The uarto - William L. Clements

1 TheuartoISSUEDFORTHECLEMENTSLIBRARYASSOC IATESW est ernCivilizatio nTHECLEMENTSL IB RA RYwilleventuallybetherecipientofoneof themostexcitingWesternA merica na collectionstocome on the marketforsome time-theAlexanderP. CrittendenPapers -ofwhichtherewa sahintin the la Kentu ckian,nephewof Sen and firstcousino f CivilWar gen eral sonbothsid es oftheconflict,h e grad u a tedfromWestPointin 1836,marriedaVirginiagirl,andheadedforth eT , hejoinedan overl andexpeditiontoCalifornia,wherehebecame anearly politicalle ader, aleading adv oca teo f the Confedera cy,andeven tu-ally the vic timofa nati onally famous scandal-his murderat the handsofa inthesaf ekeepingof thelibrary,butwillnotbea vaila b le for re sear chforsome f the characteri sticsofCri ttenden fam-il y membersattheir 's permis-sion,wequotealetterof A.

2 , 1851fromSa cramento ,describingtohi swife back inTexas arecentexcursion:"Su tter's Fort is only abo u t two nywithCornwalland hiswifeI rodeoutlastSundaytogather mushroomsandflowers-amixtureofthe usefulandsentimentalwasn'tit?\Vetookthe roadto the Fortandwentthrough it. I t isnowa ba n d on eda n d itsolda d obewall afamous placein the historyof thiscountry. Afrontieroutpost-thepropertyof aprivatein-dividual,whokeptupsome th ingofregalstateand treatedwith"MexicoHkeanmcmeremperten ta te ,Thegr eatRepublicb ecamej ealous ofhimandsen tan armyagains ,buthadtoappealtohimtorelievethemfrom starvation, p pliedtheirwan ts andsen t them away in peace .NUMBER1M,JUNE, 1982 UAfewyears agothis spot was almosto utofthe world.

3 Toformsomeideahowremote it wasfromcivil izationread Fremont'saccount of he nthink o f th e ap proach-ingth is placeby adesola tea n ddangerous over-lan droute of monthsduration- alm ostunex-plored-orby a six-mon th'svoyagearoundCapeH came to the vicinitytheother dayinoneofthemostmagn ificen t steamersthat everf1oated-a p al ace- carpetedwithfinestBrussels-withcush io nsand armedchairsofcrimso nvelve t- d oorsandpanelworkof mah ogany-madeglori-ous by allthear tsofpainting an dgild ssedthroughtheo ldFortin asplendidbarou chelinedw ith satin-drawn by apairoffinel ymatchedbays-a turnou t then wh ich nonem ore elegantcou ld befoundinthe city of NewYork ."T he n, insidetheFort ,in stead of thebarrenprarie or patch of u ndergrow th,was a city-ofman y th ousa ndinhabitan f vessels- thech imneys ofsteame rs-ou t-side of the town, was an ged the wholefaceofnature.

4 Thisin accessibl epl acehad beenbroughtnear to ci vilizatio n,A ll its refine men tsand lux-uries are nowhere."Yes, the Ameri can s area grea t people lGre atas d iscoverer s-greatasinventors-amoving,rest-lessunqu ietpeople lA peoplewhosespecialvoca tio n is toexploreandsettlewildern esses-to layoutgreat citiesand drive stakes, as I hearda man remark in the legislaturelast year, 'wheremortalfo o tneverhadtrodand neverwouldtread again!'Alandro b b ing people- aChristi anpeoplewhopavedth ewayfor the gosp ela n dmorality withwhiske y, revo lvers, Bowieknives,cardsandot h er queer and inappro priaterm ngs .A peoplewho carry vice toextremesinorde r todi spl aythebeau tiesofvirtue . AnAmericanscoundralisthegreate struffianof llcrea tedthingsisanAmeri-can prostitu te.

5 T he vastmajorityofwomenin thiscountr y arethosewho clearlydonotfallTHECLEMEN T SLIBRARYASSOCIATESofTheUniversity of MichiganBOARDOFGOVERNORSA ppointedbyth eRegents of theUniversityM r s . JohnAlexander,A nnA y,Jr.,Gran d Rap idsCarlW. Bonb right,Flin tE d wardW. Bowen,Bay Ci tyRobertP .Briggs,ElkRapidsM rs . Marga re ,A n nA rbo rC . E .Fra zerClark,Jr.,Bloo m fieldHillsB ly Corning,FlintThomasN .Cross,AnnArborD uane iedrich ,MuncieJI nd .,VICE CH AI RM ANH arlanH . H a tch er,AnnArborPe terN .Heydon, asC .Kingsley,A tlan ta, a m esM. Klancn ik,ChicagoJ a m es S. Schoff,NewYorkR o , Jr. ,Detroi tM rs . DavidF .Upton,St. J osep h,CHAIRMANLeeD . van Antwerp,Northbrook, .Wheel er,BayCityJohn C.

