Selected
Primary and Secondary Sources by Historical Eras:
Pre and Post Civil War Era | Progressive Era |
Depression Era | Post-WWII Boom | Post-Modern
Era
Africans in America, 1450-1865. The four-part narrative orients you to the history and historical resources of this early American era. The Resource Bank provides annotated images and documents, stories, biographics, and commentaries.
Archiving Early America, 1700s. Primary source material from 18th Century America. Scenes and portraits from original newspapers, maps and writings.
Liberty! The American Revolution, 1760-1791.
Detroit
fur trade, 1783-1812
At the State
Archives of Michigan See
Native Americans Circular 30
Travel Descriptions and
Diary Accounts (of 19th Century families)
Items at the Bentley
Historical Library
Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884. Papers, 1834-1884.(Phillips was an American reformer, a prominent abolitionist (from 1837), and president of Massachusetts Antislavery Society (1865-70), as well as an author.) Unpublished finding aid available Joseph Labadie Collection
Indian Affairs, 1816-1835
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Native Americans Circular 30
Surveys & Field Notes
of Reservations, 1818-1855
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Native Americans Circular 30
Diaries, Daybooks and
Personal Journals, 1820-
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Diaries, Daybooks and Personal Journals Circular
61
George R. Raub papers, 1820s - ca. 1950. (Collector of clippings, photos, and copies of documents relating to his interest in the history of Zion Lodge, No. 1, Free and Accepted Order of Masons, Detroit; also history and miscellanea relating to the Detroit Visiting Nurse Association). Collection at the Bentley Historical Library.
Wayne County
Circuit Court papers, 1822-1851.
Microfilm at Bentley
Historical Library.
Chiefs Pokagon
& Okemos, n.d. Indian trading posts, 1823-1833
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Native Americans Circular 30
Diary of
Reverend Bingham, 1828-1855
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Diaries, Daybooks and Personal Journals Circular
61
Grob, Gerald
N. AMERICAN PSYCHIATRY: AN AMBIVALENT SPECIALTY.
Prospects, 1987, 12: 149-174.
"Psychiatry was the product of the institutions (mental hospitals) in which
it was formulated. Beginning in the 1830's, doctors in mental institutions began
to formulate a literature on mental illness and a rational, somatic argument
for mental illness that did not challenge religious or moral precepts. Psychiatry
was further influenced by the development of scientific medicine, the emergence
of the modern hospital, and the changing nature of the mental hospital population
reflecting an older, more chronically ill group with various illnesses...
Children's Home of Detroit 1836-1969. (Formed, 1836, to care for children whose parents could not do so. Formerly known as The Ladies Orphan Association of Detroit (1836), Protestant Orphan Asylum of Detroit (1889), Protestant Children's Home (1932), and Children's Home of Detroit (1971). Constitution and by-laws; history; minutes; letters; adoptions; admissions and surrenders; financial records; and health records at Repository: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Warner Wing papers, 1837-1878.
(Democratic State Legislator and Michigan Supreme Court Justice)
Items at the Bentley
Historical Library.
State Prison of Southern
Michigan at Jackson 1839- (Records from the three major correctional facilities
of Michigan (Ionia, Jackson, and Marquette) can provide a wealth of information
for anyone seeking specific details concerning inmates serving prison sentences.
For example, records of commitment dated 1839-1937 offers number, name, age,
term, date received, occupation, offense, date of sentence, county, physical
description, detention record, date of discharge, and remarks about parole,
return, transfer and discharge.
At the State
Archives of Michigan. See Correctional Facilities Circular 03.
1840
Decennial Census Report
First census after Michigan became a state. Only 32 counties are reported (today
Michigan has 83), one of which is a vague area labeled "Michilimackinac". There
are only two "principle towns", Detroit and Monroe.
Joseph Rickey papers, 1850-1862. (Four business papers and a letter from Lewis Cass, 1850, on action by territorial legislatures on slavery issue). Items at the Bentley Historical Library.
