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Description

An essay by the Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte, on "Colonization and Education," published in De Hope, October 13, 1869, who has returned to Holland, from where V.R. is writing, having returned apparently from Amelia, Virginia, and saying that a Mr. S. Bolks has returned from the East where he was raising money "for our Education Foundation." Bolks was also asked to establish churches in the Amelia Colony and was successful in organizing three of them in Amelia, Matoax, and Chula respectively. (The Matoax church is the only one to survive and is a Presbyterian church today.) Van Raalte reported that in spite of the drought in Virginia, the farmers are having reasonable yields of grain. The Amelia Institute for higher and lower education has been established in a renovated hotel and headed by Dr. [Anson] Du Bois. William Gilmore, V.R.'s son-in-law and a graduate of Hope College, is also teaching there. V.R. noted "we can humbly thank God that He uses our people and our Institute Hope College to establish centers of education and inspiration in other regions of our vast country." And, "We, the Dutch, have as a Christian people a calling towards the Dutch and Holland-America emigration, and also towards this country—vast in size and influence—in which God has placed us."

Date

10-7-1869

City

Holland, Michigan

Notes

In Dutch; translation by Simone Kennedy.

Description of the document and reference to the Holland Museum by Dr. Elton J. Bruins.

About the collection:

Elton J. Bruins, long-time professor in the Department of Religion at Hope College, spent years collecting documents by and about Albertus C. Van Raalte, founder of Holland, Michigan and early patron of Hope College. Documents were gathered from dozens of public and private collections, making a nearly exhaustive collection of Van Raalte's writings and reflections. It is these documents that make up the "Van Raalte Papers."

Digitizing the Van Raalte papers was supported by the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. The project was done in partnership with Heritage Hall at Calvin University, which also digitized its Van Raalte collections.

Source

The original documents are held in the Holland Museum.

Rights

This digitized material is intended for personal research/study only. The original documents may not be reproduced for commercial use in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the Holland Museum.

An Essay by the Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte, on

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