Abstract The Gordon E. Harrington collection includes documents, photographs, negatives, lantern slides and glass negatives, newspaper page layout negatives, and postcards reflecting Harrington's interest in Grand Rapids, Michigan history. Depicted is turn-of-the-century Grand Rapids, including the Powers Theater, Redmond Opera House, 1904 flood and ice jams, area businesses and homes and paddle and steamboats. The page layouts are for Harrington’s column, “Those Good Old Days,” written...

Abstract The Grand Rapids Railway records are primarily composed of contracts for various concessions at Ramona Park and/or Reeds Lake, at Grand Rapids and East Grand Rapids, Michigan, between 1932-1950. The Company began development of Ramona Park in 1904 under President Benjamin S. Hanchett, in an effort to get more people to ride the streetcar, especially on the weekends. It retained interest in the park until it closed in 1954. The contracts found here are made between various individuals or...

Abstract The Madeline Parker Groff collection documents the vaudeville career of two young physical culture devotees, Maurice Bellclaire and Benjamin Morris and their manager, Fred Paulo Mongeon, who also had his own act. Also documented is the creation, by Maurice Bellclaire and Fred Paulo, of a summer resort on the south shore of Reeds Lake, East Grand Rapids, Michigan, which catered mainly to vaudevillians and theatrical troupes. This resort operated from 1907 until the early 1920s. ...

Abstract William L. Bennett (1912-2006) was an historian from the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. This collection includes historical materials he collected or created, primarily including photographs taken from albums, but also scrapbooks, ephemera and reference documents. Also included is a copy of his publication “Memories of East Grand Rapids, 1834-1982.” The bulk of this collection are the photographs. Bennett was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Grand Rapids, among his other activities. His...