VO L. 1, NO. 11 THE C LEM EN TS LI BRARY ASSOC IATES SPRING 1999

"MY FAVORITE THINGS"TREASURES OF GRAPHIC ART IN THE CLEMENTS LIBRARY

ecognizing theimportance of

graphic materialsas historical

evid ence, over thepast two decad es the ClementsLibrary ha s acti vely collec tedthe pictorial record ofAmerica's past. Beginni ngwith a ra ther random accumu­lation of illustrated books andeighteenth-ce ntury engravedviews, Revolutionary Warcaricatures , a few engravedBritish portrait s. and a scatter­iog of historically importantpictu res, the Library eventuallyacquired a sizea ble collectionof prints. But it was not untilbuilding renovation s werecompleted in 1980 that itwas possible to provide thespecialized care they deserved.The Library 's original read ingroom was converted to the PrintDivision and I agreed to be itsfirst curator, to organi ze adisparate gatheri ng of graphicmateri al, attend to its conserva­tion need s, and beg in a catalog.It would be a seductiveassignme nt, frustratin g on ly inthe lack of time I could devoteto it, given my other Libraryresponsibilitie s.

No longer an aftertho ught,prints were given new priorityin acquisitions . The Librarydeveloped a coll ectin g policythat included a far broaderrange of graphic material­fro m rare colonial print s tonineteenth-century pulpmagazine woodcuts, from finemezzotints to mass-produced

The Edward Savage engrav ing. Liberty a Goddess of Youth,is a triumph ofclassical allegory American style. Publishedin Philadelph ia in 1796, its design appealed to the city 'spatriotic sentiments and aesthetic sense. Philadelphia wasthe largest, wealthiest city in America, and the tempora rycapita l ofthe United States. Prominence had broughtprosperity-s-banking and commerce. trade and manufa cturingboomed, arts and science flourished. Philadelphianswere rapidly expanding their cit)' after the War; creatingtree-lined streets ofred brick houses and elegant new publicbuildings designed in the federa l style. neoclassical desig nfi t for a New Republic.

Savage appealed to his audience with a familiarset ofsymbols. " Youth " is equated with the New Republic."Liberty;" a sensuous, auburn-haired beauty in classicaldress. raises a cup to the bald eagle hovering above herhead; her barefoot tramples the British Order of the Garter;a scepter lies broken nearby. In the background. an Americanfla g and French liberty cap appear to rise heave nward.

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lithograph s, fro m posters toprints on fabric. Every genrewas included- port raits, views ,representa tions of historicalevents, allegorical and satirica lworks , commercial graphic art ,and ephemera of every kind .Hundreds of illustra ted sheetmusic covers were tran sferredto the Print Divi sion, a go ldmine of pictorial ev idencefor social historians workingin the nineteenth and earlytwe ntieth centuries. In creatingthe Print Division , LibraryDirector John Dann pursuedthe same strategy he has usedso successfully to deve lop theLibrary 's other co llect ions­concentrate on one area, thenuse every opportunity to buildon that strength.

As the Library 's PrintDivision has developed overthe past two decades, we havebeen respo nd ing to the chang­ing needs of ou r clientele. Agrow ing number of scholarsin a variety of fields in thehumanities are exploring newways in which visual evidencecan be used to study historical,literary, and cultural questions.Univers ity courses are offe ringundergraduates far moreopportunities to do researchin primary sources, includingvisual images. At the sametime, educators and pub lishersare incorporatin g mo re graphicmaterial in instructio nalpublications, whether intraditional print form or inelectronic forma ts. Televisionproducers and write rs, respond­ing to the surge in popularity of

documentary history program s, havesought fresh. compelling images todramati ze a familiar historical narrati veor to explore new ground.

Curators in rare book librarie s areused to finding what other people arelooking for. not indulging their ownpassions. Yet anyo ne who spends acareer working with rare and beauti fulartifacts develops an affec tionate.intimate relationship with the treasuresunder her care. Over the years, thegreatest pleasure has come from helpingothers explore the Clements' resources,for whether I was helpin g a student orworkin g with a professor. cataloging aprint or designing an exhibit. preparing atalk for UM Alumni or even editin g theQuarto, I was really conducting my owneducation in this extraordinary collec­tion. When John Dann invited me to doan exhibit of graphic art as a retirementfarew ell. his only words were , "Choosethe things you love most." And so Ihave ! A selection from "My FavoriteThin gs" is offered in the hope that ourreaders will enjoy a brief glimpse acrossfive centuries of graphic art.

