Files
Download Full Text (4.4 MB)
Description
A document, with much revision, in the handwriting of Albertus C. Van Raalte who is responding apparently to critics in the Netherlands that he made a mistake in having his people unite with the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in America. V.R. defends his actions vehemently. V.R. bewails the friction and fighting that has gone on in the Afscheiding movement which he experienced first hand during his ministry in the Netherlands. V.R. mentions that he is now retired which means that the document was written after 1867. The document is dated 1872 tentatively because V.R. makes a reference to twenty five years apparently from the date he and his people arrived in America. He refers to a Brother Veenhuizen whom V.R. seems to be ?reftiting. (There is an A. B. Veenhuizen who had RCA pastorates in western New York and later left the RCA for the Presbyterian Church.)
Date
1872
Source
The original documents are held in the Albertus C. Van Raalte Collection (M300) or the Dirk B.K. Van Raalte Collection (M301) in Heritage Hall, Hekman Library, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI. The Van Raalte material in Heritage Hall has since been reorganized.
https://archives.calvin.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=264&q=
https://archives.calvin.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=262&q=
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 Heritage Hall at Calvin University. Contact the Curator at Heritage Hall.
Recommended Citation
Van Raalte, A. C.; ten Hoor, Henry; and Kennedy, Nella, "A Document, with Much Revision, in the Handwriting of Albertus C. Van Raalte Who is Responding Apparently to Critics in the Netherlands That He Made a Mistake in Having His People Unite with the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in America" (1872). Van Raalte Papers: 1870-1879. 89.
https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/vrp_1870s/89
Notes
In Dutch; translated by Dr. Henry ten Hoor. There is also a typed transcription of the document. A transcription and translation were done by Nella Kennedy with footnotes, 2002.
Description of the document and reference to the collection at Calvin College Archives 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.