Under various names, what is now called The Commercial Record has been the local paper of Saugatuck and Douglas for more than 150 years. To learn more, read “A Brief History of The Commercial Record” by Kit Lane, former co-owner of the newspaper.
Between 2005 and 2008, Chris Yoder scanned 36,000 pages of the Commercial Record through the mid-1950s. He also arranged for microfilm to be commercially scanned, providing access to the newspaper through 1977. Dick Haight developed software to display the scans, creating the CommercialRecord.org website. The papers are readable, but not fully indexed.
Explore The Commercial Record.org
In 2018, newspaper issues from 1957 to 1970 were fully digitized, indexed, and made available online through a grant offered by Central Michigan University. Volunteers are currently exploring how to finish that work and make the entire content available. This would be a boon to local researchers and family historians alike.
