Michigan Genealogist, 4th issue of 2008

From the Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries comes the state's closest thing to a statewide genealogy publication, Michigan Genealogist #4 (PDF) for 2008:

There's advance notice of six Saturday-afternoon sessions 4 April 2009 called "Learning More at the Library of Michigan," specific topics to be announced in February. Free but registration required due to limited seating. ... Be aware that many residents of northern Indiana and northwest Ohio may be closer to Lansing than to their own state capitals! Based on a flying visit last month, the Library of Michigan is the easiest state library to reach by car that I've ever seen (getting out of town is a little trickier) and it looks like a wonderful place to work.

The library is getting microfilm sets of city directories 1936-1960, which is big news if you're a devotee or someone who's pining away waiting for the 1940 census to be made public in 2012. LOM now has these for Toledo, Columbus, Indianapolis, and eight smaller Indiana cities.

And a Christmas Eve present for those with Michigan medical ancestors: special collections librarian Gloriane Peck lists a number of biographical books on hand that cover public health nurses, Jewish physicians, black medical graduates of the U of M, and women physicians, plus two directories from 1885 and 1893. Check out this useful set of descriptions, even if you have to search for them closer to hand.