- Arlene Shy, Head,Reader Service

PRAEFATIO. CA. I.

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- Photography by Patri ck Young

Opposite page, top :Caiu s Juliu s SolinusDe Situ Orbis Terrarum et

Memorabilibus quae MundiAmbitu Continentur Liber

Venice, 1473

Incunabula. books printed before150 1, have a unique beauty. Theseearliest printed books closely imitatedmanuscripts, not only in reproducinggothic characters but also in the useofabbreviations, ligat ures, and in thearrangement ofwords on the page.Primers solved the problem 0/rubricatio n by ha ving it added byhand with Cl pen in red and blue ink.but after 1480 they devised a wayto do it mechanically: IJJuminationwas done with fin e brushes using af ull range ofcolors as well as goldami silver;

The Renai ssance used ancienttexts, like this by Solinus, a third ­century Roman, as authorities ongeography. A compiler ofmarvels,Solinus told wondrous tales oftheriches of India and Ceylon, offabulous animals, exotic plants,and strange people.

Opposite page, bottom:James I. King of EnglandLetters Patent . Westminister, 1622

The fi nest elements ofmanuscriptillumination can be seen in thisseventeenth-cem ur),doc ument,Letters Patent . by which James Iraised Si r Edward Rich to the peerageas Baron Kensington ofKensington inMiddlesex. dated Westminister, 1622.The Latin text, written in a chanceryhand in brown ink on vellum, issurrounded by afine illuminatedborder containing the Royal A nns,peacocks. and exotic birds, twocoronets with lions, and a profusionofflowers. The King's portrait,within the initial "J" of gold andblue strapwork design. shows Jame senthroned, in ermine-lined robe,against a purple scrolled background.

Thefamity of Sir Edward Rich( 1590-1649) were amon g the earlyinvestors in the Virginia Company.The year this pat ent was granted,1622 , the struggling sett lement atJamestown was devastated by anIndian massacre and soon after swep thy a plague , leaving prob ably no morethan 300 surv ivors out ofa popul ationof5,000 Engl ish colonists in Virginia.

Above:James SayersMr. Bird and Miss SnowPublished by Bretherton . London, 1783 aquatint

A very thin man and a very/at lady ride side by side. Viewed /nun the back, the horses areperfectly proportioned to their riders. Elegantly drawn , this social satire is the work ofattorney James Sayers (1748-1823), a gentleman-amateur whose engravings would holdtheir own with his famous professional counterparts Gillra y and Rowlandson.

T H E Q!)i\RTO PAGE 3

Left:Grant and Bonnef oy, eng rave rs,after Benjamin WeMThe Wes( FamilyPublished by Smith, London.ca. I7S I stipp le engraving

Benj amin West, histo ry painter toGeorge I II and preside nt ofthe RoyalAcademy, returned tv his Am ericanorigins in this intimate family scene.We,~ t 'slather and step-brother,recently arrived in London, theirsober expressions and Quaker dressin stark contrast to the warmth andelegance ofthe yo ung fa mi ly; appearto be "sitting fo r afew minutes insilent medi tation. which will soo nbe elided by the old mUll taking offhis hat and offering up a prayerfo r the moth er and in/alii."

When West exhibited theorigina l at the Royal Academy in1777, critics found the subject toopersonal but the public ado red it.Popular demandfor this engravingmade it one ofWest 's best-knownpictures, esp ecially in France , whereanglomania found express ion in thevogue for collecting Engli sh stippleeng ravings .

Right :William Pether; afte r Joseph WrightA Philosopher Giving a Lecture

on the OrreryPublished by 101m Boydell.

London. 1768

One of the great mezzotints ojeighteenth-century England. APhilosopher Giving a Lecture onthe Orrery. was the result of thecollaboration of two fri ends, theartist Joseph Wright of Derby andengraver William Pether. Wrightwas fascinated with cand lelight,with the use of concentrated ligh tto create dram atic effects. Petherhad perfected his mezzotinttechnique, producing a fine, velvetyground perfectly suited 10Wright 'srema rkable composition.

