Abrams Collection Genealogy Highlights
January/February 2003
Volume 5, Number 1

The Library of Michigan owns an extensive collection of Michigan resources that relate to local history and biographies both in paper and microform. Michigan local history materials include titles on the history of counties, cities, villages, townships and neighborhoods. The Michigan Collection also has biographical titles on both well-known residents of Michigan and those who were prominent in their community. Titles may be located by searching ANSWER, the Library's online catalog. Keyword and subject searches will help you locate local history and biographical materials on ANSWER. Clicking on the links in this publication will take you to the ANSWER catalog search results or the catalog record for a particular item.

To search for local history information by subject, you would type the county or place name followed by the word, history. When searching for biographical material on a person, you enter surname, given name and biography. If you want to find biographical indexes or sources of biographies, a broad subject along with biography would be entered. Capitalization is not necessary when searching ANSWER.

For example:

• lansing mich history
• wayne county mich history
• windsor township eaton county mich history
• michigan biography indexes
• ford henry biography

To search by keywords, enter any words that apply to the topic you are researching.

For example:

• grand rapids and history
• michigan local history and directories
• iacocca and biography
• governors and biography and michigan

A commonly used title for a county history was Portrait and Biographical Album of BLANK County. Histories of the county, its cities, villages and townships are included, plus portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the county. You can find these by typing the title, Portrait and Biographical Album of...

This highlight is not intended as a comprehensive list of Michigan local history and biography resources; rather, it is a list of useful and notable materials available at the Library of Michigan. Searching ANSWER is the only way to determine if the Library of Michigan holds the resources that you seek.

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Local History Sources

County Histories of the Old Northwest. Series V: Michigan [microform]. 88 vols. New Haven, CT: Research Publications, [1973?].
Genealogy Microfilm F 566 .C67 1973 reels 1-88

Reel Index to the Microform Collection of County and Regional Histories of the "Old Northwest," Series V, Michigan. Woodbridge, CT: Research Publications, 1975.
Genealogy F 566 .C67 Index
Housed at the Genealogy Desk.

Historical Collections: Collections and Researches made by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. 28 vols. Lansing: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, 1888-1916.
Michigan Documents F 561 .M62

Michigan Historical Commission. Michigan Bibliography. 2 vols. Prepared by Floyd Benjamin Streeter. Lansing: Michigan Historical Commission, 1921.
Michigan Documents Z 1297 .M62 1921

Michigan History Magazine. Lansing: Michigan Historical Commission, 1917-.
Michigan Documents F 561 .M57

Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory for [year]. Detroit: Charles F. Clark, 1856/57-1931/32.
Michigan HC 107.M5 .S752z

Pioneer Collections: Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan. 40 vols. Lansing: Pioneer Society of Michigan, 1877-1888.
Michigan Documents F 561 .M62

Romig, Walter. Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More than Five thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986.
Michigan F 564 .R6 1986

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Local Histories

Benson, Clyde E. Index to Portrait and Biographical Album of Ingham and Livingston Counties, Michigan. Lansing: Michigan Department of Education, Bureau of Library Services, 1969.
Michigan F 572 I5 P6 1891, Index

Burton, Clarence Monroe. History of Wayne County and the City of Detroit, Michigan. Detroit: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1930.
Michigan F 572 .W4 B97 1930

Detroit in Its World Setting: A Three Hundred Year Chronology, 1701-2001. Edited by David Lee Poremba. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, c2001.
Michigan F 574 .D4 D497 2001

Frimodig, David M. Keweenaw Character: The Foundation of Michigan's Copper Country. 4 vols. Lake Linden: John H. Foster Press, 1990.
Michigan F 572 .K4 F73 1990

Portrait and Biographical Album of Branch County, Mich. Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1888.
Michigan F 572 .B8 P6 1888

Renaud-Dubuisson, Jacques-Charles. Official Report, Made by the Commanding Officer, Mr. Dubuisson, to the Governor General of Canada, of the War Which Took Place at Detroit, in 1712, Between the French and Their Allies, and the Ottagamie and Mascoutins Indians. Detroit: Printed by Harsha & Willcox, 1845.
Rare Book Room E 82 .D83 1845

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Biographical Sources

Biography and Genealogy Master Index. (Online). Farmington Hills: Gale Group.
Available at the Library of Michigan and through MeL, the Michigan eLibrary, mel.org.

Loomis, Frances, comp. Michigan Biography Index. Detroit: Reference Department, Detroit Public Library, 1946-1958.
Genealogy F 565 .L55z Vol. 1-10
Housed at the Genealogy Index Table.

Michigan Biographies, Including Members of Congress, Elective State Officers, Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of the Michigan Legislature, Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, State Board of Agriculture and State Board of Education. Lansing: The Michigan Historical Commission, 1924.
Michigan Documents F 565 .M62 1924 Vol. 1-2
Housed at the Genealogy and Reference desks.

Michigan Manual. Lansing: State of Michigan, 1836-2002.
Michigan Documents JK 5830 .A32
1836-1868 are housed in the Rare Book Room.

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Biographies

Ford, Gerald R. A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.
Michigan E 866 .F67 1979

Troester, Rosalie Riegle, ed. Historic Women of Michigan: A Sesquicentennial Celebration. Lansing: Michigan Women's Studies Association, 1987.
Michigan CT 3260 .H5 1987

Iacocca, Lee A. Iacocca, An Autobiography. With William Novak. New York: Bantam Books, 1984.
Michigan HD 9710.U52 I25z 1984

Johnson, Earvin. Magic. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
Michigan GV 884.J63 A35 1983

Wangers, Jim. Glory Days: When Horsepower and Passion Ruled Detroit: A Memoir. Cambridge, MA: Robert Bentley, 1998.
Michigan HD 9710.U52 W28 1998

Washington, Margaret. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
Michigan E 185.97.T8 W36 1993

Weddon, Willah. First Ladies of Michigan. [S.l. : s.n.], 1977. (Grand Rapids. The Printers).
Michigan F 566 .W33z

Weeks, George. Stewards of the State: The Governors of Michigan. 2nd ed. rev. Detroit: Detroit News; Ann Arbor: Historical Society of Michigan, 1991.
Michigan F 565 .W43 1991

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Updated 05/07/2009