26 January 2022

Christian Reformed Church Research, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Heritage Hall in the Hekman Library on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan is the place to go for Christian Reformed Church in North America records and Dutch Migration records.

The website is a treasure trove of information and may take a few minutes to acclimate yourself to it.  Heritage Hall is open to the public for onsite research, but you will want to plan your visit.  Their holdings are vast.

What will you find at Heritage Hall?

  1. The Archives of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. The archives online pages will guide you through a lot of information:
    1. Finding Aids
    2. Links to Information about the Christian Reformed Church (CRC)
    3. Banner , a publication of the CRC, card file index for deaths, birthdays, and wedding anniversaries published from 1870-1999.
    4. Membership records from six closed CRC churches. Scroll down to "Digital membership records from closed churches"
    5. Young Calvinist obituaries from 1941-1973. Scroll down to the end of the page.
    6. Emigrants from the Netherlands to North America, 1946-1963, mostly to Canada.
    7. Emigrants from Drenthe, Netherlands to West Michigan, 1845-1870.
    8. Wedding Databases Look at the In House Records for this.
    9. Dutch and German Immigrant Letters
    10. Family Histories
    11. Holland-America Line Passengers, 1900-1940. Microfiches copies of the lists with annual indexes, includes all passengers sailing on the Holland-America Line and is not limited to a single nationality

    12. Web based resources for Family History
    13. and more.
  2. Heritage Hall Finding Aids will guide you to resources available at the library.  A few simple searches led me to manuscript sources at Heritage Hall.
    1. Genealogy led me to 31 resources, many of them manuscript collections to explore further.
    2. Family History led me to 20 resources.
    3. Luijendijk, the dutch spelling, led me to 0 resources, but Luyendyk, the American spelling, led me 1 resource.
    4. Dutch in Michigan had 20 hits.
Even though it states the number of resources or hits, these are manuscript collections and can contain many boxes and linear feet of resources. 

     3.  Research Guides are available at the Hekman Library website. These guides help you to understand what is available at the Library. The library supports the language and culture of the Dutch and four research guides are available:
          a. Dutch Language
          b. Dutch Resources
          c. Dutch Articles and Databases
          d. Frisian Studies

If you have Christian Reformed research to conduct while you are in Grand Rapids, Calvin College is the place to do it. Use the Hekman Library Catalog to find resources at Heritage Hall.  The Archives of the Christian Reformed Church in North AmericaHekman LibraryHeritage Hall, Calvin College, 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 (616) 526-7197. 

Information and weblinks updated on 26 January 2022

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