Thomas W. Porter (24 March 1827 - 24 May 1911) left his native London, England, where he had learned the trade of setting stained glass, in 1846. At the invitation of Henry R. Williams, first mayor of Grand Rapids, Porter came to the area during the late fall of 1850 to find land. He returned to New York state and purchased land warrants (for lands near Lowell and Carson City) from War of 1812 veterans. He moved to the area permanently during the winter of 1853-54, arriving in January 1854.

He worked as a painter, wall paper hanger and contractor throughout his life in Grand Rapids. Early he contracted to paint the various steamboats that plied the Grand River. Later he did contract painting for the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad. He also operated a retail paint and wall paper shop in downtown Grand Rapids.

Porter was a member of the first volunteer fire department in Grand Rapids. He collected coins, stamps and especially archaeological artifacts. Porter combined his professional talent with his archaeological avocation to draw facsimiles of artifacts and site maps.

Porter, along with numerous other local residents, collected, sold and traded archaeological artifacts discovered in West Michigan during the last third of the nineteenth century. Often working as part of expeditions from the Kent Scientific Institute, later Grand Rapids Public Museum/Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Porter was present at the opening of many archaeological sites. Using his skill as a sketcher, he drew facsimiles of some of the uncovered artifacts, of the mounds from which they were recovered, and maps locating these mounds. This collection contains some of these drawings, particularly those from the "Big Find" in the Converse Mound Group in May 30, 1885.

The Converse Mounds, located along the west side of the Grand River from present-day Bridge Street to south of Fulton Street, was the larger of the two mound groups in the Grand Rapids area. Its location in the path of Grand Rapids' growth marked the mound groups early demise. As early as the 1850s the tops of the mounds were leveled with many artifacts removed and skeletal remains reburied. In 1885 while laying a utility line to the Phoenix Furniture plant, workmen excavated the sub-surface artifacts from these mounds.

Concerning the Hopewell/Adena material: the Kent County and area mounds explored by Wright L. Coffinberry, were roughly dated by him in 1875 to a culture at least 250 to 300 years earlier. This dating was based upon the estimated age of the trees often found growing over these mounds. However, as Coffinberry noted, these mound builders could have lived much earlier. It is also known that the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes, living in this area of the country in the 19th century, often desired to bury their remains in or near these more ancient mounds.

Porter also prepared sketches for artifacts collected from Arizona by Grand Rapids physician Louis Barth and sketches of archaeological artifacts from around the world. He sketched early Grand Rapids buildings and scenes as he remembered them upon his arrival.