The images depict the emergence of a concentrated urban core and the expansion from that core in a mid-size Midwestern city. As such it details the emergence and decline of a downtown business district, urban transportation, a spreading economic infrastructure, public and private sector development, the role of neighborhoods, recreational activities, schools and churches.

Included in the book publication are images that come from several other collections in the Archives at the Grand Rapids History & Special Collections Center, as well as Coll. 138. Many of the images/photos included in Coll. 138, however, are not actually items that were finally selected for use in the publication.

An index in this finding aid provides additional access to subject matter found in various folders.