Holland, Michigan
Deze plaats in het midden van de USA was de bestemming van een aantal Van Schelven's in de 19e eeuw. Zij stonden aan het begin van een complete Amerikaanse tak van de familie. Zoals het artikel uit de Sentinel blijkt had deze concentratie (ook) religieuze achtergronden.
Om een idee te krijgen waar Holland ligt in de Verenigde Staten van Amerika, is gekozen voor Chicago als oriëntatiepunt.
Misschien
niet uw smaak, maar toch bijzonder om te zien dat "het moederland" in
ere wordt gehouden in Holland, met een themadorp.
Als u geïnteresseerd bent in cijfers; op Internet troffen we de volgende statistiek over de bevolking van Holland, Michigan. Klik voor de gegevens.
Oral History Project Surpasses Goal of 150 Stories for Sesquicentennial
The Joint Archives of Holland has surpassed the goal for its
Sesquicentennial oral history project, 150 Stories for 150 Years, by so much
that the city could even have been nearly two decades older.
The effort has gathered more than 167 stories meeting the project s goal of
gathering 150 accounts by the end of Holland s sesquicentennial year, but more
importantly it represents a significant resource for the future.
In 1897, in conjunction with the city s 50th anniversary celebration, local
historian Gerrit Van Schelven gathered
speeches and other writings featuring insights from the city s settlers and
early residents. It is a collection that is drawn upon frequently.
Without the Van Schelven Collection, we
would know much less about the first 50 years in Holland, according to Joint
Archives director, Larry Wagenaar.
The 150 Stories for 150 Years project has deliberately featured a diverse range
of community residents, to assure that a variety of perspectives were
chronicled. They range in age and experience from young college students to
octogenarians. They include well-known community leaders, as well as those
familiar only to family and friends. There are newcomers to the city, and
retirees who have been life-long area residents. The project sought to maintain
gender balance, and to reflect Holland s ethnic diversity.
The Joint Archives of Holland coordinates an oral history project every year,
typically generating an average of about 20 transcripts annually. The
sesquicentennial project began in the spring of 1996, and at 167 interviews has
weighed in at four times the usual two-year total of 40.
Many of the interviews were conducted by current Hope students or recent
graduates retained by the Joint Archives to manage the project during the
summers: senior Tracy Bednarick of Cadillac in 1996, and 1997 graduate Ann Paeth
of Columbus, Ohio, this past summer. Ena Brooks, a junior from Kalamazoo,
conducted interviews this fall, as did Wagenaar and collections archivist and
assistant professor Geoffrey Reynolds. Lori Trethewey, department secretary,
handled many of the details throughout the project, including checking the
completed transcripts for accuracy.
About 25 percent of the interviews were conducted by a group of some 20
volunteers who were coordinated by Marie Zingle of Holland. Volunteer John
Maassen assisted the staff with transcription needs.
The volunteer component of this project has been very significant, Wagenaar
said. It s important to me that we ve had the community involved, not only from
the perspective of being interviewed, but in doing the interviews and helping
transcribe them.
With the Sesquicentennial project complete, our collection of oral and written
histories provides a solid look at the settlement from 1847 to the present day,
Wagenaar said. I hope, when the city is celebrating its 200th anniversary in
2047, that they have the foresight to do a similar kind of thing.
(Van Schelven,Gerrit - Editor Holland City
News & Justice)
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Local historian changes roles
"He's Holland's principal historian," said Jim Cook, retired professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary. "If you want to know about the roots and origins of Holland -- he's the go-to guy. He's diligent, committed, careful, honest and authoritative."
Bruins, 74, has been director of the institute since it opened Jan. 1, 1994, in Van Zoeren Hall. He was the only staff person. Two years later, the institute moved to its current location at 100 E. Eighth St. next to the Knickerbocker Theater.
Today, the A.C. Van Raalte Institute has a dozen on staff. The institute supports research and writings on the history and heritage of Holland and of the Dutch in the United States.
Bruins will remain as a senior research fellow. Jacob E. Nyenhuis is the new director of the institute. Nyenhuis retired from Hope College after 26 years in May 2001, the last 17 years as provost and professor of classics.
Freeing himself of administrative duties will allow Bruins more time for research. He's already collected 1,729 documents on the Rev. Albertus Van Raalte, who founded the Dutch colony here in February 1847.
"This move allows me to get back to my basic research on Van Raalte," Bruins said. "Now I can devote my time toPlease see BRUINS, A5my Van Raalte files and my research projects. We're trying to do as much research on Van Raalte's life as possible."
Bruins said Van Raalte left a wonderful legacy. He started the Hope Academy, which later became Hope College. He was instrumental in getting a harbor started. He also donated a lot of his land to the community, including several city parks such as Centennial Park.
"Holland owes its existence and his vision to his work," Bruins said. "Holland has a very special history. It had a religious dimension right from the start. That's what makes Holland unusual."
Bruins has devoted years of research to studying Van Raalte and the Dutch settlers, said retired Western Seminary professor I. John Hesselink.
"Elton's probably the most knowledgeable person about the early settlers in Holland," said Hesselink, who has known Bruins for 50 years. "He's very dedicated to the cause of exploring the significance of Van Raalte. It's a passion of his. He's a meticulous scholar."
Holland Mayor Albert McGeehan said Bruins will be known as Holland's historian of the 20th century, just as Gerrit Van Schelven is known as being the community's historian of the 19th century.
"Elton Bruins is a scholarly man and a scholarly gentleman," McGeehan said. "I just want to wish him well in his transition and know a lot of future generations of researchers and scholars will have Elton's work to fall back on. They will find it to be accurate, complete and precise."
Bruins, a native of Alto, Wis., graduated from Hope College in 1950 and Western Theological Seminary in 1953, and moved to Holland in 1966 when he became a professor at Hope College. He taught religion at Hope until 1992, specializing in American religious history. He and his wife, Elaine, have two children and five grandchildren.