I went here on a tour with a group from work, and saw a death warrant for a couple of Salem witches. Plus a letter to Paul Revere from his wife, which Paul Revere never received, because the British equivalent of Homeland Security intercepted it.
Found out they had a collection of American photo albums, so later I brought them mine--it had a photo of a real chang gang, working alonside the road and wearing prison stripes and the whole nine. Also shots of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and a lot of other really good stuff. Not a family photo album, just a photographer's album from before WWI that came into my possession. It's in the collection now, and the staff made me feel that I was performing a great service to the world, so I guess they must be good at what they do.
I got an extra tour out off the deal, and they showed me some other photo albums: one with pictures of Native American villages that existed after the turn of the century, and another full of pictures of WWII action, but taken by a German soldier who later immigrated to the U.S.
The Clements is more of a research library, but one of the great things about it is that it has an exhibit hall and it is always open to the public.
Quite a lot of history packed into one small, ugly building. read more