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Visit the Archives
Visit the Archives
Archives of Michigan Reading Room
The Archives of Michigan's reading room is open to the public for research. Please contact the archives a head of your visit as some collections are stored in offsite facilities. The reading room is staffed by two archivists to help researchers into material.
Reading Room Hours
The reading room is open to the public six days a week and closed on Sundays. Please note that the archives is closed on state holidays and several other days throughout the year. Please view the holiday closing schedule for more details.
Monday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Reading Room Location
The Archives of Michigan is located on the 2nd floor in the east wing in the Michigan Library and Historical Center building:
702 W. Kalamazoo St.
Lansing, MI 48915
There is no fee or admission charge for entering the Archives of Michigan. The public visitor lot charges a one-time fee. Learn more about parking and the building.
Preparation for Your Visit
- Gather as much information as possible before visiting.
- List dates, location (county, cities, townships), and government agencies and offices related to your research topic.
- If working with land records, identify the legal description (township, range, section) of the property.
- Search the Archives of Michigan's online catalog to identify materials that may be of interest.
- Review the Archives of Michigan's county guides, which list archival collections related to each county.
- Contact Archives of Michigan staff one to two weeks ahead of your visit to confirm the collections are ready to use. Please email archives@michigan.gov or call 517-335-2576.
- Staff respond to phone and email 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The reading room is open for onsite research from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Visit Michiganology to explore the Archives of Michigan's digital resources.
- If visiting in a large group (5 or more people), please contact the Archives of Michigan at least two weeks in advance.
Expectations of Your Visit
- There is a short registration process prior to entering the Archives of Michigan's reading room. Please bring your driver license or other valid photo identification to access archival material.
- The reading room holds a non-circulating library collection in addition to archival collections. You can learn more about the material by visiting our Archives Collections page.
- The Abrams Foundation Historical Collection are open stacks and can be browsed and used by researchers in the reading room.
- Archival collections can be requested through archives staff in the reading room.
- Please note that records are rarely organized by name. Most records at the Archives of Michigan were created while conducting government business and not with historical research in mind.
- An archivist is available to answer questions you might have and show you how to use our guides, finding aids, inventories, and indexes to find resources that may pertain to your research topic.
- We recommend that you bring your own device for research. We have one laptop available, upon request, for public use. You can access Ancestry Institution Edition in the reading room through the public wireless network.
- We recommend that you bring your own device for digital copies, provided the device does not touch the material (i.e. feed scanners) or use a flash.
- If you do not have a camera or phone, the Archives of Michigan has two iPads available for public use upon request to make digital copies.
- You can make printed copies of library and archival material for free.
- If you are visiting us for the first time, please review our reading room policies below.
Guidelines for the Reading Room
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Code of Conduct
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Use of Archival Material
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Photocopying and Reproductions