Dr. Carl Bajema is a Professor of Biology at Grand Valley State University, where he has been on the faculty since 1964. For the past 18 years he has studied the environmental history of Michigan, concentrating on the natural and cultural history of the Grand River Valley. As part of his research activities Professor Bajema has reviewed old newspapers on microfilm, for those published before 1930, for articles related to deforestation and reforestation, terrestrial and aquatic animal populations, transportation, recreation, pollution, floods and flood control. The contents of these articles provide information on the environmental impact of such activities during the first one hundred years of white settlements of the Grand River Valley.

During his newspaper research, Bajema began to notice important articles on other topics and was encouraged to print these out for placement in the Grand Rapids Public Library newspaper clipping files. This endeavor grew until Bajema derived clipping files developed in the following broad subject areas:

African Americans Baseball Education Women

This collection, Michigan Soldiers Reported in the Civil War Era Newspapers, is a result of Bajema's discovery of newspaper articles on this major U.S. historical event, primarily in the local Grand Rapids newspapers of the era, but also in newspapers of other nearby cities. The addition of some information from other cities was prompted by the absence of these local papers for several important months. It is believed that they were printed, but disappeared before the microfilming was done, some time in the mid-20th century.

Carl Bajema has been a functioning local historian in the broader sense for a number of years, having been a member of the Grand Rapids Historical Commission and an active member of the Grand Rapids Historical Society, winning the Baxter Award from that organization in 2006.