Upper Peninsula Online Digital Primary Sources

Upper Peninsula Digital Network (UPLINK)

UPLINK is a consortium of the Upper Peninsula’s heritage organizations (historical societies, museums, archives, and public libraries) working together to identify, reveal, and make publicly accessible historical manuscript collections through digitization. The website is managed and maintained by the Central Upper Peninsula and NMU Archives. Significant digital collections include, but are not limited to, historical newspapers, oral histories, local government records, The Cleveland Cliffs Iron Mining Company records, historical photographs, and audio-visual material.

Delta County Historical Society Digital Collections A great collection of digital photographs and textual material from the DCHS archives. The collection is comprised of approximately 5,000 items on a PastPerfect database that allows for basic and advance searches.

Dickinson County Local History Online (Iron Mountain, Michigan)

Local amateur historian, William Cummings, compiled this extensive collection of historical digital images. The images are part of a pdf narrative that provides contextual information. Cummings has arranged the collection geographically by township and municipality within Dickinson County. The collection includes images from the Menominee Iron Range and neighboring counties in the U.P. and Wisconsin.

The Keweenaw Time Traveler (Michigan Tech University)

]The Keweenaw Time Traveler is fantastic online interactive historical atlas with historical data (1880-1970) from archival collections at the Michigan Tech Archives, the National Park Service, and the historical societies of Keweenaw, Houghton, and Ontonagon counties. The collection encompasses high-resolution scans of hundreds of historic maps

Michigan County Histories and Atlases

The Michigan County Histories and Atlases Digitization Project is comprised of 428 digitized titles (many composed of multiple volumes) published before 1923. The collection offers all members of the community free keyword searching and page-by-page access to digitized reproductions of Michigan county histories and atlases as a resource for historical and genealogical research.

Michigan Online Digital Primary Sources

Michigan Digital Collections (Library of Michigan)

The topics and collections on this site highlight common themes and aspects of life in Michigan.  Some content-specific collections are designed to provide access to known research interests within state government and to Michigan researchers. Descriptions of the collections and links to popular titles appear on each collection page. Topics include the history of the Michigan capital building and the evolution of state government overtime. These collections contain authoritative legal resources, government reports, statistical data, guidelines and handbooks and other documents. Also included here are select regional, local and tribal government resources.

Michigan Memories (Digital Public Libraries of America, Michigan Hub)

Michigan Memories provides access to collections from cultural institutions throughout the state of Michigan. These collections are created and maintained by archivists, librarians, and curators who are dedicated to the preservation of Michigan's history and heritage. The Michigan Service Hub is a collaborative project by the Library of Michigan, Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, and the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services.

Michiganology (formerly Seeking Michigan, Archives of Michigan)

Michiganology is part of the state of Michigan’s History Center. Michiganology.org began as SeekingMichigan.org 10 years ago when the Archives of Michigan and Library of Michigan partnered to deliver more than 1 million records online. Now, more than 10 million records ​are available online along with ​interesting educational materials. The site is heavily oriented toward genealogical research.

Bentley Image Bank (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)

The Bentley Historical Library is the premier historical manuscripts and archives collection documenting the history of Michigan. This site provides access to more than 25,000 digital images scanned from the Library’s diverse collections.

Digital Michigan Newspapers (Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University)

A fantastic collection of digital reproductions of Michigan newspapers, including several from the Upper Peninsula.

Digital Collections at Michigan State University

A digital collection of oral history recordings documenting the history of Michigan State University. 

This site provides online access to documents and audio visual materials related to the history of Michigan State University. The site combines the collections from the MSU Archives, the MSU libraries, the MSU Museum, and other MSU departments. The site provides a uniform portal for public online access.

Digital Collections at Western Michigan University

This site provides comprehensive access to the University Library and Archives digital collections. Significant collections include monastic and medieval documents, Kalamazoo area newspapers, records documenting general southwest Michigan, military experiences, and the history of Western Michigan University.

Labor History Image Galleries (Walther Reuther Labor Archives, Wayne State University)

Thousands of digital images from the Reuther’s vast collections documenting the history of the Labor Movement in North America. The site is organized by collection.