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Let your fingers be your guide as you tap out the letters that will open up a whole new world for the online researcher looking to enrich the findings done on their African American research and more. Your first stop is the Detroit Public Library’s web page http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org. Scrolling down to the center column will land you on Special Collections where you will select the link to The Burton Historical Collection. Select learn more. This link will take you to resources uniquely Detroit and other Michigan locales housed under one roof.

The City of Detroit has been known for many things, the music of Motown, a manufacturing mecca that included Ford, GM, Chrysler, American Motors and Packard Motor automobiles, airplane parts during WWII, pharmaceuticals and much, much more. But only the historian could appreciate the vast resources available to the genealogical researcher. Researching family history requires identifying great resources to add life to the skeletal facts found in census records. African American research especially requires a great deal more digging to come up with information to track the movement of ancestors.

Created from the personal collection of Clarence Monroe Burton, a Detroit business owner who became an important philanthropist, the Burton Historical Collection contains many unique resources. It includes a great deal of records pertaining to Detroit’s history from her days as a 17th century settlement to present day. The Collection contains the expected as well as the unexpected with information about the Great Lakes Region including the role of Canada, the French and English influence. There are atlases, maps, photographs, pamphlets, bound newspapers, personal papers and much more. Vital records such as marriage, birth and death records are available for certain dates. Federal population schedules along with family histories, personal papers, immigration records, some Detroit high school year books, probate indexes and records plus city directories for most years and other supporting resources are just some of the vast resources available to the researcher. This is a resource worth pursuing if your ancestor had anything to do with the area.

There are five ways to access the holdings of the BHC: I.	Through the Detroit Public Library’s TIP system. The Information Place, short for TIP is a service offered by the DPL is a free community information and referral service designed to help find solutions to everyday problems. They can be contacted at (313)481-1400 Mondays 10a – 5p, Tuesday – Friday 10a – 6p. II. By calling BHC staff at (313)481-1401 for quick look ups III. By emailing BHC staff at bhc@detroitpubliclibrary.org. The staff is expert in the holdings and will provide up to 30 minutes of research. For searches up to 60 minutes a $10, non-refundable fee paid in advance is charged. For more in-depth research, a list of private researchers for hire is provided as a convenience at http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/sites/default/files/Researchers_3.pdf IV. You may also access the online resources at http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/featuredcollection/burton-historical-collection V.	Or drop into the BHC located on the first floor of the Detroit Public Library at 5201 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48202. The hours are Tuesday and Wednesday 12p – 8p; Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10a – 6p. The facility is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

For the sake of this article I’d like to concentrate on what you can accomplish from the comforts of your computer or telephone. Though this in no way excludes the importance of site visitation, in depth interviews and the countless other ways to gain information that requires pounding the pavement.

Online Research Once you have landed on the Burton Historical Collection page will find an abundance of information. For the online researcher scroll down to Resources where you will find: o	Michigan and Detroit Select Genealogical resources o	Roman Catholic Church records from the Archdiocese of Detroit o	Selected resources for Civil War research o	Selected African American resources o	War of 1812 resources, and o	Wayne County Death Record Indexes Not everything found under these categories is fully accessible online but much can be initiated. It takes time and diligence, something every true researcher must have an abundance of.

Once you open this page scroll down and select the link Michigan and Detroit Selected Genealogical Resources. Some of the online resources include:

African American The BHC has a vast compilation of almost any record you could think of. Many of them are not accessible electronically but don’t be afraid to ask about something of interest. You may find that though you cannot get what you want by a few strokes of the key there may be help that requires more time than a BHC staff member can provide. The BHC maintains a list of individuals who offer their research skills for a fee. BHC does not endorse or employ these individuals they simply offer them as another resource for someone who cannot come in person. It will be your responsibility to decide whom you choose and what financial arrangements you make concerning your onsite research. If a successful match is made then your research may be exponentially enriched.

An example of onsite resources are the Records of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War, 1861-1865, First Michigan Colored Infantry. Known as volume 46 the researcher will find a wealth of information including the name, age upon enlistment, place of enlistment, a brief record of service, promotions, the discharge date and place, or place of death if the soldier died while in service. This information may explain an absence in a family

Burial Transit Permits for years 1941 – 1953 There were specific instructions as to how this process of burial, removal and/or transit had to be carried out. This may work in favor of the researcher. The BHC holdings contain documents issued by the Michigan Department of Health only pertain to burials that occurred in the City of Detroit. For bodies being transferred from other states the originating state will issue the transit permit and cite the destination.

