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MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION
A State Department of History and Archives

Bulletin no. i

THE

MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Its inception, organization, administration
and aims

PREPARED BY
GEORGE NEWMAN FULLER, Ph. D.,
SECRETARY

WYNKOOP HALLENBECK CRAWFORD CO.. STATE PRINTERS
LANSING, MICHIGAN, SEPTEMBER, 1913.

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MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION
A State Department of History and Archives
BULLETIN NO. 1
THE
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Its inception, organization, administration
and aims
PREPARED BY
GEORGE NEWMAN FULLER, Ph. I).,
SECRETARY

WYNKOOP HALLENBECK CRAWFORD CO.. STATE PRINTERS
LANSING, MICHIGAN, SEPTEMBER, 1913.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
Governor Woodbridge N. Ferris ex officio.
Clarence M. Burton, President Detroit.
William L. Jenks, Vice president Port Huron.
Rt. Rev. Monsignor O'Brien Kalamazoo.
Edwin O. Wood Flint.
Lawton T. Hemans Mason.
Claude H. Van Tyne, Ph. D. Ann Arbor.

secretary
George Newman Fuller.
Curator
Mrs. M. B. Ferrey.

CONTENTS
PAGE.
Officers  3
Foreword  7
Origin of the Commission  9
Act establishing the Commission  11
Rules of the Commission  17
Organization and administration  21
Housing  23
Collections  24
Publications  31
Distribtition and exchange  34
Information bureau  35
Cooperative activities  37
The museum  39

FOREWORD
With the conviction that for an institution to be
as useful as possible it is necessary to seek for it
wide publicity, the Michigan Historical Commission
have devised, in common with bodies of a like nature,
a series of bulletins, to be published from time to.
time, setting forth in a form readily accessible all mat
ters about its work that would be of interest to the
general public and to scholars.
Bulletin No. 1 relates to the inception, the aims
and the administration of the Commission. Other
bulletins are being planned, which will contain a de
scriptive catalogue of the museum of the Commission,
the proceedings of the Michigan Pioneer and Histori
cal Society for the year current, reports of coopera
tive activities with other state organizations of a
similar nature, a constitution and by-laws for local
historical societies in Michigan, suggestions to local
societies regarding methods of work, reports and pa
pers contributed by local societies, a preliminary bibli
ography of materials for Michigan history, a calendar
of unpublished materials in the public and private
libraries of Michigan, a calendar of Michigan state
and local archives, suggestions to writers of local
history in Michigan, and topics, references and sug-

8 s foreword
gestions for the study and teaching of Michigan his
tory, including Indian legends and pioneer life, with
references to material for English exercises and story
telling .
The Commission cordially invites questions about
its work from anyone interested, with the assurance
that all inquiries will receive prompt and courteous
attention.

ORIGIN OF THE COMMISSION'
It had been realized for some time previous to the
annual meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Histori
cal Society in June, 1911, that the relation between
that Society and the State was anomalous. The State
supported the Society by annual contributions but it
had no voice in its management, and although the
Society was provided with rooms in the Capitol build
ing and had accumulated large and valuable collec
tions, purchased mainly with money provided by the
State, the latter had no control over them. The only
protection to the State was the provision of the
statute authorizing the incorporation of the Society
that in the event of the dissolution of the latter its
property should revert to the State. But the law
contained nothing to prevent the Society during its
life from selling or otherwise disposing of its property.
To remedy this condition a resolution was intro
duced at the annual meeting of the Society in June,
1911, and unanimously adopted, declaring that the
Society held all its property as trustee for the State,
and giving its officers authority to make formal con
veyance to the State at any time when they might
deem it proper to do so.

1 Prepared by the Vice President, Hon. William L. Jenks.

10 origin of the commission
During the years 1911 and 1912, when the Society
was deprived of any appropriation by the veto of
Governor Osborn, and was able to continue its activi
ties only by means of the wise liberality of the Board
of State Auditors, it became apparent to the Trustees
of the Society that the best solution of the situation
was to create a State Department which should have
charge and control of the property collected by the
Society, with a permanent appropriation which would
enable it to carry out a definite and continuous policy.
The Society would still remain in existence, -with im
portant duties which a State Department could not
perform, but it would not have any property re
sponsibility nor receive contributions from the State.
As a result a bill to create the Michigan Historical
Commission was introduced in the House of Rep
resentatives during the session of 1913, which became
a law in its present form.