In an age when printswere the main sou rce a/visualinf ormation, the public WllS hun gryfo r pictures that were both beautifullind informative. Prints thatreproduced paintings were indemand. all the mvre so If theirsubject was an exciting newscientific experiment.

PAGE 4 THE Q!)ARTO

Right:Karl BodmerFort Clark on the Missouri ,

February 1834aquatintPrince Maximilian Alexander

Philipp ofWied-NeuwiedTravels in the Interior of North

Americ aCoblentz, London, Paris, 1843-4

The Swiss artis t Karl Bodmer(J809 -J893) travelled in Americafrom /832 to 1834 as illustrator onthe scientific expedition to the upperMissouri conducted hy the Germannaturalist Maximilian, Prince ofWied-Neuwied. Arriving in the lastyears before the western landscapewas transformed by the great massmigration overland to Oregon and Califo rnia, Bodmer 's watercolor sketches and aquatints offer a unique visual record ofan unspoiledAmerican fron tier. In their sensitivity and met iculous detail, they provide the first accurate picture of the far western Indians.

Bodmer and Maximilian spent the winter of1833-34 at Fort Clark, the American Fur Company 's outpost on the Missouri, nearmodem Bismarck, No rth Dakota, in the terr itory of the Mandans and Hida tsas. Living in a hastily built shack with no chinks between thelogs , in cold that reached 46 degrees below zero, these months were the hardest but the most rewarding part a/ their entire expedition.They came to know the Indians intimately, observing them as had no other outsiders. Maximi lian 's studies and Bodmer 's draw ings arethe primary account of these tribes and their culture, soon to be destroyed by the great smallpox epidemic of1837.

Bodmer's Fort Clark is a masterpiece a/western landscape, a spectacular view across the f rozen Missouri. The Mandan villageMih-Tutta-Hang-Kusch. and the stockade of Fort Clark are barely visible on the bluffs, set against a leade n gray sky. In the foreground,Indian women gather wood, the men sit on horses , slumped against the cold, a line ofIndian figu res stretches into the distance.

The beauty of Bodmer's aquatints, among the finest ofnineteenth-century color plates, is due in part to the artist's di rectinvolvement in their production. Partly printed in color, these aquatints had color and varnish added by hand, a process that closelyimitates the quality 0/the original watercolors.

Right:

James Gil/rayShakespeare Sacrifi ced : -Of­

The Offering to AvaricePublished by Hannah Humphrey, London, 1789etching with aqua tint colored by hand

By the late 1780s, James Gill ray was theacknowledged maste r of savage personal satire.Here he attacks John Boydell, London 's leadingpublisher ofprints and the elite Royal A cademy.Boydell had started the Shakespe are Galleryclaiming he wanted to promote an "Englishschool ofhistory painting." Leading artists werecommissioned to do paintings ofShakespeareanplays, which would be exhibited by Boydell, thenengraved and sold by him. Gillray was enraged­greed, not patriotism, was Boydell 's motive.

In Gillray's satire, Shakespeare 's statueis obscu red hy smoke f rom Boydell burning thepla ys,jlames are fa nned by a fig ure of Folly fro mBenjamin West 's King Lear. Other figures fro mpaintings by Barry, Fuseli. Reynolds, and North coteare seen in the billow ing clouds o.fsmoke. Gillray 'sanger with his own exclusion f rom the RoyalAcademy is expressed by two fig ures in theforeground--a boy with a palette pushing a boywith an engraver's tool outside the magic circleofthe Academ y.

STANDARD THEATRE

Rice 's Surprise PartyComical, Farcica l, Musical,

Operatic, Extravaganza Artis tsA. Hoen, lithographer, ca. 1880

chromolithograph

Theater impresario Edward EverettRice, songwriter, producer, "Fatherof American Burlesque," firstcoined the term musical comedy forhis extravaganza Evangeline whenit opened in 1874. BurLesque, inthe sense ofa travesty or parody;was a popularform ofmusicaltheater in the J870 -805, hut Ricehad produced something new,a musical with his own entirelyorig inal score. Evangeline wouldtake its place alongside TheBlack Croo k as one ofthe

COMMENCING :MONDA'1'"FEB. 2. most successful ofall American

burlesques.R ice continued to produce low comedy-variety shows for the popular touring circuits, often writing the text, lyrics, and music

himself When HMS Pinafore took the country by storm in 1879. Rice's Travestie Company presented its own risque version. He thenstarted a new company; Rice 's Surprise Party, picking up a variety ofperfonners from other burlesque troupes. Over the years, Ricemanaged an exceptionally large number ofpeiformers. Among the stars he discovered was Lillian Russell, who appears in the poster as abeautiful blonde in a blue tunic, center right. Rice 's Party toured successfully for many years, playing a repertoire ofburlesques and farcecomedies like Horrors, or the Maharajah of Zogobad.