These records are full of genealogical information because they provide the city, county and state of the place of the deceased along with the governing health department who issued the permit. The document may also contain full name, age, sex, color and date of death of the deceased. Often there is information about the funeral home and its director. The permit no. and license no. of the funeral home are included should one wish to pursue those avenues. The disposition of the body, burial, cremation or other must be indicated, along with the date and location. In listing the cemetery the researcher now has another avenue for finding connections such as who ordered the body transferred and/or who handled the arrangements for internment. If the body was indeed shipped there is a section on the permit for the shipping station, reason for shipment, where the body will be shipped, who or what funeral home will receive the body, their address, date of shipment, transportation company (if railroad, then ticket agent, baggage man or express agent) and date authorized.

When viewing this online the researcher will see that there are twenty-seven (27) boxes of files. A finding aid allows records to be searched. Each record is listed by last name, first, middle initial, death date, age, sex, place of death and item no. Ex: 	Box 1 – 1:1 1941; 1942; 1947, A – Bau Box 1 – 1:2 1947, Bax – Bri The physical collection is part of the Manuscript Collection at BHC. The website offers an opportunity to scan the index, locate their name and record no. so that those records can be ordered. Years 1943 – 1946 are not in the collection. Wayne County Coroner’s Files for years 1865 – 1906 The collection contains death certificates issued by the coroner’s office when circumstances required the coroner to investigate. The majority of certificates are from 1876-1881. Certificates list name, age, sex, place of birth, address, marital status, cause of death, and date of death. An every name index available in a separate card catalog.

Wayne County Death Record Indexes for years 1934 – 1953 The BHC holds original Wayne County Death Records. Please note that the City of Detroit records are omitted because Detroit maintains their own records. The index which is also part of the Manuscript Collection is broken up by the following years: 1934 – 1939, 1940 – 1944, 1945 – 1949 and 1950 – 1953.

The index can be viewed online and a copy of the record can be ordered online at http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org/wayne-county-death-record-index for $15.00 each using check or money order and the online form. Up to (2) two weeks is required for processing. Each page contains eight columns which list surname, first name, middle initial and in some cases full middle name, age in code, death date, the location which is abbreviated, box no. and file no. There is a link to abbreviations and codes which is critical to understanding the age of the individual in question as well as their location of death. The following are examples of location abbreviations: EL = Eloise		GPF = Grosse Pointe Farms 		HP = Highland Park IN = Inkster		RM TP = Romulus Township		TR = Trenton

The following are examples of how to decipher the age code: Example		1st Digit		Meaning 000			0 = 0			Stillborn 127			1 = Years		Died at 27 years old 210			2 = Months		Died at 10 months old 314			3 = Days		Died at 14 days old Once you have decided on which range of years you’d like to search open the link. The left and right arrows may be used to change pages, you may type in an actual page no., or you may type in a name and have the search engine look for it. If none a message will appear indicating there is no match. If a name match is found be sure to try it multiple times to double check the other information for your subject. If the correct subject has been found make sure to record the correct box no. and file no. so that BHC staff can pull the original.

Online databases Databases available to researchers visiting the BHC include: Ancestry.com Library Edition Fold3 History and Genealogy Archives Heritage Quest Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 Detroit Free Press, 1831-1922

Although online databases contain information from all around the world the following are specific to Michigan: Ancestry.com	- a fee based database	contains: o	Michigan marriages to 1850 and 1851 – 1875 o	Michigan death index 1971 – 1996 o	State census records

When accessing http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org to the right of the screen select the Database Search option. Using the pull down window select African American. Two sites will appear, African American History Collection (requires a Detroit Public Library card # to be entered to access information) and Oxford African American Studies Center. Select the Oxford African American Studies Center button. This site is by subscription but offers a thirty day free trial.

The site is a regular treasure chest of information. You can browse the site by category using A to Z you can access the biographies of individuals on philosophy, culture and art. You will find musicians of note such as Etta James and Branford Marsalis, as well as primary sources on important speeches by historical and contemporary individuals such as Fredrick Douglas, Anita Hill and Barack Obama; there are images & multi-media, maps, and charts & tables. There are also lesson plans for secondary school educators who want to help students learn and understand the history of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade and all that has meant to our people. And of course let’s not forget the role religion has and continues to play in the lives of people of color. Interwoven throughout are the words of learned individuals bringing us information designed to make us take a look at our history, ourselves and the world we live in as it relates to our journey throughout history.

When accessing http://www.detroitpubliclibrary.org to the right of the screen select the Database Search option. Using the pull down window select General. Under General select WorldCat. This site connects you to the collections and services of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.

If you type in Burton Historical Collection a list of BHC holdings will come up allowing the online researcher to determine if there are any items of interest that are available. Since there are more than 15,000 entries it would be advantageous to the long distance researcher to determine what type of documents they may have interest in, having done so they can then type in a title, author or subject to help narrow the search. Another option would be to click on the item of interest if it has an image of the cover of the selected item. Clicking on that image will allow the researcher to preview the table of contents of the item online.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much available at BHC that there are not enough words, paper or time to share it with you because more is being added each day. For the individual doing research on someone in the area or the area itself there is no better place to start your online research than at the BHC under the guidance of its expert staff.