This collection includes research done by Marty Arnold along with the results of that research – her Grand Rapids Press Wonderland article and the slide show presentation given to the Grand Rapids Historical Society are a reflection of a personal interest. Although a local history enthusiast, Arnold developed the plank road story because her great great grandparents were settlers along the plank road. Her research encompassed only the Grand Rapids - Kalamazoo Plank Road, and does not include information on any other of the 200 plank roads that once existed in Michigan. It depicts early settlements between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, and in many cases provides an image of a structure or a town from the 1850s-1870s, accompanied by photos that Arnold took of the same places in the 1980s. The slide show is a compilation of photos that she took of the current route and the structures that still stand from the plank road era, mixed with copies of old images of towns and structures most likely taken from books.