Theater posters, like the burlesques they promoted, were colorful, amusing, titillating, and utterly irresistible. The entire company ofRice's Surprise Party beckons, promising an array ofthrilling entertainment. Each perfonner would have been easily recognized from thisposter. Lithographer A. Hoen and Company regularly employed artists who were famous for the ir skill in drawing portraits from lifedirectly onto stones.

conquest in 1759 of French Canadaremind s us of how deeply the origins ofthe American Revolution were imbeddedin what was essentially a European war,1756-1763, the Seven Years Wa r asknown to Europeans, or French andIndian War as called in Americantextbooks. Professor Anderson has justcompleted a major work on that subject,and he gave to his Clements audience theessence of his findings and argument.Never, he believes, was the BritishEmpire in more peril than at the momentof its greatest victory, in the annus

mirabil is of 1759, when British power,territory. and trade simply exploded toundreamed heights. The arrogance ofvictory, catalyzed by bitter memory ofdefeats suffered in the early years of thewar, induced a postwar compulsion todominate and contro l, wrecking thedelicate balance of forces in Americathat had given the prewar empire itsremarkable strength and resil ience.Britons and Americans, proud to be

and South America. Europeans sawhere the ripe fruit of basic ideas of theEnlightenment-freedom, naturalequality, j ustice, and the possibility ofhuma n happiness. And the pursuit andpartial realization of these enlightenedideals by an independent Americainspired and guided-and frightened­many others in the Atlantic world. TheClements collections richly documentthis broader, unconventional perspectiveon a crucial moment in Americanhistory. It was therefore fitting to offeras the final event of the Clements 75thbirthday party in Fall 1998 a series oflectures by historical experts exploringvarious aspects of the broadly ramifying,"Atlantic" version of the AmericanRevolution .

Professor Fred Anderson of theUniversity of Colorado tackled the issueraised by the most valuable documentowned by the Library-s-Benjamin West' s1776 painting of The Death of GeneralWaife. West' s depiction of the British

ATLANTIC PERSPECTIVES ON AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE1750-1815r: ommitted to gathering

evidence about the earlie rhistory of what would become

the United States, the ClementsLibrary, from its beginning, acquireda built-in bias. Seeking material about

America, not simply by Americans, hasled it to a wealth of evidence originatingoutside the United States, beyond theusual boundaries of "American history."Nowhere has this bias generated morevalue than in the era of the Americ anRevolution- from the outset a greatstrength of the Library's holdings. Inthose decades when the restless Englishcolonies fought free of British rule,when the United States emerged, andwhen the new Republic nailed down itsindependence in a second war withBritain, Europeans as well as other non­Americans were fascinated by Americandevelopments. Never was Americanhistory more closely interwoven withevents elsewhere around the Atlanticrim, in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean,

PAGE 6 THE Q\JARTO

fellow victors, violently resisted thiswar-created redefinition of the imperialrelationship. Nor would it be acceptedby the original Americans, the Indians,who fought back at every turn, againstboth American colonists and Britishauthority. Professor Anderson locatesthe American Revolution in the experi­ence and aftermath of a European warinvolving Russia, Prussia, the Austrianempire, and Spain as well as the global,competitive empires of France andBritain.

