Free from History Loves Company
The Michigan Preservation
Field Guide
A free guide to identifying, documenting, and understanding the historic buildings around you — from someone who has spent years doing exactly that.
Get the Free Guide →What's Inside
Everything you need to start seeing Michigan differently.
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Architectural Styles
How to identify Italianate, Queen Anne, Craftsman, Art Deco, and other styles common in Michigan's historic downtowns and neighborhoods.
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Documentation Basics
What to photograph, how to research a building's history, and where to find public records, Sanborn maps, and historic surveys.
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Michigan-Specific Resources
State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan Historic Sites database, local historical societies, and how to use them.
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What to Look For
Cornices, corbels, transoms, pilasters, and the details that tell you when a building was built and who built it.
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The Stories Behind the Buildings
How to find the human stories behind the structures — newspaper archives, city directories, and oral history sources.
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Preservation vs. Renovation
The difference between preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction — and why it matters for Michigan's built environment.
Who It's For
Anyone who has ever driven past an old building and wondered about it.
History enthusiasts
Who want to go deeper than the surface of Michigan's past.
Collectors & pickers
Who want to understand the context behind the objects they find.
Photographers
Who want to document Michigan's built environment before it's gone.
Local business owners
Who operate in historic buildings and want to understand what they have.
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The Michigan Preservation Field Guide is free. You'll also receive The Stories We Keep — our weekly newsletter on Michigan history, historic places, new arrivals at The Foundry, and Sunday Drops. Unsubscribe anytime.
Subscribe & Get the Free Guide →Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Published by History Loves Company · Pontiac, Michigan.
Written by
Chris Hubel
Michigan storyteller, historic preservationist, and founder of History Loves Company. Chris has spent years documenting forgotten buildings, photographing historic homes before they disappear, and recording the stories of Michigan's neighborhoods.
The Foundry is the physical home of that work — a vintage marketplace and maker community inside the 1920s Riker Building in downtown Pontiac.
Visit The Foundry in person — 35 W Huron Street, Suite 101, Pontiac, Michigan.