Temple Beth El, 1850s- (The archives preserves materials relating to the development of Temple Beth El and Judaism in Detroit, Masonic history, urban politics, and philanthropy in the metropolitan area since the 1850s. Of the various manuscript collections housed in this repository, one of the most notable is the
Dr. Leo Franklin Papers. The archives are at Temple Beth El.
1850
Decennial Census Report
Second census after Michigan became a state. Only 43 counties are reported (today
Michigan has 83), one of which is "Michilimackinac" being grouped with "twenty-one
unorganized counties". Included in the 1850 Census are vital statistics such
as 572 "deaf and dumb, blind, insane and idiotic" statewide, information on
"colleges, academies, schools, [etc.], and school attendance. The report includes
Professions, Occupations, and Trades of the male population and agricultural
census tables, the number of newspapers and periodicals, and the number of public
libraries and churches.
Abel F. Fitch correspondence, 1851. (Michigan Center farmer. Letters written from Detroit to his wife Amanda, concerning his arrest and trial for setting fire to the Michigan Central Railroad depot in Detroit with fellow alleged conspirators because of the railroad's refusal to install fences along their tracks.) Collection at the Bentley Historical Library.
Children's Home Association, 1851-1852. (Detroit, Michigan organization succeeded by the Ladies Orphan Association. Summary: Minutes). Repository: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Boys Training School
1856-1934
Statistical Record book of the school, 1856-1880. Offers names of
inmate, number, age, nationality, education, religion, moral condition, and
employment; History of boys, 1856-1920; Case histories of inhabitants, 1926-1934.
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Youth, Records Related to, Circular 08
Michigan Asylum for the
Insane at Kalamazoo, 1859.
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Mental Health Records Circular 12
Children's Aid Society, 1860-1942. (Detroit, Michigan society formed to care for orphans of soldiers killed during the Civil War. Summary: Minutes; history; annual reports; and photographs.) Repository: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Children’s
Aid Society of Detroit 1862- (Begun in 1862 by Presbyterian women
who wanted to provide a “Home for the Friendless” for orphans of Civil War soldiers,
the organization provided food, shelter and adoption services. As theories of
child treatment gained sociological currency in the country, another organization,
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, established themselves
in 1903 to prosecute cases of child abuse and neglect. In 1914, these two groups
convened their Boards of Directors and determined that a merger, the Children’s
Aid Society, best served community needs by decreasing duplication of services
and the costs of maintaining similar agencies.
State Archives of Michigan See Manuscript Records Circular 55
Detroit Industrial School Records, 1860-1968. (Founded, 1857, as the Ladies Industrial School Association, to educate and care for the poor children of Detroit. Summary: Letters; minutes; by-laws; photographs; record books; and attendance cards). Repository: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
1860
Decennial Census Report
Third census after Michigan became a state. Only 62 counties are reported (today
Michigan has 83), including "Michilimackinac" and "Manitou". Detroit, with a
population of 45,619, ranked 19th in the nation.
Mary P. Davis letters, 1861 and 1864. (Letters to Mrs. S. E. Mead, one containing description of her work at the Detroit House of Correction where she was employed) Letters at the Bentley Historical Library.
Newspaper history of the Detroit street railway system 1962-1899. (Mimeographed typescripts of articles relating to Detroit's street railway system, 1862-1899). At the Bentley Historical Library.
Colored Women's Clubs
1865-1985 (Association's Records)
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Women, Records Relating to, Circular 35
Emma Amelia Hall papers, 1866-1935. (Superintendent of the Michigan State Training School for Girls at Adrian, Michigan. Reports, 1871-1884, minutes, 1880, and expense accounts of the school; four volumes of diaries, 1879-1884, noting everyday events and happenings; personal correspondence; manuscript history of the Detroit Presbyterian Home Mission Society; obituary notes, notebooks, sermons, photographs, and miscellaneous papers; and scrapbook of clippings. Collection at the Bentley Historical Library.
