Index to Indexes of Michigan Newspapers!

The Library of Michigan soldiers valiantly on despite the stress being laid on it by state government cutbacks. The new issue of the sadly truncated Michigan Genealogist brings welcome good news from research LeRoy Bennett who has completed an 8-page PDF listing, "Indexes to Michigan Newspapers," covering more than 200 newspaper indexes whether on-line, in-library, or completely off-line. Adrian, Michigan, has an online index of death and marriage records in Lenawee County newspapers, 1850s-1870s, on GenWeb. At the far end of the alphabet, vital records from the Ypsilanti Commercial have been indexed from 1876 to 1883, and the index is in the Burton Collections of the Detroit Public Library (fee for entry).

Note that the indexes are listed alphabetically by city AND BY COUNTY, so if you don't find your town of choice you may possibly find tidbits from it indexed under the county name. My ownrecent research targets of Cheboygan and Montcalm counties didn't show, but maybe next time. I just love finding aids to finding aids.

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.

Michigan Genealogist

Articles in the Summer 2008 issue of the newsletter of Michigan's Department of History, Arts and Libraries (PDF):

"Researching the Politician in Your Past," by Gloriane Peck

"Military Records from the United States Government, Part 2," by Leelyn Johnson

"Genealogy from a Stone," by Edwina Morgan -- a Civil War tombstone in the Bahamas, no less


and of course a reminder of their two-day seminar starting tomorrow!

Michigan Genealogist, first issue of 2008

The latest issue of the web-only Michigan Genealogist from the Library of Michigan features a number of interesting sources at the library, including:

Michigan Deaths 1897-1920, the microfilms of which will actually be unavailable until the end of July because they're being digitized by Ancestry.com; after that point that they'll be available on the library's website for free.

Microfilm of all issues of the Grand Rapids Herald 1898-1959, a time span that nicely matches the Western Michigan Genealogical Society's excellent online obituary index.

Microfilm of certificates of enrollment issued for merchant vessels at Oswego, New York, 1815-1911 -- i.e., could be information on the ship your ancestors traveled west on. These are National Archives and Records Administration publication M2107 (PDF introduction).

About 30 editions of the Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory between 1860 and 1932.

Early Ontario records which include Loyalist family claims. One woman's husband, "always a friend of Gt. Britain," was reported to have left Westmoreland County in western Pennsylvania and "set out to get into [British-held] Detroit" in September 1780, but "was killed by the Indian who had undertaken to be his guide." His widow and children made it two years later.

There's much more, including listings of the oldest people recorded dying in various Michigan counties during 1868, records of soldiers wounded in wars between 1790 and 1848, and an account of temperance activism in Lansing.

Michigan Genealogist covers everything from Virginia to Ontario

Michigan Genealogist (PDF) isn't a publication of the Michigan Genealogical Society, because there isn't one (the only statewide genealogy organization is a council of local groups). It's the quarterly newsletter of the state's Department of History, Arts, and Libraries, and it's an on-line publication.

The fourth issue of 2007 -- mostly written by librarians and archivists with reference to their employer's holdings -- covers an amazing amount of ground. The following is a selection:

"Map Guide to German Parish Registers," by Kendel Darragh

"Researching Your Ontario Ancestors"

"Using Online Indexes to Michigan Land Records," by Gloriane Peck

"Research with Probate Records," by Kris Rzepczynski

"The First Three Years of the Michigan First Vital Records Act" (i.e., 1867-1870), by Charles Hagler

"Virginia Genealogy Sources for Michiganders" (this is not a joke!), by Edwina Morgan

"The Birth and Death of Lansing's Black Neighborhoods," by Robert Garrett

And where else are you going to learn that the Library of Michigan holds a microfilm index to the 1855 state census of -- Illinois?