ACT ESTABLISHING THE COMMISSION
An act to create the Michigan Historical Commission;
to provide for the appointment of members of such
commission; to fix their terms of office, prescribe
their powers and duties, rnake an appropriation to
carry out the provisions of this act, and repeal all
acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith.'
[Act No. 271, Public Acts of 1913.]
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Section 1. There is hereby created a commission
to be known as the "Michigan Historical Commission."
Said commission shall consist of six members, with
the addition of the governor, ex officio; said six. mem
bers shall be appointed by the governor. No mem
ber of said commission shall receive any compensation
for his services, except actual and necessary expenses
while attending the meetings of said commission.
Section 2. The governor shall appoint the mem
bers of said commission for the following terms: One
for one year, one for two years, one for three years.

1 Introduced in the House by Hon. Dwight G. F. Warner. To
Mrs. M. B. Ferrey is due much credit for earnest work in behalf
of this bill from its inception to its passage by the legislature.

12 act establishing the commission
one for four years, one for five years, and one for six
years, and thereafter one member annually fot a
term of six years until their successors shall have
been appointed and qualified.
Section 3. As soon as practicable after this act
shall take effect, the said commission shall meet in
the State capitol in Lansing, and shall organize by
electing one of its members as president, and one as
vice president, and shall appoint a secretary, and shall
arrange a time and place of holding regular meetings
of the commission and for such special meetings as
may be necessary. It shall take, as soon as practicable,
necessary steps to receive and accept in the name of
the State of Michigan, such of the property of the
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society as the latter
may convey to the State of Michigan, and shall take
possession of the rooms in the capitol building now
occupied by the said society, and may accept all gifts
and bequests for the furtherance of its authorized
purposes. Section 4. It Shall be the duty of said commission
to collect, arrange and preserve historical material,
including books, pamphlets, maps, charts, manuscripts,
papers, copies of domestic and foreign records and
archives, paintings, statuary, and other objects and
material illustrative of and relating to the history of
Michigan and the old Northwest Territory; to pro
cure and preserve narratives of the early pioneers,
their exploits, perils, privations and achievements; to
collect material of every description relative to the

ACT establishing THE COMMISSION 13
history, genius, progress or decay of our Indian tribes;
to collect, prepare and display in the museum of said
commission objects indicative of the life, customs,
dress and resources of the early residents of Michigan,
and to publish material relative to and illustrative of
the history of the State, including such material as
may be furnished for that purpose by the Michigan
Pioneer and Historical Society. The commission shall
cooperate with and assist the Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Society and local societies of similar nature
and purpose.
Section 5. The said commission shall have power,
and it is hereby made the duty of all public officials to
assist in the performance of this power, to collect from
the public offices in the State, including State, county,
city, village and township offices, such records, files,
documents, books and papers as are not less than
thirty years old, and are not in current use, and are,
in the opinion of the commision, valuable only for his
torical purposes; and it is hereby made the legal
custodian of such records, files, documents, books and
papers when collected and transferred to its posses
sion. The commission shall provide for their preserva
tion, classification, arranging and indexing, so that
they may be made available for the use of the public.
Copies of all such papers, documents, files and records,
when made and certified to by the secretary or archi
vist of said commission, shall be admitted in evidence
in all courts, with the same effect as if certified to by
the original custodian thereof.