Michigan
County Histories
http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/micounty/
The Michigan
County Histories collection is projected to provide access to 192 histories
dating from 1866 to 1926. There are 172 volumes in 146
titles currently online. The collection provides all members of the community
with keyword and page-by-page access to digitized reproductions of Michigan
county atlases and histories as a resource for historical and genealogical research.
Initial collection content comprises titles selected from Frances Loomis's Michigan
Biography Index (Detroit: Detroit Public Library, 1946), Bentley Historical
Library holdings, and the Research Publications microfilm publication County
and Regional Histories of the Old Northwest. Additional content selected from
titles listed in Michigan Atlases and Plat Books by William Miles (Lansing:
State Library Services, 1975) will be added as funds permit.
The
Michigan County Histories collection is fully searchable and freely available
to the public. Work continues on the collection; more histories
will be added and the interface will be improved over the coming month.
School for
the Blind, 1870-1970
State
Archives of Michigan See Confidential Records Circular 57
Nannette B. E. Gardner papers, 1871-1893. (Detroit woman suffrage leader. Scrapbooks containing biographical sketch of Mrs. Gardner and members of her family; two pages of a diary on voting in Detroit, 1871; miscellaneous papers which largely relate to woman suffrage; and visual materials). Collection at the Bentley Historical Library.
State of Michigan, Department
of Mental Health, Coldwater Regional Mental Health Center.
Coldwater Home, 1873-1992. (The Coldwater Regional Mental Health Center
opened in 1874 as the State Public School for Orphaned Children. In 1935 the
state established the Michigan Children's Institute in Ann Arbor and it took
over the wards and records from the Coldwater facility, which became the Michigan
Children's Village, accepting mildly impaired residents. In 1939 it was renamed
the Coldwater State Home and Training School and began to accept residents of
all ages and levels of developmental impairment. Its name changed to the Coldwater
Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities in 1978. In 1985 the center began
to convert to a psychiatric hospital, and in 1986 its name changed to the Coldwater
Regional Mental Health Center. It closed in June 1992. Summary: The Administrative
Subject Files series contains correspondence, committee files, inspection reports,
and publications. The older records in the series include a cemetery location
guide, copies of land records, and records of L.A. Harris (principal of the
school from 1925 to 1935). Ledgers included in the second series are: date books
(daily census), 1948-1980; hospital ledgers, 1970-1973; records of goods received,
1971-1991; surgery ledger, 1956-1972; vaccine ledgers, 1936-1951; and visitors'
registers, 1970-1992.)
The History of the Health Sciences in Michigan: A Guide to Research Sources
description of repository at State
Archives of Michigan.
Michigan Children's Institute
1874-1959
Register of children 1874-1938 ; Report of state agents dated 1885-1895. Includes
narrative statements resulting from agent's investigation of the physical condition
and social adjustment of children indentured, restored to parents, or independent;
Registry of children restored to parents and declared self- supporting, 1885-195;
Register of children adopted and returned to counties, 1879- 1947; Register
of children indentured, 1874-1931.
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Youth Records Relating to, Circular 08
Social Services 1874-1925.
History of children offers date of admission, name of child, age, county of
residence, names of parents and residence plus orphan status. At the State
Archives of Michigan See Youth Records Relating to, Circular 08
Michigan Woman's Christian
Temperance Union records, 1874-1991.
Finding aid online at the Bentley
Historical Library.
Ionia State Prison, 1874-.
(Records from the three major correctional facilities of Michigan (Ionia, Jackson,
and Marquette) can provide a wealth of information for anyone seeking specific
details concerning inmates serving prison sentences. For example, description
of inmates, 1874-1892. Offers date, registration number, nativity, offense,
sentence, residence, race, height, and personal description.
