News and History from Heritage Hall
A significant number of students at Calvin University are “third-culture kids” (TCKs). Calvin’s newly-appointed president, Wiebe Boer, is one of them. Boer will be inaugurated this Fall, succeeding Michael le Roy who served as president since 2012. Many TCKs at Calvin are also “missionary kids” …
The Fall 2021 issue of Origins: Historical Magazine of the Heritage Hall Archives is in print and has been mailed to subscribers! The issue does not have a central theme. It explores a variety of topics related to Dutch North American and Reformed history. This …
In 1957 the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) celebrated its 100th anniversary. The central themes in the centennial celebration were theological unity and the faithfulness of the CRC and its members. The Centennial programs would acknowledge Dutch origins and immigrant history but downplay them in a …
The previous blog post by John Meyer told the story of his growing interest in Dutch American history, culture, and language. This post continues his story, focusing on his work on the Van Raalte collections of Heritage Hall. A Dutch pastor, Van Raalte led the …
You never know where a story is going to take you. One that I read as a child led me to a digitization project in the Heritage Hall Archives at Calvin University. Now I am working on the collections associated with Albertus C. Van Raalte, …
“Christianity isn’t passive–it’s active,” said a WWII veteran in 1945, recalling the lessons he learned during the war. Over 16 million Americans served in the United States Armed Forces during WWII. In 1991 the Christian Reformed Church conducted a survey of veterans and their experiences. …
Boys racing homemade bobsleds down the Bridge Street Hill in Grand Rapids hit Willem Hendrik de Lange in January 1874. “On the evening of this accident,” De Lange’s father-in-law reported, “he left our house in good spirits.” Shortly after, six to eight big boys on …
The Reformed tradition has a reputation in Christian circles for being very serious about ideas, especially doctrine, but also Christian philosophy and thought generally. I remember, as a teenager, Calvinists sometimes being described as the “frozen chosen.” And I remember being delighted in my early …
On November 30, 1892, on a train from Hoboken, NJ, to Alamosa, CO, Marinus Aalbers glanced at his wife and children sitting across from him in their seats. They had left the Netherlands 23 days ago and expected to arrive at their last stop in …
Origins stories have a “mythic” function. By “myth” I don’t mean “bad history” because the facts are wrong or made up. I mean stories that people tell to explain who they are, where they come from, and why they matter. Stories about identity. We all …