In late July 1939, and again in July 1942, Frances Wood, a librarian at the Grand Rapids Public Library, sent questionnaires to contemporary Michigan authors who had produced a work of 40 pages or more. With the questionnaire she sent a request for a photograph, and a letter in which she described her intention of using the information to compile a volume on Michigan authors.

Some of the authors replied with extensive information, others returned the questionnaire unanswered and suggested looking up data in Who’s Who in America. Still others did not respond. Nevertheless, Wood collected data on more than 700 writers, and photos of more than 200. The planned volume, however, was never published, making this collection the original and ultimate source of her work.