State
Archives of Michigan See Correctional Facilities Circular 03
National
Conference of Social Welfare Proceedings (1874-1982)
http://www.hti.umich.edu/n/ncosw/
These proceedings were issued under earlier names of the Conference as follows: 1874, Conference of Boards of Public Charities; 1875-1879, Conference of Charities; 1880-1881, Conference of Charities and Correction; 1882-1916, National Conference of Charities and Correction; 1917-1956, National Conference of Social Work; 1957-, National Conference on Social Welfare. They are fully searchable and are freely available to the public.
YMCA of Metropolitan
Detroit, Metropolitan Offices records, 1877-1975
Finding aid in the Bentley
Historical Library
Eastern Michigan Asylum
at Pontiac 1878 (See also Clinton Valley Center, Pontiac, Fairlawn and Oakland
Centers)
State
Archives of Michigan See Mental Health Records Circular 12
Pontiac State Hospital
Board of Trustees 1878-1921
Minutes at the State
Archives of Michigan See Task Forces, Councils and Boards Circular 43
Boyd, David Armitage, Labor papers, 1878-1939. (147 Machinist, printer, union organizer and officer, and member of the Knights of Labor, Michigan Federation of Labor, and International Association of Machinists. The collection contains correspondence, financial records, biographical information, personal documents, and union records relating to his work as a labor leader and organizer; an essay, "The Labor Movement of Detroit"; and Minutes Report Book for the Detroit Assembly of the Knights of Labor (1878), which was called the Washington Literary Society to conceal its identity. Correspondents include Samuel Gompers, Patrick J. McCormick, Paul Marrin, Frank Morrison, Hazen S. Pingree, and Michigan labor leaders.) List of correspondents available at the Joseph Labadie Collection
Sisters
of Mercy of Michigan 1879-
(First hospital established by Sister Mary Joseph Lynch in Big Rapids, Michigan,
1879, and catered to lumber men; other hospitals and associated nursing schools
administered by the Sisters of Mercy were located in Grand Rapids, Battle Creek,
Cadillac, Manistee, Grayling, Muskegon, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Pontiac,
Lansing, Dowagiac, Port Huron, and Bay City. Existing hospitals now controlled
by Mercy Health Services Holding Company. Material ranges from the first hospital
established in Big Rapids, 1879, to corporations including groups of hospitals,
and later to the establishment of the Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation, 1976,
and Mercy Health Services.)
The History
of the Health Sciences in Michigan: A Guide to Research Sources provided
the description of the repository at Archives, Sisters of Mercy - Province of
Detroit, 28558 11 Mile, Farmington Hills, MI 48336
German Protestant Home
for Orphans and Old People (Detroit, Mich.) 1879-
At the Bentley
Historical Library
Emmanuel-Bethel United
Church of Christ (Royal Oak, Mich.) 1880-
Finding aid online at Bentley
Historical Library. (Reinhold Niebuhr served as pastor from 1925-1928)
St. Peter's Danish Evangelical
Lutheran Church (Detroit, Mich.) 1880-
Collection and finding aid in the Bentley
Historical Library.
Sutton, John R. THE POLITICAL
ECONOMY OF MADNESS: THE EXPANSION OF THE ASYLUM IN PROGRESSIVE AMERICA. American
Sociological Review 1991 56(5): 665-678.
Link to full
text at JSTOR
"Between 1880 and the 1920's, unprecedented numbers of people were confined
in mental hospitals, leading many contemporary observers to conclude that the
nation was experiencing an epidemic of madness. The author analyzes the expansion
of asylums as a product of organizational and political forces rather than an
increase in insanity. The analysis is based on Grob's (1983) historical argument
that asylums were forced to absorb increasing numbers of the aged poor who could
no longer be confined in almshouses. This finding is supplemented by a more
comprehensive model that treats political factors - especially the fiscal capacities
of state governments and the role of political parties - as fundamental determinants
of institutional policy. The model is tested using longitudinal quantitative
data for US states. Results confirm the direct effects of almshouse capacities
in an attenuated way and show further that political organization influenced
the production of insanity."
