This collection includes three major types of files:

1) The working business files of the Lydens' project, which ultimately resulted in the book “Story of Grand Rapids.”

2) Historical documents and publications collected during the project. It is believed that many more of these once existed, received as part of this project. However, there is no inventory now, and if the items still exist in the collections they may have been cataloged as books or added to other GRPL archival collections.

3) Reference Card Files. These are by far the most valued items in the collection, and have been in use for many years. Previously, these were housed with metal drawers, available on the public service floor of the department. Their value lies in the fact that they provide some indexing to newspapers for key facts, where no other indexing is known. An index is available on the library's website.