In Grand Rapids, everyday lives of women and African-Americans in the early 20th century were not well documented. Researchers had difficulty culling information from our collection. The library curated and continues to develop two collections shedding light on these communities: the Women's Defense Unit Cards, consisting of 23,000 cards containing data about women who registered for World War I home front service; and the New Hope Baptist Church archive, documenting one of the oldest Black churches.

The Women's Defense Cards are the only known collection left in existence. They provide biographical information about women and record education levels, skills and employment status. The New Hope archive includes images, documents, histories and stories of African-Americans living in Grand Rapids from the 1930s to the present. Both of the collections provide valuable information for researchers of history and genealogy all over the world.

The work of the library in collecting African-American history has inspired a local historian to open a museum dedicated to the topic. Many of the exhibits use information from the library's collections and the African-American community has show an increased interest in preserving their stories. Researchers from all over the country have accessed the digitized collection of the Women's Defense Unit Cards, using the information that can not be found anywhere else.