Girls' Training School 1881-1918..
Letters to superintendent from girls indentured for service in private homes
and other interested people ca. 1881-1892; Record of girls received in the Michigan
Reform School for Girls, 1881-1883. Case histories of first 120 girls received
at the school; Record of girls received at Croswell Cottage, 1882-1918; Record
of girls received in the Michigan Reform School for Girls, 1881-1883. Case histories
of first 120 girls received.
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Youth, Records Relating to, Circular 8
Vista Maria 1883-
Vista Maria was founded in 1883 by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and has evolved from an orphanage (Home of the Good Shepherd) in Detroit to a residential and community-based treatment agency based in Dearborn Heights. Vista Maria offers specialized programs for high-risk adolescent girls in the areas of trauma recovery, substance abuse and mental health. Support services include an on-site accredited high school, on-site health clinic, mentorship program, recreational and spiritual programming and more.
Historical record includes the following populations and problems: Turn of the Century information on abandoned and delinquent youth, abandoned women, and pre-juvenile court records; depression records; conditions during the War; job training efforts and changes; emergence of drug culture -1960s; transition to institutionalized care; emergence of crack cocaine and HIV; blue collar to urban poor; Hudson's marching band; population changes; geography and poverty changes; ethnic and socioeconomic changes. Sisters of Good Shepherd and Archdiocese of Detroit may have additional related records.
Women's Relief Corps
1884-1955
Scrapbooks 1911-1955
at the State
Archives of Michigan See Scrap Books and Albums, Circular 62
Organizational Records 1884-1905; Records 1889-95
at the State
Archives of Michigan See Women, Records Relating to, Circular 35
Adrian Training School,
1884-1971
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Confidential Records Circular 57
Northern Michigan Asylum
at Traverse City, 1885. (Also known
as Traverse City)
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Mental Health Records Circular 12
United Community Services
Papers, 1887-1938. (Material relates to the work of charitable and health
care groups before most of their activities were centralized under other organizations
such as United Community Services. Include correspondence, minutes, financial
records, reports, and case files of organizations such as the Association of
Charities of Detroit, Detroit Community Union, European Relief Council, Detroit
Society for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis,
the Red Cross, and the Michigan Fresh Air Society).
Finding aids online at Walter
P. Reuther Library of Labor History and Urban Affairs.
Lapeer, 1895-1982.
(Also known as Oakdale Regional Center)
Patient Log Books at the State
Archives of Michigan See Mental Health Records Circular 12
Michigan Asylum for Insane
Criminals at Ionia, 1885.
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Mental Health Records Circular 12
Marquette Branch Prisons
1889- (Records from the three major correctional facilities of Michigan
(Ionia, Jackson, and Marquette) can provide a wealth of information for anyone
seeking specific details concerning inmates serving prison sentences. For example,
inmate record books dated 1889-1925, list prisoner's name and alias, number,
date of entrance to prison, county of conviction and date of sentence, term,
nature of crime, measurements, physical description, age, remarks, and in most
instances photographs.
At the State
Archives of Michigan See Correctional Facilities Circular 03
Selected
Local Records by Historical Eras:
Pre and Post Civil War Era | Progressive
Era
Depression Era | Post-WWII Boom | Post-Modern
Era
A. Digital archives
| B.
Archival Repositories
Part
I: General Library Sources for the Literature Review
Part
II: Subject-Specific Databases for the Literature Review
*Selected Local Records by Historical Eras were based on
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Joseph Labadie Collection, University of Michigan Hatcher Graduate Library
Michigan State University Libraries American Radicalism Collection
State Archives of Michigan, Lansing (717 West Allegan, Lansing, Michigan)
Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
|
Document Custodian: Sally
Haines Last revised: 20 February 2008 |