This online exhibit highlights the evolution of Michigan's legal boundary. Few published maps show Michigan's true boundary which does not stop at the shoreline of the four Great Lakes that encircle it, but extends into them to include almost 40,000 square miles of water, comprising 40% of Michigan's area. Most maps of Michigan show only the upper and lower peninsulas plus a few major islands. The U.S. Geological Survey, however, recognizes 420 named islands in the Great Lakes belonging to Michigan.

Since statehood, eight challenges to the boundary have resulted in adjustments that relinquished territory to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio, but gained territory from Canada.

The Michigan's Legal Boundary exhibit is located on the web.

Return to the Map Library.

Collectors of Clason state road maps issued between 1923 and 1931 are presented with challenges around determining map publication dates. Unlike Rand McNally and Gousha, the Clason Map Company typically did not place dates or date codes on its products during this period. A systematic review of the maps contained in Clason state road maps, touring atlases, and Green Guides reveal that the road legends and other map symbols varied over the years in systematic ways. This Clason Map website, with content developed by Mark Greaves and Carl Liedholm, represents an attempt at providing a guide to dating these maps.

The Clason Road Map & Atlas Site is available on the Libraries' web site.