14 ACT ESTABLISHING THE COMMISSION
Section 6. It shall be the duty of said commission
to prepare for publication such material referred to
in section four of this act as may be suitable for that
purpose. The volumes of said publication shall be
issued in editions of not more than twenty-five hun
dred copies, and contain not exceeding seven hundred
fifty pages each. They shall be printed and bound in
substantial uniformity with the volumes issued by
other historical societies and the several State depart
ments. Said printing, together with such bulletins
and reprints of articles as may be issued by the com
mission, shall be done by the State printer, and the
binding by the State binder, both printing and bind
ing to be under the direction and supervision of said
commission. The cost of such printing and binding,
together with other necessary printing and binding,
postage and supplies, shall be allowed by the board of
state auditors and paid from the general fund of the
State treasury, when vouchers are approved by the
secretary and president or vice president of said com
mission. Section 7. The secretary of the commission shall
be the custodian of the publications of the commis
sion, and of the museum, and shall distribute and ex
change said publications with domestic and foreign
states and governments under such rules and regula
tions as shall be established by the commission. One
copy of each volume published shall be furnished to
each school library and. educational institution, public
library and grange library in the State of Michigan,

act ESTABLISHING THE COMMISSION 15
when authoritatively and officially requested so to do
by the officers thereof: Provided, That no library
containing less than five hundred volumes shall be
entitled to receive such publications; he shall also
furnish to each member of the legislature during his
term of office one copy of each volume or bulletin pub
lished during such term, the expense of all such dis
tribution to be paid out of the general fund in the
State treasury upon proper vouchers rendered therefor.
The remainder of said copies of said volumes and
publications shall be sold by said secretary at a price
of not less than one dollar for each volume, and at
such price for each bulletin as may be fixed by the
commission. The money arising from such sales and
from certified copies of documents shall be placed in
the State treasury to the credit of the general fund.
Section 8. The secretary of said commission shall
be the editor of all publications issued by the com
mission, acting under the direction of the commission,
and shall receive a salary not exceeding eighteen hun
dred dollars per annum. The commission shall have
power to appoint a curator of the museum at a salary
of not exceeding one thousand dollars per annum, who
shall have such additional duties as may be prescribed
by the commission. The commission shall also have
power to appoint an archivist and assistant editors of
said publications, and such clerical assistants as may
be required, but the expenses for such archivist, editors
and assistants, including necessary traveling expenses
of secretary or other employes, shall not at any time;

16 act ESTABLISHING THE COMMISSION
exceed five thousand dollars per annum. The salary
of the secretary, archivist, editors, curator and cleri
cal assistants shall be paid monthly from any moneys
in the general fund not otherwise appropriated, upon
a warrant of the auditor general on the State treasury
approved by the president or vice president of said
commission. Section 9. The said commission shall make annual
reports on the first day of January of each year to the
governor of the State, setting forth the character and
extent of the work done under its supervision during
the preceding year, and the amounts of money ex
pended by it for the various purposes authorized by
this act.
Section 10. The auditor general shall add to and
incorporate in the State tax the sum of five thousand
dollars annually, and such amount is hereby appro
priated from the general fund of the State to carry
out the provisions of this act. Such sum shall be
included in the State taxes apportioned by the auditor
general on all taxable property of the State, to be
levied, assessed and collected as other State taxes, and
when so assessed and collected, to be paid into the
general fund to reimburse the same for the money
hereby appropriated.
Section 11. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent
with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

RULES OF THE COMMISSION

No moneys shall be expended from the special fund
of the Commission until the purpose of such expendi
ture shall have been approved by the Commission and
spread upon its records. II.
Such expenditure shall be made upon the warrant of
the Commission, signed by the Secretary and counter
signed by the President or Vice President.
III.
The publications of the Commission shall be divided
into three classes:
A. The Annual Reports, which shall contain a
general statement of the activities of the Commis
sion during the preceding year, and a detailed
financial statement of its expenditures.
B. Bulletins, which shall be numbered con
secutively and contain the proceedings of the
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society at its
annual and mid-winter meetings, including such
papers read at said meetings as may be deemed

18 rules OF THE COMMISSION
desirable, also such special articles relating to
matters included within the scope of the Commis
sion as may be approved by the Commission.
C. Historical Documents, relating to the his
tory of Michigan and of the Northwest Territory,
to be issued in volumes numbering consecutively
from volume I. IV.
No publication of the Commission shall be issued
until the manuscript shall have been submitted to the
Commission and approved by it or by a special com
mittee appointed for that purpose. V.
The President and Vice-President shall hold office
for one year from the first day of July of the year in
which they are elected. All appointed officers shall
hold office during the pleasure of the Commission.
VL
It shall be the duty of the Secretary, and he is
authorized, A. To exercise general ^supervision over all the
activities of the Commission and the property
thereof. B. To keep a record of all meetings and trans
actions of the Commission.

