rs. a nd curiosity seekers. Among them werehistorians a nd collectors, a nd an a r ticle in th eApril 28 Wh il[ helps to ex p lain wh y so muchCo n fed e rate Americana made its wa y to north­ern libraries a nd collectio ns:

" l lI ST O RIC A L RESEARCHES. Any numbero f historians th at are to be , members o f historicalsocieties, savants o f learning a nd researc h arein Richmond intent upon huntin g up and ap­p ropriating a ny littl e reco rd , sc rap o f history.reli c o r memorial th at might serve to adorn thepages o f history, or fill a niche in the museum ofcuriosities of th e 'Great Rebellion' - its rise ,progress, decline and fall , with souvenirs ofauthors and leaders. Prominent among th ethings most to be d esired a re th e a utographs o fJ eff. Davi s, the Cabinet, a nd ot her prominentactors in the drama of the Rebellion .

"Se a rc hers a bo ut th e public bu ildings ha vebeen fortunate e nough to ge t hold o f great bun­dl es of public documents, 'o f no usc to an y onebut the owne r, ' hut ofincakuable valuable [sir] toautograph hunt ers, who pay fabulous prices forth em. Copies of th e Virginia Ordinance ofSeces­sio n , th e o rigi na l o f which , we beli e ve , was de­st royed with the Sta te Court House , are in ac tived emand, but the su p p ly is lim ited from the factthat only e no ugh co p ies were struck to supply th emembers o f th e Conven tion who sig ned th edocument. A few are to be found in the cit y.

"T he daily jou rnals and other papers of th eConfederate Co ngress were moved with th e Gov­ernment, and we suppose a re SC311ered some­where a long th e route of flight : act ive searchersmi gh t be able to pi ck u p so meth ing in thatdirection. . . ."

It was just over a month later th at the historianFr ancis Parkman would visit th e city with apo ck etful of northern cu rre ncy a nd put intomotion th e syste matic collection of Co n federa teprinted mate rial whi ch , illogicall y, made th eBoston Athenaeu m , th en a nd now. th e greatestco llect io n o f sou thern wa rt ime imprin ts .