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The Archival holdings, of the Grand Rapids History & Special Collections Department Department, currently contain over 4,000 linear feet of historical documents and images. New items are added to the collections monthly, primarily through gifts from the general Grand Rapids area public. Geographic Scope Focusing mainly on the Grand Rapids area and Kent County, the collections also include items on Michigan history. Three collections that specifically document Michigan history are: Coll. 229 Michigan One Room Schoolhouse Collection.
Additionally, information representing other geographies of the United States, and the World, exist in the Archives, as these are represented in the personal or institutional papers of a specific collection. For example, Coll. 004, the World Affairs Council Records, includes some information on foreign countries, as does Coll. 247, Vietnamese History Project and Resettlement Collection. Arrangement and Description Each processed collection is designated by an assigned collection number and name, as illustrated in the examples above. Each of the processed collections has a written descriptive document, called a finding aid. The Archives is in the process of making these finding aids available as PDF files. Follow the link above to see the full list of processed or in-process collections and the current finding aids available online. Many of the finding aids describe collections that are not expected to grow and change. However, other finding aids describe active collections that are regularly updated. Holdings by Material Type Some collections contain only materials of the same physical type. These generic collections are often updated to include small accessions of newly processed materials, for that physical type. Examples of these are: Coll. 054 Grand Rapids Public Library Photo Collection Not all items of a particular material type are included in these generic collections, however. Several collections in the Archives are photographic collections, in total or in part. Examples of these include: Coll. 018 George E. Fitch Collection. This collection includes many photographs, but also includes other types of historic materials for this important Grand Rapids organization. Coll. 066 Guy Johnston Photo Collection Some image collections contain primarily negatives, rather than photographic prints. These include: Coll. 133 News Photographs Collection The largest of the collections containing mostly negatives is Coll. 125 Robinson Photographic Studio Collection. It currently contains over 950,000 items, and is still growing. Archival Reference Assistance If you need help with the Archives, please contact the Grand Rapids History & Special Collections Department staff at 616-988-5400. For the best service, discuss your reference needs with the Librarian Specialist in the Archives before your visit so that there is time to review the relevant collections and pull items in anticipation of your visit. Contact Rebecca Mayne at 616-988-5402, x5496. |
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