RULES OF THE COMMISSION 19
C. To keep a financial record showing in detail
all expenditures from the special fund.
D. To prepare the annual report of the Com
mission. E. To cause an inventory to be made and main
tained of all property in charge of the Commis
sion. F. To cause the museum and all other of the
Commission's collections to be arranged, classified,
and catalogued.
G. To prepare for publication all volumes or
bulletins which the Commission may decide to
issue. H. To distribute, in accordance with the statute,
the volumes of the Michigan Pioneer and His
torical Collections and the publications of the
Commission. I. To arrange for exchange of publications with
all societies of a similar nature in America and
elsewhere. J. To establish and maintain connections with
the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society and
with societies of a similar nature throughout the .
State of Michigan.
K. To employ and discharge, subject to the de
cision of the Commission, such assistants, includ
ing stenographer and others, as may be required.

20 RULES OF THE COMMISSION
VII.
The Curator shall have charge, subject to the su
pervision of the Secretary, of the museum and its col
lections, and shall assist the Secretary in whatever
manner, and to whatever extent, the latter may require
in the performance of any of his duties, and especially
in the line of developing interest in the history of the
State among the schools, clubs, societies and other
associations in the State.

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The act of the legislature authorizing the Michigan
Historical Commission was approved by Governor
Ferris May 8. The members of the Commission were
at once appointed, and they met and organized on
May 28.
The Commission consists of the Governor, ex officio,
and six members appointed by him. The term of a
commissioner is six years; the first members are ap
pointed one for one year, one for two years, one for
three years, etc.
The statutory officers of the Commission are a
President and Vice President chosen from the mem
bers of the Commission, and certain officers who serve
during the pleasure of that body — Secretary, Curator,
Archivist, Assistant Editors and Clerks. No com
pensation for service is received by members of the
Commission excepting actual and necessary expenses
while attending the meetings of the Commission.
The Secretary receives per annum $1800 and the
Curator $1000; excepting one clerk no other officers
have yet been appointed.
There is appropriated to carry out the provisions of
the act $5000 in addition to the cost of printing, binding

22 ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
and distributing the publications of the Commission,
and the necessary postage and supplies.
The meetings of the Commission are held in Lansing
in the first week of July and within every three months
thereafter. Special meetings may be held at the call
of the President.

HOUSING
The headquarters of the Commission are in the
capitol at Lansing. The Secretary's office is tem
porarily in House Committee room I, and the museum
is still in the rooms which were occupied by it when it
was the property of the Michigan Pioneer and His
torical Society. The only available place for the ac
cumulating book and manuscript collections of the
Commission is the already overcrowded State Library.
It is well known in Michigan that the State Library
has long since outgrown its present quarters, and the
problem has long been discussed of securing ample
fireproof accommodations for the invaluable collections
in the Capitol. Only the imperative needs of other
State institutions, necessitating a very large total ap
propriation, blocked the active steps which were being
taken at the last session of the legislature to bring
this long desired boon to fruition.
Now that the way has opened for the still more
rapid accumulation of the vast materials for the his
tory of Michigan and the Old Northwest that the
Commission has been empowered to gather, it is
earnestly to be hoped that the widespread interest in
larger library accommodations may continue, and
insure that at the next session of the legislature this
object may be attained.

