Origins Online is the blog of Heritage Hall at Calvin University.
Located in the Hekman Library, Heritage Hall is a premier archive for the history of Dutch migration to North America and the evolution of Dutch American and Dutch Canadian communities and culture. Notable components of its collections are immigrant letters, genealogical records, and postcards of churches, schools, and communities in Dutch immigrant enclaves.
Heritage Hall also is the repository archive for Calvin University, Calvin Seminary, and the Christian Reformed Church in North America. It thus is a rich resource for the intellectual, religious, and social history of Reformed Christianity in North America.
Heritage Hall’s manuscripts collection includes the personal papers of the university and seminary faculty, staff, and alumni; ministers and missionaries in the denomination; and intellectuals and cultural figures associated with the Dutch Reformed communities of the United States and Canada.
Heritage Hall also collects material from organizations founded by these communities, such as the Christian Farmers Federation, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, and the Center for Public Justice. It holds the papers of two former members of Congress from West Michigan, Paul Henry and Vern Ehlers.
Origins Online provides news stories about the collections of Heritage Hall and the work being done by staff, volunteers, students, and scholars. It also tells stories about the history of the university, seminary, and denomination, Dutch North American life, and Reformed Christianity in North America and the wider world.
The blog is an extension of Origins: Historical Magazine of the Archives, published biennially by Heritage Hall. This website provides access to back issues of the magazine. The back issues page also provides a link to subscribe to the print magazine.
The views expressed in posts on Origins Online are those of their respective authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Calvin University, Calvin Theological Seminary, or the Christian Reformed Church in North America.