6 D ann, D ir ector of theLib rary,SECRETARY with intheclass of respectabl e. and they areen-cou nte redeverywhere-on thestreets-in all o uses - saloons- sho ws-theaters." Itis on lyof lat e that lad ies-r eal veri ta b leladies- arebecomingata llcommon. Socie tyhere hasbeen inthat conditionto wh ichi t in-evitablyco mes whe n perfectlicense existsto do asone p leases withoutrestrain t frompublic opin-ion. N ow suchan opin ionis growing up in arising a distinction be-tweenwhat is reputableandwhat is di srepu the courseof a few yearstherewill be asmuch outward morality hereas in any old t as yet it is notso-andeveryday one meet swithscene stobe e nco un tered nowhereelse.

7 "Custer'sCavalryFORT nRlLL'iandpagean try, n omilita rybranchh as eve r been able tomatch thecavalry. ed th e 15 thN ewYorkVolunteerCavalry in later h isunitbecamepartof the3dDivision,command ed byBri .George A rmstrong 'smem oi r of thewaris a stirring tribute toCuster and a fine nar-rativeof cavalryaction .InO cto ber, 1864,PhilSher idan'sShenandoahcampaignwaswindingdown ,the troo pswith-drawingfromtheva ll ey to joinGener e 3d Divi sio n wasbe in gharriedbyCon-federate cavalry, in cludinga brigadeunde rGen .ThomasLafayett eRosse r ,Custer'serstwh ilefriendandWestPoin t classmate. At Tom'sBrook ,Virginia ,theU n ionfo rcesengagedtheenemyinwhatth emenla ter called the" w ood-sto ck Races,"Hun t rec alled ,"Itwas a magnificentplacefora cav was r oo m to deplo y,sm oo thground to rideon; all the rail fenceshadlong agovan ishedforsold iers' fires.

8 OutrodeCusterfromhi sstaff,far in adva nceof the line , in plainviewo f both armies . Swee pi ngoffhisbroad-brimmed hat, hethrewitdownto hisknee inaprofoundsalu te to his foe."C us ter re placedh ish a t,turnedtohi s li n e ofmenandthenextmomen tthe 3d Divisionwassweepingon at a trot, the flaming necktie andb r i ght curl s ofCuste rbefo r e all , followedb y hi sstaff,allsword s ui guns openat sh orterrange, bulletsandsh ellswhistling overth e h ead s ofthe m .T h etrotbecomes a gallop,a wil dyellfrom theline and they goracingacrosstheint erveningspacewith wavingsabres, th eh or ses wil dwithexciteme n tastheyrace forthe rebelbatteries: 'Hunt's twowartim edi aries, aswellashi s 70-pagememoi r, wererecentlypurcha sed bytheClemen ts Lib ra PurchasesATTHEIR MEETINGONMAYI I , th eBoardofGovernors oftheClemen tsLibraryAssociatespurchasedadiverse selec tionof print ed andmanuscrip titemsfo r thepermanent coll ection.

9 T h e mosttimely , inli gh tof avisittothelibr ar y in lateJuneb y the Qu eenofHolland,was acollection of th irtee n Dutchpamphletsre-la tin g toAmerica .Twodatefromth e1660's,wh en th eDutchheldsway a longboththeHud-son and Dela wareRivers, the rem aind erfrom theR ev ol u tion a ry Wa r per iodwhe nth ei rfinancialsupporta n ddiplomaticrecognitiongaveinvalu-ab le strength toth eAmerica n ethirteentitle s,th re e seem to beuniquetoAmeri-canlibr a ries, sixothersinbutonelo ca mostintriguingite m pu rchasedbyth eBoardis of similarrarity, loca teda tbuta sing lelibrary intheN a ti o na lU n io n Ca tal og. and ther einvaria nt-for ,Thomas She ra to nbeganpublish in g, in parts,The CabinetM aker,Up hol-sterer, an dGeneralArtist'sEn cy clopa edia,al-thoughhe co mp le tedbutapor tio n ,tosaythelea st , astrangepubli ca-tion.

10 Co m b in ingen cyclo ped i atex th avingnoth-in gto do wi thca b inet wo r kand technicalde-scrip tio ns offurn itu re designs. acco mpaniedbystr ikinghand-coloredpl " pr el im inary"su bscr ip tio nlistbutn oti tl e pagea n d50 colo r ed furnitureengravi ngs .She rato n 's late r des igns were uniforml ycri t i -cized bye arl ie ra r t hi st o r ians fo r departin gfromh isearly sim p licityandincorporatingstyles ofth ch pla cesasWin rer hu r an dAntiqu esl\la gazirzc,wenowh a veafar greatera p p rec ia t ion of Empir efurniture .a n d whatlo okedgr ot esque agener a ti o nago isnowappreciated o n its own te r ms , \Ve a lsoknowt o whata nextentwealth)',self-c onsci ousAmc ri-ca n scraved the latestEuropeanstyles, accep tin gtrendsmoreuncritically,perhaps, thanEuro-p 'sbook alm ostcer ta in ly wasknown toimm igrantcra ft sm enofth etime,Itis am ost captivatingad dit io nto ourgr ow ingcoll ecti ononth e decora tiv e ar emostimportanta ndread ab leaccountof KingPhilip's Wa av elongpos sessedth e scarcefirstedition(Bos-to n , 1716) and severallat erreprints,but notth esecond,printedin New portin1772.