COLLECTIONS
The collection of the Michigan Historical Commis
sion is intended to comprise every variety of material
illustrative of the history of Michigan, of the life of
its aboriginal peoples, and of its early settlers and
present population.
Probably nowhere can there be found a truer reflec
tion of the life of a commonwealth than in its laws,
in its legislative journals and their accompanying docu
ments, and in the reports of the cases that have
been tried in its courts under those laws. Of these a
complete collection will be made, to be supplemented
by the reports issued from the earliest times by the
several departments of state. The original records and
published reports of all State and local public or pri
vate organizations, clubs and societies which^ bear upon
the institutional history of the state will be gathered.
A thorough and systematic search will be made for
old files and fugitive sheets of Michigan newspapers.
While the newspaper is, by itself, confessedly a dubi
ous source material from which to reconstruct the life
^ of a people, it nevertheless can be of highest useful
ness to the historian trained to guard against its
sources of error. This consideration will warrant the
most painstaking care in searching out every sheet of

COLLECTIONS 25
these reflectors of the habits, thoughts and activities of
the people, and in piecing them together in as complete
files as possible. There are at present many bound
volumes of these newspapers in second-hand book stores,
in the basements of the libraries and court houses at
the county seats, in the libraries and attics of former
editors and their descendants. Of the more recent
issues many volumes lie now neglected in cobwebs
and dust in the storerooms of the present printing
houses of the State. The increasing need of space in
these rooms, together with the natural decay of paper
exposed to dust or dampness, has caused many volumes
to be destroyed. The need is urgent, therefore, that
public spirited men and women assist the Commission
in recovering those volumes which may yet be pre
served. Of scarcely less importance is the collecting of the
representative Michigan newspapers of today, and in
this are involved the problems of securing the neces
sary housing and a sufficient staff to properly handle
them. It is the opinion of the Commission that at least
one newspaper of general interest and of wide county
circulation ought to be collected from each county,
together with all of the large dailies and the best of
the periodicals representing the special interests of
agriculture, dairying, fruit raising, lumbering, mining,
etc. A species of material not to be overlooked consists
of letters, diaries, journals, memoranda, papers, old

26 COLLECTIONS
account books and reminiscences of the early settlers
and public men of the Territory and State. A num
ber of citizens possessing the instincts of the anti
quarian and the historian, as well as much enterprise,
have made considerable collections of these materials
in their private libraries. A collection of this sort of
special worth is that made by Hon. C. M. Burton, of
Detroit, the present President of the Commission.
Recently the Commission issued a circular to every
newspaper in Michigan requesting the insertion
of a notice to its readers soliciting particularly this
kind of material. Undoubtedly a vast proportion of
it still is in the homes of descendants of these people.
It should in justice to the services of these men and
women be gathered together from private hands and
libraries and made appropriately accessible to the
student of Michigan's history.
i Scattered about over the state, and practically in
accessible to the student, are various books and pam
phlets relating to Michigan, such as the county and
other local histories, and locally printed pamphlets on
the industries of Michigan. As to the county histories,
their frankly commercial purpose, their resulting poor
quality, and the exorbitant prices charged for them,
have quite justly brought upon these products the
ridicule and contempt of the serious worker in history.
However, in connection with some phases of the set
tlement of Michigan they may be made to yield much
light on many problems, such as the founding of vii-

COLLECTIONS 27
lages, routes of early travel, the prejudices of settlers,
the sources of the population and the conditions of
pioneer life. It is earnestly desired, therefore, that
all who have such histories and wish to dispose of
them should at once communicate with the Secretary
of the Commission.
Attention will be given also by the Commission to
the collecting of three other classes of books, — his
tories of Michigan and of neighboring states, works of
national scope that bear with special emphasis upon
the region of the Old Northwest, and books of any
nature written by Michigan authors.
The collecting of maps and atlases of Michigan and
of the adjacent country has already reached a very
creditable stage in Michigan. Two large collections of
special worth are in the private libraries of Hon. CM.
Burton of Detroit and Hon. E. O. Wood of FHnt. The
latter collection is specially useful for the student .of
the French period. The collection made by Hon. W.
L. Jenks for the Port Huron public library is the
largest general collection in the state bearing specifi
cally on Michigan. There are also valuable collec
tions in the Detroit public library, the Ryerson public
library at Grand Rapids, the State Library at Lansing
and in the Library of Congress. The principal sources
of the originals of the earlier maps are France and
Canada, from whence Mr. Wood purchased a large
part of his collection; but the later maps, beginning
with the Risdon map of 1825, are doubtless in many

