Local History Information

For a brief overview of our Local History resources, see this helpful page!

Menominee Range Memories - The Rest of the Story
William Cummings has shared bi-weekly historical articles with The Daily News beginning in December 2015.  The library is excited to share additional content and photographs on our website. To learn more about this project click to read the Introductory Column. 

Local History PowerPoint Presentations
William Cummings has shared a number of his presentations including  "Remnants of Early Downtown Iron Mountain," "Early School Days in Dickinson County, Michigan" and "Researching Your Family Tree." Recently added are two presentations shared at the 2023 UP History Conference!  There is no audio with these slides, but there is plenty of excellent information and many photos included. Enjoy!

Historic Photographs
William Cummings has compiled and captioned a number of historic photographs of the local area. He has organized the photographs by geographic area of the county. The goal of these links is to make photographs of the Menominee Iron Range with accurate captions available to the public. Enjoy!

Local and Regional History Files
William Cummings has compiled hundreds of pages of valuable local and regional history files. If you have any questions, please call the library for assistance!

Dickinson County Business Listings, 1879-1928
William Cummings compiled this information from R.L. Polk's Michigan Gazetteer and Business Directory (1879, 1881, 1885, 1887-1888, 1889, 1891-1892, 1895-1896, 1901, 1903-1904, 1905-1906, 1907-1908, 1909-1910, 1911-1912, 1913-1914, 1915-1916, 1917-1918, 1919-1920, 1921-1922, 1923-1924, 1925-1926, 1927-1928.) It is 105 pages and download times may vary.

Annotated Bibliography for Dickinson and Iron Counties, The Menominee Iron Range, and the UP
This annotated bibliography was compiled by William Cummings and updated in 2019. It is 63 pages and download times may vary.

City Directories and Gazetteer Information 
The Local History collection at the Main Branch includes many valuable city directories for Dickinson County.  A few resources are also available in digital format.  

Microfilm available at the Dickinson County Library

Newspapers on Microfilm at the Dickinson County Library
This is a listing of the newspapers and dates that are available on microfilm. Please stop in to view these reels.

Federal Census Records on Microfilm at the Dickinson County Library
This is a listing of the census records that are available on microfilm. Please stop in to view these reels.

Michigan County Histories and Atlases Online Collection

The Michigan County Histories and Atlases online collection is projected to provide access to 192 histories and 169 atlases dating from 1866 to 1926. There are 146 histories (in 172 volumes) currently online. The collection offers keyword and page-by-page access to digitized reproductions of Michigan county histories (and eventually atlases) as a resource for historical and genealogical research. Initial collection content comprises titles selected from Frances Loomis' 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 Library of Michigan, the Michigan Council of Library Directors and the Michigan Library Consortium each contributed significant time and funding resources to this project.

More Genealogy on the Web
Includes links to the Making of Modern Michigan Collection, U.P. Obituary Database, Michigan Cemetery Database and many more.

Additional Resources in the Area
Includes a list of other resources in and near Dickinson County for local history information including museums and research centers, as well as links for local municipalities and Census information.