Thank you for your interest in our current initiatives to preserve and share stories of Michigan – our people, rich history, and culture.
In partnership with the Michigan History Center, Department of Natural Resources, Archives of Michigan and others, we are actively engaged in series of initiatives that will support and preserve museums, historic sites, archival collections, and provide educational programs that keep our shared history alive and relevant.
We invite you to help us in this effort. You can support a specific project or program or make a gift to the general fund to allow the Foundation and the Michigan History Center to use your gift in support of immediate needs.
Gchi Mshiikenh Deh Minising /
Heart of the Great Turtle Island Project
SPECIAL $100,000 MATCHING GIFT
An anonymous donor has pledged a $100,000 matching gift to support the Michigan History Foundation’s Heart of the Great Turtle Island project. Help us make the most of this dollar-for-dollar matching gift by making your own gift in support of this project. Click Here to Donate
The Heart of the Great Turtle Island/Gchi Mshiiken Deh Minising is a collaborative initiative to reimagine the Father Marquette National Memorial in Straits State Park.
The project will recenter the interpretation of the stie around the Anishinaabe, whose history provides context for Father Marquette’s experiences in the region.
Find a detailed overview of the initiative and information how you can be involved as a partner or donor by clicking the learn more button below.
Julia & Ulysses S. Grant Home
Army officer Ulysses S. Grant, along with his wife Julie Dent Grant, lived in this house when he was assigned to Detroit as the regimental quarter master for the 4th Infantry in April 1848. The Foundation and the Michigan History Center, in partnership with the Eastern Market Partnership, are now working to rehabilitate the Grant House.
Click the button below to learn more about the project and how you can contribute to the restoration of this important Detroit landmark.
Women’s History Collection Fund
In June 2023, Michigan Women Forward donated a collection of 2,000 items reflecting the history and legacy of women leaders, entrepreneurs, and citizens to the Michigan History Center. Our goal is to provide the History Center with the $250,000 it needs to fully assess, catalog, and preserve all of these items so they can be available to the public for research and exhibit.
Please join in supporting this effort.
Archives
Help the Archives of Michigan acquire, preserve and provide access to one-of-a-kind and extremely important records. With documents dating back to 1792, the Archives maintains more than 80 million state and local government records and private papers, 300,000 photographs and 500,000 maps, plus films and audio tapes are available for research and public access.
Yankee Locomotive Exhibit Fund
The Yankee Locomotive, the rare, single-vertical boiler locomotive that carted iron ore out of the Jackson Mine in Michigan’s Upper from 1868 to the 1890’s, was recently refurbished thanks to the help of generous donors and a grant from the Insitute for Museum and Library Services. On Oct. 6, 2023, after three years of painstaking restoration, it arrived at its new home in the Iron Industry Museum.
Now, we need your help to create an interactive exhibit that tells the story of the iron industry’s Yankee steam locomotive. Please consider a donation to help us educate current and future generations about the incredible transformational impact the Yankee made in Michigan’s iron industry.
Education
Support the creation of unique educational content for onsite, online and classroom use at Michiganology.org.
General
Work never ends at the Michigan History Foundation. Make a commitment today that will become history for the future.
Publication
For a limited time, you can receive a copy of Judge Avern Cohn’s “Three Frenchmen, Three Centuries Across Michigan” for your donation to the General Fund.
Rather mail a check?
Here’s our mailing address:
Michigan History Foundation
P.O. Box 12331
Lansing, MI 48901