28 COLLECTIONS
private Michigan homes. These the Commission de
sire to gather, that they may properly mount and
preserve them and make them accessible to students.
They will be glad to communicate with anyone wishing
to dispose of them.
In due time, investigators with the special training
that is needed will explore the field for archeological
remains, especially in the mounds and tumuli. It is
the firm conviction of the Commission that much
more damage than good has in the past frequently
resulted from the unskilled work of the misdirected
enthusiast and curiosity hunter in this field of work.
Often the peculiarities of the immediate environment
of the mounds, and of the position of objects in them,
have quite as much significance to the scientific mind
as the objects themselves. This therefore is a field
which the Commission will seek for the present to
guard rather than to explore.
The most obvious parts of the collection, and prob
ably always to be the most interesting and instruc
tive to the general public, are the museum and the
portrait gallery. For these departments the Com
mission will be glad to receive photographs, pictures
and paintings, Indian relics and any objects that
illustrate worthily any phase of the history of Michi
gan or the life of its people.
The student and the scholar will probably find the
most vital part of the entire collection in the archive
material from the state departments and from the
various county, township, city and village deposi-

COLLECTIONS 29
tories. No State in the Union has given to its His
torical Commission a more generous grant of power
in this respect than has Michigan,' which provides
(sec. 5) that "the said Commission shall have
power, and it is hereby made the ^duty of all public
officials to assist in the performance of this power, to
collect from the public offices of the state, including
state, county, city, village and township offices, such
records, files, documents, books and papers as are not
less than thirty years old, and are not in current use,
and are, in the opinion of the Commission, valuable
only for historical purposes; and it is hereby made the
legal custodian of such records, files, documents, books
and papers -when collected and transferred to its pos
session. The Commission shall provide for their pre
servation, classification, arranging and indexing so
that they may be made available for the use of the
public. Copies of all such records, documents, files
and records, when made and certified to by the Secre
tary or Archivist of said Commission, shall be ad
mitted in evidence in all courts, with the same effect
as if certified to by the original custodian thereof."
This part of the Commission's collection, like that of
the newspapers, raises not only the question of housing,
and of a larger library staff , but of a special agent or
agents to send into the field to do the actual work of
collecting. It is likely that in the actual discharge of
this work, instead of bodily removing the originals a
corps of trained copyists will be used to make tran
scripts from selected originals upon specially prepared

30 COLLECTIONS
paper, since the paper in the local archives is in general
little calculated to withstand the wear of time.
Ariiong the agents of collection that can be of
greatest service to the State are the local pioneer and
historical societies, and the press. The Commission is
making a special effort to stimulate the historical
spirit in counties where such societies are already
organized, and to organize societies in the counties
which up to the present have been without them. It
is hoped that a statutory provision may erelong be
made by which the county societies may, as they do
now in some states, receive direct financial assistance
from moneys collected in the county for county pur
poses. Bulletins will be published from time to time
to aid the local societies in their work and to record
their contributions.
The Commission desire to express their warm ap
preciation of the hearty response with which their re
cent circular request was met by the press of the state
in behalf of the collection of historical material. The
collecting of certain kinds of material, particularly of
a personal nature, as letters, diaries, genealogies,
biographies and museum objects can be greatly aided
by the stimulus which the press can give in keeping
the subject impressively and constantly before the
people. The problem of paid advertising through the
press can be more easily met by the Commission as
the work takes on those dimensions which will awaken
the State to the Commission's need of larger funds.

PUBLICATIONS
The general character of the publications of the
Commission is stated in Commission rule three. >
They fall into three classes.
For the student and the scholar the volumes of
"original documents relating to the history of Michi
gan and the Northwest Territory," provided for in
class C, will be of first importance. These volumes
will succeed the series hitherto known as the Michi
gan Pioneer and Historical Collections, of which thirty-
eight volumes have been published, and the new series
will begin as volume I of the Michigan Historical Com
mission. They will be edited by the Secretary of the
Commission. The materials at present contemplated for the first
volume are the Schoolcraft papers, recently transcribed
from the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian
Institution, and papers transcribed from the French
archives by Stevens and Brown of London, England,
for the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society,
covering anew the field of the so-called Margry papers ;
to the latter collection will be added many that are
now being transcribed by Mr. W. G. Leland at Paris.

