DETROIT POWER · PRIMARY SOURCES

PUBLIC RECORDS & THE PAPER TRAIL.

Municipal Detroit left paperwork behind. Meeting minutes, ordinances, reports, budgets, personnel records, court documents, directories, maps, and newspapers can be combined to reconstruct how institutions actually functioned.

THE PAPER TRAIL

Government left evidence of how it operated.

Minutes, ordinances, budgets, reports, personnel files and court records turn broad claims about municipal power into things that can be checked. One document rarely tells the whole story, but several records can establish who acted, when and under what authority.

Council minutes and ordinances record formal municipal action.

Budgets and appropriations show where public money was directed.

Department reports reveal how agencies described their own work.

Contemporary newspapers can add context, but should be checked against the underlying record when possible.

SOURCE FIRST

Minutes, ordinances, budgets, personnel files, directories, maps, and court records are identified by source before they are combined.

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