Much of the material in this collection was produced by various organizations with the intention of promoting travel and tourism in Michigan. Some of the material pertains to a broader geographic area, but includes Michigan. Among those institutions publishing the literature are boat and railroad companies, tourist bureaus, automobile companies and clubs, recreation and travel associations and governmental agencies. Material includes brochures, booklets, guides, government reports, event calendars and picture books.

A slightly different, but related group of items are the personal narratives written by individuals describing their travel experiences in Michigan. Personal travel narratives outside of Michigan, by Michigan citizens, is included in Collection 263.

This collection was initially created from rare and fragile materials culled from the Local History public access book collection, for their better preservation. Additional material from the unprocessed collections has been added, and new accessions related to this topic will find a home here as well. Many of the items previously cataloged as books still have book cataloging online and/or in the card catalog. Call numbers have been included here with the item, for access and reference purposes.