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George Smith May was born at Ironwood, Michigan, in 1924. His paternal family immigrated from Cornwall during the 1880s. His grandfather was an iron miner, his father was a chemist for Oliver Iron Mining.
May graduated from high school in 1943 . He enrolled in Gogebic Junior College that autumn. In 1944, he attended the Michigan College of Mining and Technology. In 1945, he enrolled at the University of Michigan. He graduated with distinction from UM in 1947. He then was admitted to UM graduate school, graduating with the M.A. in 1948. He then found a teaching post at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, which he held for two years before re-enrolling at the UM graduate school. May graduated with the Ph.D. in 1954.
Following this, May found a position as a research associate at the State Historical Society of Iowa. In 1956, after the efforts of Willis F. Dunbar and the Michigan Historical Commission to get the state's historical marker program running, the Commission hired May as its research specialist and archivist. He worked in this position until 1966. He also served one year during this period as the editor of Michigan History Magazine.
In February 1966, he received an appointment to the history faculty at Eastern Michigan University as a specialist in Michigan and U.S. history. During his tenure, May served on the editorial board of Michigan History, the editorial board of the Detroit in Perspective periodical, and the review committee of the NARA Regional Repository. While at EMU, May helped to establish the Historic Preservation Program curriculum and the university archives. May retired in 1988.
During his career as a historian, May wrote extensively on the general history of Michigan, the specific history of the Straits of Mackinac area, and the automobile industry.
May died at Holland, Michigan, on October 17, 2003.
George S. May Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
University of Michigan student notebooks, research materials on the history of the automobile in American life. This is also the source for much of the above biography.
George S. May Papers, Eastern Michigan University Archives, Halle Library, Eastern Michigan University.
May, George S., and JoEllen Vinyard?. Michigan, the Great Lakes State: An Illustrated History. Sun Valley, CA: American Historical Press, 2005.
A posthumously revised edition of May's 1987 Illustrated History; 303 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S., and Maxine (Robertson) May. Clarence James Robertson, 1887-1945: Some Ancestors, Descendents, and Some of Their Relatives. Fair Oaks, CA: by the authors, 1989.
210 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S. Michigan: An Illustrated History of the Great Lakes State. With Luther Jackson and James F. Filgas. Northridge, CA: Windsor Publications, 1987.
1st ed. "Produced in cooperation with the Historical Society of Michigan." Filgas and Jackson wrote Ch. 13, "Partners in Progress." 295 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
Dunbar, Willis F., and George S. May. Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1970.
800 p.; May began as the revised author with the 2d edition (1970, after the death of Dunbar) and continued through two other revisions.
2d ed. (1970) — • — Rev. ed. (1980) — • —
3rd Rev. ed. (1995)
Google.Books (1995) — • — The Free Library by Farlex (1995)
May, George S., Lawrence E. Ziewacz?, Bruce A. Rubenstein?, Dione Miles?, and Richard H. Harms?. Research Sources in Michigan: Lumbering, Labor, State Politics, Early Auto Industry. Lansing: Michigan Archival Association, 1983.
May, George S. R. E. Olds: Auto Industry Pioneer. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1977.
458 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S., and Herbert J. Brinks, eds. A Michigan Reader: 11,000 B.C. to A.D. 1865. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1974.
Volume I of A Michigan Reader. Volume II: 1865 to the present, edited by R. M. Warner and C. W. Vander Hill. 287 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S. John C. Pemberton: A Pennsylvania Confederate at Fort Mackinac. Mackinac Island, MI: Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1968.
May, George S. Pictorial History of Michigan. 2 volumes. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1967-69.
"A John M. Munson Michigan History Fund Publication, Michigan Historical Commission, Department of State."
Hathi Trust (limited) — • —
Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S., comp. Michigan Civil War Monuments. Lansing, MI: Michigan Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, 1965.
76 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S. Michigan and the Civil War Years, 1860-1866: A Wartime Chronicle. Lansing: Michigan Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, 1964.
124 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S., and Charles E. Cleland. The Mess at Mackinac, or, No More Sagamity for Me, Thank You! Mackinac Island, MI: Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1964.
This is an analysis of an archaeological excavation Fort Michilimackinac refuse pits; based on an unpublished paper by Charles E. Cleland. 8 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S. War, 1812. Maps by Victor H. Hogg. Illustrations by Dirk Gringhuis. Mackinac Island, MI: Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1962.
1962 edition: 43 p.; 1970 edition: 50 p.
Hathi Trust (limited) — • —
Hathi Trust (limited) - 1970 rev. ed.
Korling, Torkel. The Forts of Mackinac: Color Photography. Maps by Dirk Gringhuis. Text by George S. May. Mackinac Island, MI: Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1962.
32 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S. Historic Guidebook: Mackinac Island. Maps by Victor Hogg. Mackinac Island, MI: Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1962.
MichDoc. no. CN M158:2M67.; 40 p.
1962 edition (limited) — • —
1966 edition (limited)
Morison, Daniel. The Doctor's Secret Journal. Edited by George S. May. Illustrated by Dirk Gringhuis. Mackinac Island, MI: Fort Mackinac Division Press, 1960.
47 p. Hathi Trust (full)
Gordon, John M. Michigan Journal, 1836. Edited by Douglas H. Gordon and George S. May. s.l.: s.p.
A travelogue of 4 pts. in 1 vol. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S. Historic Michigan: A Guide to Michigan's Official State Markers. Lansing, MI: Michigan Historical Commission, 1958.
MichDoc. no. ST H673:2I/96. 15 p. Hathi Trust (full)
May, George S. History Along Michigan's Highways: A Report on Michigan's New State Historical Marking Program. Lansing, MI: Michigan Historical Commission, 1957.
16 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George S. The Good Roads Movement in Iowa. Iowa City, IA: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1955.
64 p. Hathi Trust (limited)
May, George Smith. Ultra-Conservative Thought in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Ph.D. Diss., University of Michigan, 1954.
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