24 January 2022

Pure Michigan Genealogy: Archives, Libraries, Organization and Societies



Pure Michigan Genealogy
There are numerous places in Michigan to help with your research.  Whether it is at the Archives of Michigan, or one of the many public libraries in the state, your research will be helped by the resources available here.

Michiganology-a Michigan research website.  One can find death records, civil war manuscripts and records, state census, early records, oral histories, and more. New content is added periodically, so keep checking.

Archives and Libraries in Michigan


Archives of Michigan-the genealogy collection is known as the Abrams Collection, which use to be at the Library of Michigan, is now housed at the Archives. The Archives of Michigan is the repository of many records beneficial to genealogists.  Researchers need a photo ID in order to research here.   

Library of Michigan-the Library of Michigan holds the newspaper collection and law library.  Use the Answer Catalog to search for resources.  If an item is held at the Archives, it will tell you that in your search.  

Note:  Please check the website for hours and location.  The Archives and the Library have different operating hours.  They are both located in the Michigan Library and Historical Center, Lansing, Michigan.

Bentley Historical Library at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan-the Michigan Historical Collection has manuscripts, maps, and resource for all of Michigan counties.
Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan-resource for the City of Detroit and more.
Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan-this closed stacks library holds resources for northern half of Lower Peninsula.  Some American Indians references can be found here.
Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collection, Houghton, Michigan-Michigan's Upper Peninsula records can be found here especially for Keewenaw Peninsula.  Mining records, local history and more is here.
Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives, Marquette, Michigan-repository for central upper peninsula records.
Zhang Legacy Collection Center, Archives and Regional History, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan-southwest lower peninsula counties repository, yearbooks, land records and more can be found.
Kresge Library, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan-
Escanaba Public Library, Escanaba, Michigan-this library is the repository for the Delta County Genealogical Society Collection.
Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids, Michigan-newspapers, census, card file, and much more is here.  Grand Rapids, Kent County and other West Michigan counties is the main focus of their collection.
Van Raalte Institute, Hope College, Holland, Michigan-Dutch and Dutch American resources and history are available.
Heritage Collection of the Joint Archives, Hope College, Holland, Michigan-Hope College, Seminary, Church records and more.
Hoyt Library, Saginaw, Michigan-Resources pertaining to the Saginaw area.
Mount Clemens Public Library, Mount Clemens, Michigan-Macomb County resources and digital archive collection are a couple of their highlights.
Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society, Pontiac, Michigan-obituaries, photos, directories and more for Oakland county and surrounding areas.
Interactive Library Directory-a search engine that has all the libraries in Michigan on it.  You can narrow your search by county. Many libraries have local history resources.  Once you find a library in your area, google the library and check out their website. Many libraries are adding digitized collections.

Michigan Organizations and Societies

Michigan Genealogical Council-check their list of member organizations which include historical and genealogical societies.  There are many great local genealogical societies, too numerous to list, so be sure to check this resource. 
Michigan Historical Society-promotes Michigan History, check out their publications.


These are a few of the resources available for researching in Michigan, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, or leave a comment.

Pure Michigan Genealogy is a series of posts on researching in Michigan. Archives, Libraries, Organizations and Societies is number five in the series. The red websites are new or have been updated.  Other posts in this series includes:

     


2 comments:

  1. You are welcome. I plan to update these posts this summer. A lot has changed in the Michigan Genealogy community and more is to come in the future.

    ReplyDelete