In 2000, public libraries in the state had a total of nearly 27 million volumes and a circulation exceeding 50 million. The Library of Michigan in Lansing functions as the coordinator of library facilities in the state. The largest public library is the Detroit Public Library, which in 1999 had over 2.5 million books and print materials in its main library and 26 branches. Outstanding among its special collections are the Burton Historical Collection, a major center for genealogical research, the National Automotive History Collection, and the E. Azalia Hackley Collection, a notable source for material pertaining to African Americans in the performing arts, especially music. Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Flint, and Ann Arbor are among the larger public libraries. Total public library income came to $288,142,000 in 2000, including $1,152,568 in state grants.
Among academic libraries, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, with 6,283,385 volumes and 56,663 periodical subscriptions in 1999, features the William L. Clements collection of books and manuscripts on the colonial period, the Labadie Collection relating to the history of American radicalism, and the Bentley Library's distinctive collection of books and manuscripts, particularly the one on Michigan, the largest such collection.
In 1980, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library was opened on U-M's Ann Arbor campus. The Michigan State University Library at East Lansing had 4,274,375 volumes and 27,314 periodical subscriptions in 1999. At Wayne State University in Detroit, the Walter P. Reuther Library houses the largest collection of labor history records in the US, as well as primary materials relating to social, economic, and political reform and urban affairs.
The Detroit Institute of Arts is the largest art museum in the state and has an outstanding collection of African art. It is located in the Detroit Cultural Center, along with the Public Library and the Detroit Historical Museum, one of the largest local history museums in the country. The Kalamazoo Institute of Art, the Flint Institute of Art, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, and the Hackley Art Gallery in Muskegon are important art museums. The University of Michigan and the Cranbrook Academy of Arts in Bloomfield Hills also maintain important collections.
The Detroit Historical Museum heads 229 museums in the state, including the State Historical Museum in Lansing and museums in Grand Rapids, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Dearborn. In the latter city, the privately run Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village are leading tourist attractions. In 1996 the world's largest museum of African American history was established in Detroit. A major Holocaust Memorial Center is located in the West Bloomfield Hills area of metropolitan Detroit.
The major historical sites open to the public include the late-18th-century fort on Mackinac Island and the reconstructed early-18th-century fort at Mackinaw City. The latter site has also been the scene of an archaeological program that has accumulated one of the largest collections of 18th-century artifacts in the country. Major investigations of prehistoric Indian sites have also been conducted in recent years.