Are you looking for information about a past local millage or other election? Curious about small businesses that have opened or closed? What about that photo of a family member the Sentinel featured a few years back?
If you're looking for Holland Sentinel articles from the recent past, you now have a new opportunity to search for them! Any article about the Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Fennville, or Hamilton areas from 2015-2021 has been entered into a database, now searchable through PDF files, organized by year.
There are two primary databases: the People Index and the Subject Index. They're just what they sound like: the collection of people's names and the collection of different events, social movements, government doings, business dealings, etc. recorded in the Sentinel. Each PDF file lists the headline of the article, the date of the newspaper in which it was published, and the page number where you can find it.
You can search for subjects in the PDF files by using the Ctrl-F "Find" function. Press and hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, then press the "F" key for "Find:"
A search bar will appear, into which you may enter your search query:
If you look underneath a single heading, you'll see all the different articles written about it that year:
You can also search for single words, which may help you find more article headlines about the subject you'd like to know about:
This method also works when searching for names. Names appear in the people index in the format LAST NAME, FIRST NAME.
When you find articles you think are worth looking at in more detail, write down their publication dates and page numbers. When you're done, visit the Main Library's genealogy section and select the microfilm rolls from the drawer. Log into the computer with your library card number and PIN, then open the Scanpro 3000 program to start browsing! Ask a staff member for assistance if you need it.
Once you've set up the microfilm, you can:
- Zoom in and out on a particular article.
- Email high-quality screenshots of old newspapers to yourself.
- Print off copies at the library for 15 cents/page.
