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 settlement of the Grand River Valley.

During his newspaper research, Bajema began to notice other 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 several broad subject areas, including the Civil War, baseball, education and women.

This collection, the GRPL African American Newspaper Clippings Coll., is a result of Bajema's discovery of newspaper articles on this important ethnic group in U.S. History. The clippings are primarily from 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 local papers for certain time periods, or due to the value of the information found in the other papers. Dates missing from the local papers in the middle of a run are believed to have been published, unless otherwise noted, but disappeared before the microfilming was done in the mid-20th century.

Carl Bajema has been a 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.