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Below are links to digital formats of a few collections in Heritage Hall. To learn of all the records stored in Heritage Hall use the Hekman Library web catalog at the Hekman Library website.

You can search and browse a limited selection of our finding aids online.

If you have questions, you are welcome to contact us.

Images available online

From the History of Calvin University

From the History of Calvin Theological Seminary

The Dutch in Michigan

Birthday, Marriage, Anniversary, and Obituary Announcements

  • The Banner - 1945-2016. A card file of death, birthday, and wedding anniversary notices published in The Banner and De Wachter, from the 1870s through 1999, alphabetically arranged by surname, is located in the reading room. In addition hard copies of the entire run of each periodical are available in the reading room.

Historical (Closed) Church Records

  • Pillar Church (Holland, Michigan) - The church still exists in Holland, Michigan and has been known as First Reformed Church and Ninth Street Christian Reformed Church. 1847-1880.

Emigrants from the Netherlands

  • Dutch Emigrants to North America - 1946-1963. Information about emigrants, primarily to Canada via Pier 21, assisted by the Immigration Committee of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

Local Dutch Wedding Histories

  • Graafschap Weddings (1864-1889) - Graafschap, Michigan Marriages, 1864-1872; 1879-1889. Marriages performed by Revs. Douwe J. Vander Werp and Roelof T. Kuiper while pastors in Graafschap (Michigan) Christian Reformed Church.
  • Beets Weddings (1896-1913) - Weddings performed by Rev. Henry Beets, a minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

Young Calvinist Obituaries

Gold Star (military) deaths of members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, 1941-1973 collected by the Young Calvinist magazine. (List is not complete.)

Surnames:
A-D - E-K - L-R - S-U - V-Z

 

Below are descriptions of some of the more heavily used collections in Heritage Hall. Data from these collection are not available in digital format and Heritage Hall does not have sufficient staff to conduct family research, but patrons are welcome to conduct their research in person.

Immigrant Letters

Family Histories

Published and manuscript genealogies of Dutch-American families

Holland-America Line Passenger Indexes, 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. 

Background on the Holland America Line: http://www.JewishGen.org/infofiles/hollam3.txt

Detailed description of the lists: http://www.JewishGen.org/infofiles/hollam.txt

Swierenga Passenger Indexes

NOTE: Some microfilm copies of the original records of Swierenga's research are deposited in Heritage Hall, but these copies contain no data in addition to what is in the published sources. These indices contain detailed indexes of people who emigrated from the Netherlands to America between 1820 and 1904. Many of these records are now available from Family Tree Maker, "Immigration Records: Dutch in America, 1800s" (CD# 269).