Here is an overview of several sources on Colonial history in Michigan. For a discussion of the period from Michigan's earliest colonization up to the present day, we recommend James Henry Lanman's "History of Michigan: From Its Earliest Colonization to the Present Time.". Some excellent work on the French and British periods follow along with additional readings.

French Colonial Period

  • "French Canadians in Michigan" by John P. DuLong . This book specifically examines the history and influence of the French Canadians who were the predominant European population in Michigan after the British conquest of New France in 1763.
  • "Mémoires of Michilimackinac and the Pays d'en Haut: Indians and French in the Upper Great Lakes at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century" . This book likely covers the French colonial presence and interactions with Native Americans in the Upper Great Lakes region, including Michigan, around the turn of the 18th century.

British Colonial Period

  • "History of Michigan: From Its Earliest Colonization to the Present Time" by James Henry Lanman . While a broad history, this book claims to cover major events from Michigan's earliest colonization, which would include the British colonial period after 1763.
  • "Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838" by Brian Leigh Dunnigan . As Detroit was an important colonial settlement, this book's visual history of early Detroit from 1701-1838 would span both the French and British colonial eras in Michigan.

General Bibliography

  • Armour, David, ed. Attack at Michilimackinac 1763: Alexander Henry's Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories between the years 1760 and 1764, Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1971.
  • Balesi, Charles J. The Time of the French in the Heart of North America, 1673-1818. Chicago: Alliance Francaise, 1992.
  • Blair, Emma Helen, ed. The Indian Tribes if the Upper Mississippi Valley and Region if the Great Lakes. Introduction by Richard White. 1911. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
  • "The Cadillac Papers," Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society Collections. Lansing: The Society, 1904-1905. Vols. 33 and 34.
  • Campeau, Lucien. The Jesuit Mission among the Hurons, 1634-1650. Trans. William Lone and George Topp. Bridgetown, N. S.: Gontran Trottier, 2000.
  • Charlevoix, Pierre Francois Xavier de. History and General Description of New France. Ed. and trans. John Gilmary Shea. 6 vols. New York: F. P. Harper, 1900.
  • Detroit Historical Society. Cadillac and the Founding of Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1976.
  • Dunbar, Willis F. & May, George F. Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 3rd rev. ed. 1995.
  • Dunning, Idle. The Post of the St. Joseph River during the French Regime, 1679-1761. PhD mss. 1946: Reprint. Niles, Mich.: Fort St. Joseph Museum, 2003.
  • Eccles, W J. The Canadian Frontier, 1534-1760. Rev. Ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983.
  • Eccles, W J. The French in North America, 1500-1783. Markham, On.: Fitzhenry & Whitside, 1998.
  • Edmunds, R. David and Joseph L. Peyser. The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge to New France. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
  • Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council. People of the Three Fires: The Ottawa, Potawatomi and Ojibway of Michigan, West Michigan Printing, 1986.
  • Gringhuis, Dirk. Lore of the Great Turtle: Indian Legends of Mackinac Retold, Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1970.
  • Havard, Gilles. The Great Peace of Montreal of 1701. Trans. Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 200l.
  • Kellogg, Louise Phelps. The French Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1925.
  • Lahontan, Louis-Armand de Lorn d'Arce, Baron de. New Voyages to North America. Ed. Reuben Gold Thwaites. 2 vols. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1905.
  • Moogk, Peter N. La Nouvelle France: The Making of French Canada - A Cultural History. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2000.
  • Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America: A Series of Historical Narratives. Part Four. The Old Regime in Canada. Boston: Little, Brown, 1874.
  • Peckham, Howard H. Pontiac and the Indian Uprising, Princeton University Press, 1947.
  • Peyser, Joseph L., trans. and ed. Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre: Officer, Gentleman, Entrepreneur. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1996.
  • Peyser, Joseph L., trans. and ed. Letters from New France: The Upper Country, 1686-1783. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
  • Raymond, Charles de. On the Eve of the Conquest: The Chevalier de Raymond's Critique of New France in 1754. Ed. and trans. Joseph L. Peyser. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1997.
  • Rosentreter, Roger L. Michigan: A History of Explorers, Entrepreneurs, and Everyday People, University of Michigan Press, 2013.
  • Rubenstein, Bruce A. and Lawrence E. Ziewacz. Michigan: A History of the Great Lakes State, Harlan Davidson, Inc, 4th ed. 2002.
  • Sleeper-Smith, Susan. Indian Women and French Men: Rethinking Cultural Encounter in the Western Great Lakes. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001.
  • Tanner, Helen Hornbeck. Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
  • Tanner, Helen Hornbeck. "The Career of Joseph La France, Coureur de Bois in the Upper Great Lakes," in The Fur Trade Revisited: Selected Papers of the Sixth North American Fur Trade Conference, Mackinac Island, Michigan, 1991. Ed.
  • Jennifer S. H. Brown, W J. Eccles, and Donald P. Heldman. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1994.
  • Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. 73 vols. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers, 1896-1901.
  • Trudel, Marcel. The Beginnings of New France, 1524-1663. Trans. Patricia Claxton. Toronto: McOelland and Stewart, 1973.
  • White, Richard. The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
  • Word from New France: The Selected Letters of Marie de L'Incarnation. Trans. and ed. Joyce Marshall. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1967.
  • Zoltvany, Yves F., comp. The French Tradition in America. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1969.
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