The University of Michigan’s student-curated Revolutionary Paine exhibition, which ran to 8 May 2026, as two outlets described it
Common Sense at 250: Four Editions, 58 in the Collection and a British Printing That Left Out the Rude Bits About the King
The University of Michigan’s student-curated Revolutionary Paine exhibition, which ran to 8 May 2026, as two outlets described it
By Stephanie Curry, eighteenth-century literature and American politics diarist
Tuesday, Reading Room, Gaslight Mood
Dear diary, two reports describe the exhibition Revolutionary Paine at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, marking the 250th anniversary of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: Michigan Now of 18 February 2026 and Current Magazine of 17 April 2026. The exhibition ran through 8 May 2026, so it is over, and this entry is a look back. I give the two reports together.
Both are friendly accounts of a university’s own project.
The Pamphlet
Michigan Now says Common Sense was published anonymously in January 1776 as Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, with a first Philadelphia printing by R. Bell of 1,000 copies, and that it became a bestseller within a week. It says historians debate the exact number of printings but generally agree it was reprinted more than any other title in colonial America. Current says it appeared about six months before the Declaration of Independence.
The Clements Library holds 58 editions, both say.
The Exhibition
It was curated by students in Professor Andrew Murphy’s political science course, Revolutionary Political Thought in Early America and Beyond. Michigan Now says it features four editions, including a 1791 French edition. Current adds the first edition, a second edition with a polemic against Philadelphia’s Quakers, a London edition with censored passages, and Le Sens Commun, a French translation from the French Revolution.
It also shows loyalist replies, James Chalmers’ Plain Truth and Charles Inglis’ True Interest of America, and an audio reenactment of the 1819 trial of the publisher Richard Carlile.
The Censored Edition
Michigan Now says the British first edition omitted passages criticising the monarchy to avoid prosecution for sedition or treason, and that readers often handwrote the missing text back in. This is my favourite fact of the month. A reader with a pen restoring a banned paragraph is the oldest form of resistance there is.
It is also a reminder that the freedom to print was not a given.
The Quotes
Murphy is quoted in Current: It seems unclear that independence was the majority position in early 1776. Maggie Vanderford, the Library’s librarian for instruction and engagement, said there is no substitute for deep, thorough, hands-on learning that helps students develop original thought. Michigan Now describes the collaboration as the logical next step in Murphy’s work with the Clements.
The Murphy line is the one I will carry about for a week, because it complicates the tidy version of the story.
American Politics, 1776 Edition
In an election season, a pamphlet that urged a country to decide, and that was answered by loyalists who thought otherwise, is oddly reassuring. It reminds me that political argument in America began as a printed brawl, with replies, and that the replies are in the Library too. I say this as an admirer of pamphlets and not as a partisan of any side now.
The exhibition included the critics, which is the sign of a good one.
The Other View
Some historians stress Paine’s influence, and others stress that his pamphlet was one voice among many. The exhibition, as described, includes both Paine and his critics, and Murphy’s line suggests caution about neat stories. I side with caution.
Students running an exhibition is also a good argument for university libraries.
Night
The reading room is closed. The pamphlet is back in its case. The students have graduated into the world.
Goodnight, diary. Annotate everything.
A Note on Dates
The exhibition closed on 8 May, as both reports say, so you cannot visit it now. The online version mentioned by Michigan Now may still be available, and the Library’s collection is the lasting asset. I have not checked whether the online material is still up.
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