In 1776, a year after the contestwith British rulers had turned violent,the American colonies declared them­selves united and independent states.Until then, Americans had left relationswith foreign nations to British authori­ties in London, and had looked to Britishseapower for the protection of theirrights under international law. But withthe Declaration of Independence beganthe history of American foreign policy,and the difficult and contentious earlyyears of American diplomacy were filledwith surprising and unforeseen conse­quences. Bradford Perkins, historyprofessor emeritus at Michigan and adean of American diplomatic historians,carefull y traced some of the mostimportant of these consequences,particularly in the realm of Americanconstitutionalism, which even at thattime was exerting a global influence inother struggles for freedom. From thedecision to establish a new, independentnation-state in 1776 to the movement fora stronger federal government in the1780s, foreign relations were a criticalfactor. The treaty-making power andmilitary role of the Presidency in the1787 Constitution reflected the concernof the Philadelphia framers with theGreat Powers poised across the Atlantic.Later, in the I790s, embittered disputesover American policy toward the FrenchRevolution drove the creation of the firsttwo national political parties, whosepartisanship would drag the UnitedStates into the War of 1812.

An early, crucial result of the newAmerican venture in foreign relationshad been military and economic supportfrom Britain 's archenemy--the Frenchmonarchy. Clandestine French aid anda trickle of French volunteers, nonemore famous than the young Marquisde Lafayette, were followed in 1778 witha formal Franco-American alliance, andthe dispatch of French land and sea

forces to aid the American cause. Onlysix years after the treaty that ended theRevolutionary War and recognizedAmerican independence, France itselfexperienced revolution in t789. Did theAmerican Revoluti on somehow cause theFrench Revolution? It is a plausiblequestion , and Professor Samuel Scott ofWayne State University shared with the

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Clements audience his own answer,contained in a forthcomin g book. Bymeticulous research in French militaryarchives, Professor Scott laid finally torest one intriguing answer that has beencirculating for about a half-century, tothe effect that the thousand s of Frenchsoldiers and sailors who served in theAmerican war for independence carriedhome with them the virus of liberalrevolution. Tracing the career of almostevery French officer who served in theAmerican Revolutionary War, and ofmany of the soldiers, Professor Scottconcludes that there is little reason tothink that the "American regiments"were any more inclined to supportrevolution in France than any otherelement s of the largest army in Europe.Lafayette was briefly a hero of theRevolution, commanding the FrenchNational Guard, modeled on the Ameri-

can militia, before he turned againstthe Revolution when it overthrew andexecuted Louis XVI. But otherwisethere is no reason to see a simple one­to-one link. between French militaryexperience in the American Revolutionand the eruption in 1789 of peasantinsurrections and military mutiniesin France. Yet the question remainswhether the example of America hadsubtly encouraged the idea that reformof the French monarchy might beaccompli shed without the upheavaland violence that actually ensued.

Ireland may not spring as readilyto mind as France in connection withthe American Revolution , but perhapsit should. Professor Peter Linebaugh,a specialist in British history at theUniversity of Toledo, focused his lectureon a single remarkable but little knownindividual, linking revolutionary Americaand revolutionary Ireland. EdwardMarcus Despard was an Irish protestantand a British army officer who served inthe American War for Independence .Transferred to Jamaica near the end ofthe war, Despard went on to Nicaraguaand Honduras, where Britain fought theforces of Spain, France's chief ally.Serving with Black and Indian soldiers,Colonel Despard left America a changedman, passionately sympathizing withoppressed peoples everywhere. In fact,he had been kicked out of Belize byplanters angry with his efforts to giveland to Indians and former slaves andby his marriage to an African-Americanwoman. At home, he joined the UnitedIrish-Protestants and Catholics, clearlyinspired by the American example,seeking self-government and justicefor Ireland under British rule. Jailedrepeatedly as a dangerous radical, he wasimplicated in the 1798 failed and bloodyrebellion of the United Irish. A fugitivein England, he was again arrested afteran abortive rebellion in London, wherehe was tried, convicted, and beheadedin 1803 despite the heroic efforts of hiswife to save him. Despard was notunique. Lord Edward Fitzgerald died ofwounds suffered resisting arrest in 1798.