1 See p. 17 of this bulletin.

32 PUBLICATIONS
Other volumes will contain selected and representa
tive documents from the archives of Michigan, Canada,
and sister states of the Old Northwest.
These volumes will be published annually in edi
tions of 2500, containing each about 750 pages.
The Commission also is engaged in reprinting the
earlier volumes of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Collections, of which the first twenty volumes have
been reprinted by that Society. Volume twenty-one
will soon be out of press, and volume twenty -two will
appear early in the coming year. The purpose of
this reprinting is to supply deficiencies in incomplete
sets, hence the retention of the older name for the
series; and in order that the two volumes of indices
for the first thirty volumes of the Collections may be
used for the reprints the pagination is retained, neces
sitating the somewhat clumsy expedient of placing the
footnotes in an appendix.
The Bulletins of the Commission will be largely of
an informative and instructional character, intended, as
suggested in the foreword, to keep the public in close
touch with the current work of the Commission, its
plans, its problems and its achievements; to aid
especially all agencies engaged in the collection of
materials, and to counsel with those who are concerned
with studying, teaching or writing the history of Mich
igan. The Bulletins will contain also the papers read
at the meetings of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Society and selected papers read at local societies, to-

PUBLICATIONS 33
gether with brief accounts of the proceedings of both
the State and local societies. Scholarly books and
monographs on Michigan history, or on related sub
jects, will be welcomed as material for the Bulletins,
to be separately and appropriately published. Biblio
graphies, calendars of unpublished material, and need
ed indices to published materials, will appear as need
suggests. The annual reports of the Commission, to be made
on the first day of January in each year, will contain
a summary of the work of the Commission during the
year ending December 31, together with an itemized
financial statement of expenditures.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE
A very liberal provision is made for the distribu
tion and exchange of the publications of the Commis
sion. One copy of any one of them may be sent,
free of any charge, including transportation, to "each
school library and educational institution, public libra
ry and grange library;" but two limitations are im
posed: (1) that an authoritative request for them
must be made by the officials of such institutions; and
(2) that a library to be so favored must contain at
least five hundred volumes. A copy of each publica
tion is to be furnished to each member of the legisla
ture during his term of office ;' exchanges may be
arranged with foreign and domestic governments and
with all societies of a historical nature. Any volumes
remaining will be sold at $1.00 per volume, and the
bulletins at a price covering the cost of publication.
The general policy of the Commission is to give its
publications the widest possible circulation consistent
with the greatest degree of usefulness, and every re
quest for them that is within statutory limitations will
be promptly and gladly complied with.

1 It has been regularly the practice to present to a contrib
utor a copy of the volume containing the contributed article.

INFORMATION BUREAU.
One of the most promising departments of the Com
mission, and obviously one that should prove of very
great value to the citizens of Michigan, will be the
Information Bureau. This feature is prompted by the
desire of the Commission to he directly useful to the
people, to come into vital relations with the individual
citizens of the State. Through this department a
prompt, full, and courteous reply will be made to all
questions from all inquirers about any phase of the
history of Michigan.
Obviously this plan is not immediately possi
ble of execution. It will require a special staff of
workers, thoroughly familiar with all source material
bearing upon the history of the State, able to turn to
the information needed without loss of time in fruit
less search. The present funds do not permit the
employment of the necessary staff, and the Com
mission awaits the will of the people to permit them
to be useful in this very promising way. Items of
historical information of a live and general interest
to the people will, however, be prepared from time
to time for the press, and in this way the function of
such a bureau can be partially fulfilled.
When the archive material shall be collected, the

36 INFORMATION BUREAU
making of transcripts for individuals and the courts
will be obviously a very important function of the
Information Bureau, especially in regard to the courts,
the signature of the Secretary giving the transcripts
the validity of the original documents.

