"The D. N. Diedrich Collection of Manuscript Americana,17th-20th Century"

D. N. Diedrich graduated from the University of Michigan (A.B., 1956; M.A., 1957; Ph.D., 1961), and taught at U-M before leaving to pursue a career in academic teaching and administration elsewhere in the Midwest.  Drawing upon an interest in history instilled in him by his parents E. L. and Blandina Diedrich, and inspired by a personal letter from General Douglas MacArthur in 1952, Dr. Diedrich began to collect original manuscript letters, documents, speeches, musical manuscripts, and other primary sources pertinent to American history.  His first purchase was an original signature of Theodore Roosevelt on a heavy-stock White House card. 

Curator Cheney J. Schopieray will explore the breadth and depth of the D. N. Diedrich Collection of Manuscript Americana, 17th -20th Century during his lecture at the Hatcher Library.

An after-hours viewing of an exhibition of the Diedrich Collection at the Clements Library will follow the discussion. Visitors will see original manuscripts by Plymouth Colony's Nathaniel Morton; First U.S. Congressman Fisher Ames; artist Thomas Nast; women's rights advocate Susan B. Anthony; inventor of basketball James Naismith; Samuel Francis Smith, author of 'My Country 'Tis of Thee'; Katharine Lee Bates, author of "America the Beautiful"; General Douglas MacArthur, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill; and more.

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