The Irish rebellion in 1798 tookplace in the context of yet another Britishwar with France-the war against theFrench Revolution. Irish rebels, likeColonel Despard and Edward Fitzgerald,looked for French military aid, and thesavage British response in 1798 and later

- continued on back page

THE QlJARTO PAGE 7

PICTURING A VANISHED DETROIT

achieved statehood in 1837 has disappeared.As the tercentennial year of 2001

approaches, however, an effort is under­way at the Clements Library to bring thisvanished but historically significant townback to life. Thi s will be accomplished bycollecting, interpreting, and publi shing allknown surviving visual evidence of earl yDetroit from its establishment in 1701uutil 1837. The project is being under­taken by Brian Dunnigan, Curator ofMaps, but it builds on past research byRandolph G. Adams, the Library 's firstdirector. Adams had developed an interestin how Detroit app eared in its youngerdays, aud during the 1930s and early1940s he searched numerous coll ectionsfor images with which to compile a pre­photographic iconography of the city.

in tum spurred continuous physicalgrowth and alteration as the townaccommodated new industries, diversepopulations, and greater numbers ofresidents. These developments, alongwith less fortunate events such as thegreat fire of 1805, have ensured that novisible phy sical remains survive fromthe first one hundred years of Detroit'shistory asid e from place and streetnames, a few property lines, and theoccasional archaeological discovery.Even the city that rose from the ashesafter 1805 has largel y been replaced andsurrounded by later nineteenth andtwenti eth-century Detroit, leaving onl yplace names and the kernel of themodern street plan. All visible architec­ture from the years before Michigan

Lieutenant John Montresor 's Plan of Detroit with its Environs is based on a survey made in October 1763 at the end of Pontiac 's siege.Montresor inscribed this copy to Sir Jeffe ry Amherst.

~ttle more than two years~.r~main before Detroit

ob serves the 300th anniver­sary of its founding as a permanent placeof settlement. One of the oldest of thelarge American cities, predating evenmany on the East Coa st, Detroit hasdeveloped from a cluster of stockadedvillages- French and Native American- into a sprawling regional metropolis.It has grown from a military post and furtrade center into the place most closelyassociated with the twentieth-centuryautomotive revolution.

Such a long history has beencharacterized by constant and sometimescataclysmic change. The mo st importanttransformations, to be sure , have beeneconomic and demographic, but these

PAGE 8 THE QlJARTO

Adams worked at a time when manyearly maps and views were beingrediscovered and acquired by NorthAmerican institutions such as theClements Library and the BurtonHistorical Collection in Detroit. He wasinspired, in part, by Isaac Newton PhelpsStokes ' massively comprehensive TheIconography ofManhattan Island, 1498­1909. All told, Adams ' efforts identifiedabout sixty images-maps, plans andviews---depicting the early settlement.military post and town from 1701 to1837. Sadly, he produced only one briefarticle, entitled "Iconography of OldDetroit," published in 1942. RandolphAdams ' research has languished sincethat time in a pair of large notebookspreserved at the Clements Library.

At the urging of current directorJohn Dann, Dunnigan revived theiconography project soon after joiningthe staff in the autumn of 1996. WithDetroit 's tricentennial approaching andmany new sources made available inthe half century since the termination ofAdams ' research. the time was oppor­tune to complete the job. Dunnigan hasso far identified more than t 50 imagesof Detroit held by thirty institution s andthree private collectors in the UnitedStates, Canada. Great Britain, andFrance. Many are maps of the riverand surrounding countryside or planscharting the progres s of the growingtown. Other images include sketches orviews of the place which often show the

activities of inhabitants or ships in theriver. There are architectural renderingsof early buildings as well as simpleproperty plats. Among the more uniquesurvivals are engraved renderings of thefort on powder horns and a scene of the1830s waterfront on a blue Staffordshireplatter. There is even a wampum beltof ca.1720 commemorating a treatybetween the Ottawa, Chippewa,Potawatomi, and Huron who livedalong the Detroit River. Figures on thebelt represent their respective villageswhich coexisted near the stockadedFrench town.

The cartographic and architecturalevidence of early Detroit is comple­mented by much documentation.Manuscript and printed accounts leftby European and American militaryofficers, explorers, missionarie s, traders.travelers, captives, spies, residents, andNative Americans (the latter throughspeeches recorded at councils) providea rich description of Detroit and itspeople . This documentation also helpsto verify images and place them inproper context. In some cases, no visualevidence survives to represent the townat a particular period (as for 1766-1779),and the written record must suffice toreconstruct its appearance . The sameinformation can help date maps or plans,and in many cases the letter transmittinga particular drawing to higher authorityhas survived to provide further detailson how or why the cartographic or

artistic work was undertaken.The portraits of some important

Detroiters of 1701-1837 will alsoappear in this study. Images of townand country are to be supplemented byas many contemporary or near-contem­porary portraits as possible. Some ofthese people were pictured on the spot,such as local Native American leadersdrawn by Lieutenant Governor HenryHamilton about 1778. The artist himselfis represented in a portrait done by aprofessional artist as are other notablessuch as commandants Henry Gladwin.Arent Def'eyster, and Moses Porter.Even some of the engineers and artistswhose work is included in the city'siconography will be represented, amongthem Joseph-Gaspard Chaussegros deLery, John Montresor, and AlexanderMacomb.

