I went to the Library of Michigan Saturday with my genealogy class. In addition to looking at the very impressive collection of genealogically-oriented material in the Library, we had the privilege of a tour of the Archives of Michigan, in the same building. Jill Arnold gave us an excellent overview of the material the Archives has, and took us inside one of the vaults. She let us look at maps, prison records, naturalization records, and some military cards, as well as showing us a set of records done by the WPA that shows a lot of information about farms. We had a good time, and after the tour I stayed in the library where I found several obituaries in their newspaper microfilms.

If you haven’t been to the library or the archives, you owe it to yourself to visit. Check them online through michigan.gov/mhc/archives or michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan and you will find out about resources, programs, the staff, and other things of interest.