News and History from Heritage Hall
The spring 2025 issue of Origins magazine is in the works. Here is a free article from the Fall 2024 issue. Peter Bulthuis tells the story of Dick Veenendaal, a Dutch immigrant to Canada in the 1930s; after World War II, he helped meet the …
In 1917 there was a major debate ongoing among Christian Reformed folk around Prospect Park, NJ. They needed to decide if it was time to establish a Christian high school. Most people in the mainly blue-collar, immigrant community saw education beyond the basics of reading …
Part I of this story began by describing the founding of the Calvin Seminary Dames club in 1927, when a few of the wives of seminary students began meeting to socialize and discuss “such topics as might later prove helpful in our station as wives, …
The 1946-1947 school year saw the opening of the “Alexander Lodge” as a dorm for Calvin College men. It was located at 1010 Alexander Street SE. Ninety men started out the year in the dorm. “Army cots, cold showers, bleak rooms, and workmen still on …
The Spring 2023 issue (Volume 41, Issue 1) of Origins: Historical Magazine of the Heritage Hall Archives has been mailed to subscribers. If your not yet a subscriber you can order a copy by emailing Heritage Hall (crcarchives@calvin.edu) or subscribe online. This blog post includes …
In the 1920s, the Christian Reformed Church debated the doctrine of common grace. Synod’s affirmation of this doctrine led a small group to separate from the CRC and form the Protestant Reformed Church. But the theological defense of the potential good of non-Christian— “worldly” —culture …
On 21 March 1956, my grandparents, Arie and Martha Verhagen boarded KLM flight 603 with their two small children from Amsterdam to New York City. A week earlier they had received visas under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, allowing their immigration to the United …
The fall 2022 issue of Heritage Hall’s print magazine, Origins, included a story by Jane E. Griffioen. Her book London Street: A Memoir has been read widely by people who grew up in Dutch immigrant communities connected to the Christian Reformed Church. London Street is …
See previous blog post for part I of this story. As assistant to the secretary of the Calvinist Resettlement Service, Agnes Flonk handled a good deal of the correspondence between potential sponsors and the necessary bureaucratic organizations. Many of the applicants she worked with were …
On August 27, 1955, Pieter Duinkerken showed up at the offices of the Calvinist Resettlement Committee to speak with Miss Agnes Flonk, the assistant secretary. The committee was created by the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), whose headquarters were in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Duinkerken himself …