COOPERATIVE ACTIVITIES
It is the desire of the Commission to aid in every
way possible the work of the Pioneer and Historical
Society, and of the local societies of Michigan. Be
sides the aid that may be given in helping to organize
the local societies, in furnishing suggestions for their
work and in publishing their contributions, the Corn-
mission would aid in commemorating anniversary cele
brations of historical events in local and State history,
and in accurately determining and marking historic
sites. Lectures and addresses by representatives of
the Commission can be provided at appropriate
times. Bibliographies on special subjects relating to the
history of Michigan, and parcels of appropriate ma
terials for essays and debates on Michigan subjects,
can be furnished to schools and colleg.es. Selected
contributions from students in such institutions will
be gladly received by the Commission, and will at
their discretion be published in the bulletins.
The Commission wishes to cooperate with commis
sions and societies of a similar nature in other states
along lines of mutual interest. There is a useful field
for the latter species of cooperation, in collecting ma
terial relating to periods and events common to large

38 COOPERATIVE ACTIVITIES
areas including Michigan. Much needless duplica
tion rnight be avoided by a mutual understanding of
projected plans. Inappropriate publishing could be
minimized by judicious exchange of materials. A
considerable item of correspondence could be saved
if bulletins of information and want lists were mutually
and frequently exchanged, read and given practical
attention.

THE MUSEUM^
The Museum was recently transferred to the Com
mission by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical So
ciety, with whose growth and development it has
hitherto been closely connected. In 1878-9, when
the present Capitol building was completed and occu
pied, two rooms were set apart for the use of the
Pioneer Society, as it then was called; one on the
second floor and one on the' fourth. ^ In these rooms
the Society placed its first collections, which con
tained among other things many valuable manu
scripts and newspapers. As the developing activities
of the departments in the capitol pressed for more
room, the space allotted to the collections of the Pio
neer Society was gradually shorn to its present dimen
sions, in a corner of the fourth floor.
The contents of the Museum were reorganized in
its present quarters in 1902, under the direction of the
present Curator, Mrs. M. B. Ferrey. At that time
the Museum was equipped with two cases containing
together twenty-eight feet of space, and the display

1 The materials for this article were contributed by the Curator,
Mrs. M. B. Ferrey.
^ Mich. Pion. & Hist. Colls., Ill, 11.

40 THEMUSEUM
was proportionately small. During the following de
cade the number of cases increased to twenty-nine,-
with about one thousand square feet of space. Among
the many additions to the collection, some two
thousand Indian relics have been acquired. A large
collection of china, brown ware, pewter and candle
sticks was secured by Mrs. Florence Babbitt, now of
Ypsilanti. The china collection includes about three
thousand pieces.
These collections, including the "millinery exhibit"
— a unique attraction much appreciated by pioneers
of the State — are of much value to the student of
social history. School children accompanied by their
teachers have frequently paid visits to the Museum
to study the progress made in home economics and
domestic art. Including adults, some five thousand
visitors annually register there. Persons who have in
their possession articles of clothing, household utensils,
or any objects of personal or domestic use that illus
trate early social conditions, could aid directly in teach
ing especially the children of the schools by placing
these articles in the Museum. From another point of
view it may be suggested that while shafts of marble
as tokens of respect to the departed are quite as
dead as the friends or relatives mourned, yet some
dish, garment or article used by them connects them
with life, service and affection. Such cherished treas
ures would be carefully preserved and guarded in the
Museum.

THE MUSEUM 41
There are now in the Museum some thirty pictures
and portraits which, if space permitted them to be
properly placed, would make an appropriate and at
tractive portrait gallery.
One of the ideals of Mrs. Ferrey is to have a room,
separate from the others, which should faithfully re
produce the home of log cabin days, with its puncheon
floor, stick chimney, fireplace, old fashioned furniture
and festoons of pumpkins and dried apples.
Not only objects to illustrate the household are de
sired by the Commission, but also objects relating to
any phase of the life of the people of Michigan. For
example among other things in the collection are
Burt's solar compass, a mortar which tradition
says came over in the Mayflower, a brass door knocker
from the time of Cadillac, supposed to be from his
house in New Orleans, the sword of General Cass, etc.
The Commission will gladly pay the cost of transporta
tion upon any articles of this nature however humble
in origin.

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