Archives of Michigan Releases a New Collection; Making Some Updates Too!

How about some news about the Archives of Michigan?

 
1. Through a partnership with the Daughters of the American Revolution National Headquarters (DAR) of Michigan, the Archives of Michigan is proud to release a new online collection on Michiganology.org -- the Michigan World War I Veteran Service Cards.

These are informational cards created in 1921-1932 about Michigan veterans who served in the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines from 1917-1919. They provide a wealth of information for family historians, including place and date of birth, current residence, rank, assignments, battles, and injuries. Given the near-total loss of federal WWI service records from a 1973 fire in St. Louis, Missouri, state-level collections like this one are an effective alternative! You can search the collection by name, birthplace, army serial number, city, county, state, and birth date. (Note: some cards just have an age or approximate age rather than a birth date.)

As of this time Michiganology's homepage does not reflect the collection's release. But it is there.

2. The Archives of Michigan is and has been updating its Michiganology.org website. Now when you go to preform a search, you are actually taken the Michiganology search interface on the preservica.com site. Besides the tailored search interface for Michigan Death Certificates 1897-1952, there are now somewhat tailored search interfaces for Michigan State Census 1827-1894; Surveyor Field Notebooks 1815-1918; Survey Maps 1816-1860; General Photograph Collection ca. 1860-1990; Archives of Michigan Map Collection ca. 1810-1970; State Government Records; Local Government Records; and the World War I Collection.

From the Michiganology.org homepage if you select Browse Digital Collections, you are taken to a landing page telling you about the changes happening to the search features of the Michiganology website. Essentially, "The Archives of Michigan has recently updated its metadata indexer. These changes will add new metadata fields for upcoming collections, allow for sorting results, and improve overall searchability. A full re-indexing of all digital collections is being complete to ensure every collection is up to date with the new indexer. As collections are being re-indexed, you may experience some irregularities when searching. These should resolve once all collections are fully re-indexed. We appreciate your patience as we work to improve your search experience on Michiganology."

You can then select a specific collection from the icons at the bottom of the page or select Advanced Search and then pick a collection.

Using the World War I Collection Service Cards as an example, we searched using just a surname. (See above.) The results were presented with filters on the left, or you can just scroll the list. 

After selecting a result, the resulting page shows what was abstracted and images of the card's front and back. Use the icon above the abstracted information and image (circled in red in this image below) to download a PDF with the card's images.

3. The Archives of Michigan's second floor Reading Room will be closed to the public starting June 24 for some remodeling updates and will reopen July 15. But the public can access materials from a temporary location.

From the Archives of Michigan website page, "The Archives of Michigan will be closed to the public on Monday, June 24, 2024, due to remodeling. Starting on Tuesday, June 25, the reading room will be temporarily located in the Morris Learning Center on the first floor of the Michigan Library and Historical Center's east wing. Researchers can access books, microfilm, and archival material from this temporary location during the remodel. Please be patient as retrieval times may be longer than usual. The Archives of Michigan's second floor reading room will reopen to the public on Monday, July 15, with new carpet, tables, and chairs."

Have a great summer researching!
 

See you at our favorite library!
LE