Holland Area Newspapers

Holland has two newspapers, the Holland City News and the Holland Sentinel. The Holland City News was a weekly paper which ran through 1977, and Herrick owns it on microfilm from 1872-1977. The complete Holland City News is also now available online through Hope College's Digital Commons.  Also available online is the Ottawa County Times from 1892-1905.  The Ottawa County Times was a weekly Democratic newspaper published in Holland.  

The Holland Sentinel is a daily newspaper and is available on microfilm at Herrick from 1912 until the present. Although it began publication before 1912, there are no earlier papers available. There are some partial indexes to both papers. 

The Van Reken Newspaper Index covers both the Holland City News and the Holland Sentinel from 1880-1990. It was compiled by a local historian, Donald Van Reken, and covers mostly Holland businesses, schools, churches, and other subjects, but not many names. The earlier years of the index contain more information than the later years. The Van Reken Index is available digitally through the Hope College Digital Commons and in print at Herrick Library in ten year increments. Herrick Library has compiled some indexes in recent years, and it is also possible to check for information on the Holland Sentinel website from 1997 to the present in their archives section. There are also obituary indexes available at Herrick, both in print and online.

Holland City News:

Holland City News Index 1872-1905
Holland City News Index 1906-1909
This index includes Holland City News articles that are of interest to patrons doing genealogical research. It indexes the following information: anniversaries, births, deaths, engagements, marriages, adoption and divorces. It does not index information on businesses, fires, crimes, etc.

The Van Reken Index was created by the historian Donald Van Reken, who has written many books about Holland’s history and worked at the library for many years. It is a partial index to the newspapers – it does not index everything. It is available in book form on the microfilm cabinet in large blue binders, one for each decade from 1880-1990. The later years have less material. It is also available online on the Hope College Digital Commons website. It indexes both the Holland City News and the Holland Sentinel. The Van Reken Index contains information on the Holland area, including but not limited to businesses, schools, churches, buildings, railroads, etc. Some names are also indexed, but not vital records, such as births, deaths and marriages.

The complete Holland City News from 1872-1977 is now available online through Hope College Digital Commons.

The Holland Sentinel

The Van Reken Index for the years 1912-1990.

Some other indexes --

For other newspapers in the West Michigan area, check out our Historical Newspapers guide, which includes information on past and present newspapers in the area and where they are located.

Paper

Years of Publication

(if known)

 Location(s) of Copies
Allegan Gazette   Herrick District Library owns 5/5/1883-12/10/1892 & 7/21/1954-12/31/1954 not inclusive
Allegan Journal   Herrick owns 1856-1897, not inclusive
Allegan News   Herrick owns 1/4/1901-12/15/1955, not inclusive – many years missing
Anchor 1887-? Hope College owns 1889-Present.  Newspaper by Hope students*
The Banner 1907-Present Publication of the Christian Reformed Church. Calvin owns 1907-Present.  Herrick owns 1970-Present not inclusive
Christian Intelligencer 1830-1934 See Hope College Library Catalog
Church Herald   See Hope College Library Catalog (Christian Weekly of the Reformed Church)
Commercial Record  
  • Digitized
  • Also called:
    • Saugatuck Commercial 1868-1869, 1901-1902
    • Lakeshore Commercial 1870-1871, 1881-1901
    • The Commercial 1871-1880
    • Saugatuck Commercial Record 1926-1965
    • Commercial Record 1902-1926, 1966-1995

De Boodschapper

see de Huisvriend

 1913-? Absorbed by De Huisvriend in 1916. Calvin University owns various years.
Fennville Herald 1892-1995 Weekly paper is at Fennville Library. Ceased publication October 1995.
  • Years owned: July 1892-July 1894, Feb 23, 1895-1906, Jan 1911-Dec 1926, Jan 1931-Dec 1933, Jan 1939-Oct 1995.
  • Missing Issues Aug-Dec 1894, Jan-Feb 16, 1895, 1907-1910, 1927-1930, 1934-1938
Gazetteer 1871?

Holland’s first English language newspaper – never published after Great Fire of 1871

HES 2-28-99+   Not Available
De Gereformeerde Amerikan see De Huisvriend 1896-1908 Absorbed by De Huisvriend in 1917. Calvin University owns various years.
Gereformeerd Maandschrift 1880-? Western Theological Seminary owns Jan-Dec 1880 – Periodical of the Reformed Church
Grand Haven News   Herrick owns 12/22/1858-7/17/1867 -not inclusive
Grand River Times   Herrick owns 7/2/1851-10/28/1857 -not inclusive
De Grondwet (The Constitution) 1871-1938 Joint Archives owns 1871-1938, mostly Dutch, some English* (Republican paper)
Hamilton Press 1947-1969 Hamilton High School owns (not sure how many years owned)
De Heidenwereld 1896-? Calvin University owns v1 1896 – v32, 1928. Missionary monthly, mostly in Dutch.
De Heraut 1900-1901 Found no information on this paper.
De Huisvriend 1895-1937 Calvin University owns but not inclusive
Holland City News 1872-1977 Herrick has on microfilm.  Now digitized. Purchased by De Grondwet owner in 1888. Sold to Sentinel Printing Company in 1939. (Republican weekly paper)  

Holland Daily Sentinel

Holland Evening Sentinel

Holland Sentinel

 7/1/1896-Present Herrick owns 1912-Present.  Copies of the Holland Sentinel before 1912 were destroyed by fire.  Began publication July 1, 1896. Began Sunday paper on 9/10/1989.
Holland Herald   Joint Archives own 1971-1982 (incomplete)*
De Hollander 1850-1895 Joint Archives owns 1851-1860, 1866-1895  English and Dutch* (Democratic paper).  It was bilingual from 1850-1865, but later was only in Dutch. 
De Hope 1856-1933 Joint Archives owns 1865-1933.  Weekly* Christian newspaper of the Reformed Church –  In Dutch.  
Macatawa Mirror 1898-? Found no information on this paper.
Ons Vaandel 1901-1904 Calvin University owns 1901, 1903-1904
Ottawa County Times   Joint Archives and Herrick own 1892-1905.* (Democrat weekly paper)
Ottawa Register 1856-1861? Joint Archives owns 1856-1861 (incomplete) In English*
De Paarl (The Pearl) 1860-1866 Joint Archives owns Sep 26, 1860 – Aug 14, 1861.*  Dutch Christian weekly paper.
De Verzamelaar 1860-1866 Joint Archives owns Apr 2, 1861-Mar 17, 1866 Dutch Christian weekly paper – joined with De Hope in 1865
Voorwaarts 1868-1941 Joint Archives owns 1868-1941.*  Publication of Holland Christian Reformed Church. Weekly newspaper published in Grand Rapids MI in Dutch and later English.
De Wekker 1860-1866 Joint Archives owns Mar 1860-Sep 1861* (incomplete) Dutch
Zeeland Record 1893-Present Bi-weekly paper Howard Miller Library, Zeeland, MI. Available at Howard Miller Library or online with a library card.  You may purchase a card for $10.00 just to view the Zeeland Record.

*For more information on these papers go to the website for the Joint Archives of Holland http://hope.edu/jointarchives, choose Collection Search, then Newspaper Collections.

URL for Holland City News 1872-1977:  https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/hcn/

URL For Van Reken Index 1880-1990:  https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/news_index/3/

If you have more questions, check with the library's Information Desk for help. Happy searching!