Lakeshore Museum Center Receives Hackley & Hume Family Records from Michigan State University Libraries
Muskegon, MI (May 15th, 2026): The Lakeshore Museum Center is proud to announce the addition of an extraordinary collection of Hackley & Hume family and business records to its permanent collection. Transferred from the Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections at Michigan State University Libraries on May 11, 2026, the materials return to Muskegon more than fifty years after Hume's granddaughter, Jean Hume Browning, donated them to MSU in 1974.
Spanning the years 1859 to 1955, the collection includes 57 boxes, 172 volumes, and 12 film cans of material, which includes financial records, receipts, corporate papers, photographs, and maps documenting the personal and business lives of two of Muskegon's most influential families. Together, these records will help Lakeshore Museum Center staff fill in long-standing gaps in the historical record and tell a more complete story of the Hackleys, the Humes, and the city they helped shape.
"This is an extraordinary gift to have these files and ledgers returned to Muskegon," said Melissa Horton, Executive Director of the Lakeshore Museum Center. "Their donation will finally allow us to fully understand the lives and legacy of the Hackleys and Humes. These materials will be instrumental in guiding restoration work and in telling the broader social story of their impact on our community."
Beyond the personal and financial details of the families themselves, the collection sheds light on Muskegon during the lumbering era and the pivotal years that followed. As the lumber industry began to decline, Charles Hackley and Thomas Hume helped establish the Board of Trade, an organization that later became the Chamber of Commerce, and worked to attract new businesses and industries to the area. Their efforts helped guide Muskegon into its next phase of growth, sustaining the community for more than a century.
“After being the caretakers of the Hackley and Hume company records for more than 50 years, we made the decision to return these materials to their rightful place in Muskegon,” said Leslie M. Van Veen McRoberts, MLIS, MS, Head of the Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections and University Archives at Michigan State University Libraries. “As stewards of information, we also recognize the importance of access. With the former location of the Hackley and Hume firm in Muskegon—where the current Hackley and Hume Historic Site resides—it makes sense to relocate the company records to join the collections of the Lakeshore Museum Center, where scholars and researchers might more naturally expect to find these materials.”
The Hackley & Hume records will be housed at the Muskegon County Archive and Collection, where they will support ongoing research, restoration work at the Hackley & Hume Historic Site, and future exhibits and programming.
To learn more about the Lakeshore Museum Center and its collections, visit lakeshoremuseum.org.
For more information, contact Erin Schmitz. Article courtesy of the Lakeshore Museum Center.