Holland has been a site of industry for most of its history. Many of those historic businesses have left paper trails for researchers to find. If you're looking into the history of a specific business in the area, here are the best places to get started:
Holland Sentinel
HDL patrons have access to much of the Holland Sentinel’s digital collection. If you don’t know an exact date for an article, you can search staff-created indexes by name or subject.
You can also search Hope College’s Van Reken Index of the Holland Sentinel.
While these indexes are not complete, they are a great place to start.
Other Historic Newspapers
HDL has microfilm copies of several other historic Holland area newspapers, including the Holland City News (1872-1977), Ottawa County Times (1892-1905), and the Allegan Journal (1856-1892).
Local Archives
Other local collections to search for business information include the Holland Museum and the Joint Archives of Hope College.
Books at HDL
Lastly, HDL has many books that could aid you in your search. Try browsing some of our historic business titles in our Historic Holland Businesses list.
