A leisurely Look at Michigan’s stories and traditions from yesterday to yesteryear.
In 2007, the Archives of Michigan was awarded a National Historical Publication and Records Commission (NHPRC) Digitizing Historical Records grant. The project, named, “Thank God for Michigan” set the ambitious task of digitizing every government-related Civil War record in the Archives collection (about 100,000 pages).
A significant number of Michigan death records were added this week to the Death Records, 1897-1920 collection. With this second batch of records now loaded, the project is now about 2/3 complete; currently, there are about 660,000 of the approximately 1,000,000 certificates on this site. We’ll continue adding records regularly in the next few weeks, so check back often
Why is the Archives of Michigan displaying old beer labels? These labels can found within official state records. The Archives received them from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.
Introducing the Michigan Death Records Collection
Welcome to Seeking Michigan! As a partner in the site, The Library of Michigan is excited to make these Michigan death certificates for the years 1897 to 1920 freely available online. The years 1915 to 1920 are particularly significant, as a readily available statewide index did not exist previously.
On September 1, 1980, Emil and Mary Petri hosted a Labor Day picnic to remember. Their guests included Republican Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and Michigan Governor William Milliken. (That’s Mary Petri seated in the middle, between the two.)
Like many Michiganians, this man and woman were engaging in some winter fun. Winter recreation has a long tradition in the state. Back in the 1700’s, Detroit’s French-Canadian residents held horse races on the frozen Detroit River…
GLCE: H3.0.7
Michigan’s pioneers—the first people of European decent to settle in various places throughout our state—wrote many accounts of their experiences. A woman who came to Yankee Springs in Southwestern Michigan when she was four years old created one of my favorite accounts. Mary Lewis Hoyt was over seventy when she wrote her story, but she painted wonderful word pictures that answer questions historians ask—
Where did people live?
How did they travel?
What did they eat?
What did they do for fun?
Can you imagine hunting elephants with weapons like these? Around 10,000 years ago, Paleo-Indian peoples hunted prehistoric elephants called mastodons using spears tipped with stone points. How were they able to do that? They were also armed with knowledge and cooperation. They knew a lot about their environment, including the habits of mastodons. And, since killing a mastodon required many spears, they had to assemble a group of several hunters and develop a strategy that would allow a handful of people to kill a large, powerful animal like a mastodon.