A comprehensive, critical iconogra­phy of Detroit will be useful in a numberof ways, not the least of which will be toidentify and distinguish authentic andaccurate work from the many later mapsand drawings purporting to depict theplace at various times in its history.Many such images made their way intohistorical and popular literature in thenineteenth and twentieth centuries andare still often seen today, used in placeof the originals. But most of all, aniconography of the "City of the Straits"will answer the question posed byRandolph Adams in 1942: "What didDetroit look like when it was young?"

This fine Georgian office rs quarters was undoubtedly the most impressive huilding ofeighteenth-century Detroit. It was designed hy JohnMoruresot; constructed in 1765, and destroyed in the great fire of1805. This draw ing ofits east facade was made by Captain DavidWilliam Smith in 1790.

TH E CWA RTO PAG E 9

/I

The last view ofDetroit bef ore the cata stroph ic 1805 fire was drawn by British military surgeon Edward Walsh . The lawn is seen acrossthe river: 77,Croad in the fo reground is today the Canadian approach to the Ambassador Bridge, and the site ofthe Huron church is nowpart ofAssumption College.

Maj or John Rivard; was a Swiss profess ional soldier in the service a/the United States.His untitled plan ofDetroit, dra wn at Niagara in March 1799, presented the town and f ortas Rivard; knew them in J796-97.

That the proj ect originates from theClements Library is appropriate. for ourco llection includes a sign ificant portionof the original iconography of Detroit.Twenty of the images identified to dateare from the Clements. Some, such asJoh n Montresor 's detailed 1763 plan ofthe fortified town and its environs andRivardi 's depiction of the place at thetime United States troops arrived in1796, will be fami liar to ClementsLibrary Associate s and hL'itorians.Others. such as a 1790 arc hitec turalrendering of the impressive officersquarters, have rarely been seen. TheLibrary also holds a large amo unt of thedocumentation on earl y Detroit, rangingfrom publi shed travel accounts to letterswritten by post commandants andengineers and preserved among theGage papers.

The results of this study will beavailable in time for Detroit's 200 1ce lebration. The images of town andresidents, as well as the story of howthis important but poorly understoodand nearly forgo tten frontier metropolisgrew between 1701 and 1837, will bepublished in a large form at by WayneState University Press as part of itsGreat Lakes Books series. The imagesof Detroit-from the colorful to thework manlike- will put a new face onan old and very historic American city.

- Brian Leigh Dunnigan,Curator ofMaps

PAG E 10 T HE Ql)ARTO

Chart of the dangerous waters between Martha 's Vineyard and Cape Cod, drawn by Capt. Joshua Benjam in in November 1717.

LOG OF AN ANCIENT MARINER

~n 1710, while serving inEurope on board HMS Kent,

a Boston-born sailor, JoshuaBenjamin, helped himself to a blank,vellum-bound book from a capturedFrench ship. It was to become hisprized, personal log book and diary fortwenty-four years of sailing in the far­reaching Anglo-American maritimeworld. It is a document of uniquehistorical importance.

Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts,in 1685, Benjamin was probablyimpressed into the service of the RoyalNavy. He served 'six years beforereturning to Boston in 1713, and then,as an officer and captain, embarked uponand recorded dozens of voyages between1713 and 1734: to London , Spain,Newfoundland, the Mediterranean andthe Baltic, the Carolinas, the Chesa­peake, and throughout the Caribbean.

His ships carried sugar, staves andshingles, grain , and slaves. He triedfishing on the Grand Banks. Heencountered terrible storms, volcanoes,Indians, whalers, privateers, and pirates .One of his vessels foundered miles offJamaica, and he survived immense seasfor several days in a small boat, savinglittle more than the log book itself.

