Michigan Government Publications and Family History Research

This bibliography highlights publications produced by, or about, Michigan government.  They provide insight into how state residents have played a role in government or been influenced by the controls exerted through its institutions and agents.  If you can say ‘My ancestor was a Michigan … pioneer, government official or employee, prisoner, ward, patient, member of the military, etc., these resources will help you discover more about their life in Michigan.

Directories and registers

State of Michigan. Telephone directory. 1935-2005 (various years).
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S JK 5830 .M533  

Michigan House of Representatives. Michigan House of Representatives … committees, members, officers, employees. 1899, 1901.
LIB OF MICH LAW CLOSED STACKS 3N JK 5830 .M525z

Michigan Office of Civil Defense. Key personnel for the Michigan Civil Defense Emergency Operations. 1961.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS OFFICIAL UA 928 .M5 M5353 1961

Michigan Secretary of State. State of Michigan ... list of elective and appointive state officers: boards and commissions, state, federal and municipal courts, state institutions, legislative and county officers. 1907/08, 1919-1988.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S JK 5830 .S73

United States Office of Government Reports. Directory of federal and state departments and agencies in Michigan. 1941.
LIB OF MICH US DOCS 4S PR 32.207: 22/941x  

Michigan State Industries. Directory … institutional directors, superintendents, business managers, stewards. 1940.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S JK 5831 .D57 1940z

Michigan State Police. Personnel. 1952-1979.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S HV 7571 .M5 M539

Michigan State Normal School. Register of the Michigan State Normal School for ... 1886-1894.
LIB OF MICH MICHIGAN 2N LB 1892 .Y6 M5

Reports of hospitals, schools and prisons

Michigan Asylum for the Insane. Report of the board of trustees and officers of the Michigan Insane Asylum. 1859-1918.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S  RA 88 .K35 K355

Jones, Sullivan W. & Wadsworth, George R. Analysis of facilities for the care of the civil insane, State of Michigan …. 1926.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS OFFICIAL 5N  RC 445 .M52 A63 1926

Michigan State Reform School. Annual report … state reform school…/Michigan Industrial School for Boys ... 1859-1920.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS HV 9103 L.M5 M538

State Administrative Board, Building and Construction Division. Coldwater State Home and Training School : history for conspectus. 1948.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS OFFICIAL RC 445. M53 C653 1948

Purves, John H., 1839-1923. The nightkeeper's reports 1882. 1954.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S HV 9305.M52 S76 1954

Michigan State Prison. The Michigan State Prison, Jackson, 1837-1928 / Harry H. Jackson, warden. 1928
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S HV 8342 .A6 1928 

Michigan State Prison, Department of Administration. Jackson prison scrapbook. 1944-1957.
LIB OF MICH MICHIGAN MICROFILM 2S HV 9475 .M5 J33 1944

Michigan Dept. of Corrections. State House of Correction and Branch Prison, Marquette, Michigan : statistical report with movement of population. 1937-1942.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S HV 8482 .M5 S73

Memorials and biographies

Michigan Dept. of State Richard H. Austin 100th birthday tribute : Richard H. Austin Building, Lansing, Michigan, May 6, 2013. 2013
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS OFFICIAL AV F 566 .A87 O543 2013  

Government Printing Office. Charles A. Nichols (late a representative from Michigan) : memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, sixty-sixth Congress, February 27, 1921. 1922.
LIB OF MICH MICHIGAN 2N F 566 .N53 C473 1922  

Scotford, J. H. Photographic souvenir of state officers, and Michigan legislature, session of 1881. 1881.
LIB OF MICH RARE MICH 4N Undersize JK 5867 1881 .P47  

Michigan Historical Commission. 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. 1924.
LIB OF MICH - MICH DOCS 2S F 565 .M62 1924

Taylor, Sheila. Women in the Michigan legislature, 1921-1995. 1995.
LIB OF MICH LAW MICHIGAN 3N JK 5866 .M52 1995

Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society. The Michigan Supreme Court historical reference guide. 1998.
LIB OF MICH LAW MICHIGAN 3N KFM 4725 .M533 1998

Young, Joe, Jr. African American legislators in the Michigan Legislature. 1893-2004.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S JK 1012 .A37

Collections, series and periodicals.

Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. Pioneer Collections/Historical Collections, vols. 1-40, incl. index. 1874-1929
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S F 561 .M62

Michigan State Prison, Department of Education. School news. 1930-1932.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS OFFICIAL HV 8883.3 .U62 M537

Michigan manual. 1835-2017/18.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S  JK 5830 .A32

Michigan Legislature.
Journals of the House/Senate of the State of Michigan… 1837-2017.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S KFM 4218 .M5

Michigan Legislature. Documents accompanying the journal of the House of Representatives…Senate of the State of Michigan … (aka Joint Documents…).  1838-1897.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S J 87 .M5 A3

State Prison of Southern Michigan. The spectator. 1934-1991.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS Oversize HV 8301 .S741

Michigan Historical Commission/Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. Michigan history magazine. 1917-2009.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S F 561 .M57

Indexes, bibliographies and reading lists

Michigan History Magazine. A subject guide to Michigan History magazine, 1978-1994. 1995.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S F 561 .M57 1978-1994 Index

State Library Services, Michigan Dept. of Education. Michigan Magazine index. 1965-1988.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S Z 1297 .M52 (also in microfiche)

Michigan Historical Commission. Michigan bibliography: A partial catalogue of books, maps, manuscripts and miscellaneous materials relating to the resources, development and history of Michigan from earliest times to July 1, 1917. 1921.
LIB OF MICH - MICH DOCS 2S Z 1297 .M62 1921

Barnett, LeRoy. Michigan state government documents: a researcher's guide to indexes, finding aids, and reference tools. 2013.
LIB OF MICH RARE REFERENCE 4N Z 1223.5 .M536 2013

Library of Michigan. Early Michigan diaries and autobiographies. 1992.
LIB OF MICH - MICH DOCS 2S F 565 .E157 1992  

Library of Michigan. Michigan memoirs. 2008.
LIB OF MICH - MICH DOCS 2S Z 1297 .M535 2008

Military operations and personnel

Michigan Quartermaster General's Office. Annual report of the Quartermaster General of the State of Michigan. 1861-1898.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S UC 51 .M5 M538

Michigan Adjutant-General’s Department. The flags of Michigan / Compiled by Jno. Robertson, adjutant general. 1877.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S E 517 .M624 1877

Historical and pictorial review : National Guard of the state of Michigan, 1940. 1940.
LIB OF MICH MICHIGAN 2N UA 260 .H57 1940

Belknap, Charles Eugene. History of the Michigan organizations at Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge, 1863. 1899.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S E 475.81 .B43 1899  

Michigan State Military Board. Laws, rules and regulations for the government of the Michigan state troops ... 1875.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S KFM 4697 .M53 1875

Michigan Adjutant General’s Department. Michigan in the war. 1882.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS 2S E 514 .M62 1882

Michigan volunteers of '98; a complete photographic record of Michigan's part in the Spanish-American war of 1898. (Official souvenir). 1898.
LIB OF MICH MICHIGAN 2N E726.M6 O33

Michigan Department of Military Affairs. Roster of officers of Michigan state troops. 1893.
LIB OF MICH MICH DOCS OFFICIAL UA262 .M536 1893

Updated 01/16/2019