Unlike naval log books, which areto a large degree legal documents andexercises for captains and would-becaptains , Captain Benjamin's log isessentially a personal reference bookof cumulative nautical wisdom aboutharbors and currents, how to pick up theGulf Stream, avoid dangerou s shoals, ortake advantage of prevailing winds indifferent seasons of the year. Benjaminwas a well-educated man, remarkablyscientific in approaching his calling , andthe log is as interesting for the insight it

gives into the early eighteenth-centurymind as it is for the wonderful detailson the places and people he encountered.Very few American logs exist for thisearly period- only a century after thePilgrims had landed at Piymouth- andwe are aware of none which so thor­oughly documents one man' s entirecareer. In addition to numerous coastalprofiles, the journal contains one of thevery earliest American sailing charts,illustrated above.

The Joshua Benjamin Log Bookhas been acquired as a result of agenerous and timely gift from Mr. andMrs. Donald Malloure of Birmingham,Michigan .

- John Donn, Director

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CALE NDAR OFEVENTS

My Fa vorite Thin gs : Treasuresa/Graphic Art in the ClementsLibrary. Weekdays, 12:00 noon ­4:45 p.m.

May 4 - Clements LibraryAssociates Board of GovernorsMeeting, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon.Lunch following.

MAY 12 - Michigan Map SocietyMeeting al the Clements Library.Chris Lane will speak on "Col­lecting Antique Maps." The MapSociety meets four to five timesannually, usually at the ClementsLibrary. Those interested injoining the Society are invited tocontact Brian Dunnigan , MapCurator, for information :734-764-2347 .

May 16 • 21st Annual Ann ArborAntiquarian Book Fair. Benefitfor the Clements Library, Michi­gan Union Ballroom , II :00 a.m.­5:00 p.m. Admission: $4.00 .

- continued fro m page 7

to Despard's rebellion in London. werepart of wartime and anti-revolutionaryhysteria. The French Revolution of 1789had induced such hysteria throughoutEurope and, eventually, in the UnitedStates itself, where the French attackon Christianity was as shocking asconfirmed reports of the Reign of Terror.Perhaps even more shocking. especiallyto southern planters. was news from theFrench colony of Saint-Domingue(modem Haiti), where the abolitionof slavery by the Assembly in Paristriggered a ferocious civil war in theCaribbean island, a war pitting white,black. and mulatto against one another.Professor Juliu s Scott of the Universityof Michigan Department of History,a specia list in Afro-American andmaritime history. took his audience on ajourney to the Caribbean, aloug the trackof revolutionary ideas as they spread toHaiti and other island colonies, whereslave societies produced sugar and spicesfor insatiable European markets. Amonghis trenchant observation s was that thenewly independent nation of Haiti got

more support from the pro-Briti shFederalist administrations of Georgew ashington and John Adams than itwould get from the pro-French admini s­tration of Thomas Jefferson. Powerpolitics proved more potent thanconservative and liberal sympathies.But the impulse for liberty swept onwardthrough the Caribbean and on to theSouth American mainland, where Indianand African people felt its call moststrongly. Later wars for independence inLatin America would meet. as had Haiti,an ambiguous set of responses from theUnited States.

Today, we lake for granted theglobal importance of American develop ­ments. but these five Clements lectureseffectively recalled the time, twocenturies ago, when what happened inAmerica reverberated throughout theAtlantic world, and back again, oftenwith amplified effect, into Americanpolit ics and culture.

- Professor Emeritus John Shy,University of Michigan Departmentof History

ANN OUNCEMENTS

1999 Price Fellowships

The Library is pleased to an­nounce the 1999 Price VisitingFellows and their researchprojects: Kirk Davis Swinehart,Yale University, "Savage Connoi s­seur: Sir William Johnson Amongthe Mohawks, 1738-1824";Chandra Miller, Harvard Univer­sity. "What This Cruel War WasOver: Why Union and Confeder­ate Sold iers Thought They WereFighting the Civil War"; WoodyHolton. Bloomsburg University,"Perfect Union: Red, White, andBlack Rebellions and the Adop­tion of the United States Constitu­tion"; Gail Danvers, University ofSussex, "Contact, Conflict, andCultural Dislocation on the NewYork Colonial Frontier: TheIroquois and Sir William Johnson,1744-74."

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