College, Hope

Reynolds, Geoffrey D

Wagenaar, Larry J.

English

Digital Commons@Hope College

Hope CollegeDigital Commons @ Hope CollegeThe Joint Archives Quarterly College PublicationsFall 2000The Joint Archives Quarterly, Volume 10.03:(Spring) Winter 2000Hope CollegeLarry J. WagenaarGeoffrey D. ReynoldsHope College, reynoldsg@hope.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/jaquarterlyPart of the Archival Science CommonsThis Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at Digital Commons @ Hope College. It has been accepted forinclusion in The Joint Archives Quarterly by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Hope College. For more information, please contactdigitalcommons@hope.edu.Recommended CitationRepository citation: College, Hope; Wagenaar, Larry J.; and Reynolds, Geoffrey D., "The Joint Archives Quarterly, Volume 10.03:(Spring) Winter 2000" (2000). The Joint Archives Quarterly. Paper 33.http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/jaquarterly/33Published in: Joint Archives Quarterly, Volume 10, Issue 3, Fall October 1, 2000. Copyright © 2000 Hope College, Holland, Michigan.~UISTORY RESEARCH CENTfR,....,.< 1,__.._1_.- .. _Volume 10 Number 3 Winter 2000Vander Jagt Congressional Papers OpenA luncheon. afternoon reception. and evening Dutch-American Heritage Day celebration were held on Thursday.November 16.10 celebrate the opening orthe Guy A. VanderJagl Congressional Papers in the Hope College collection ofthe Joint Archives of Holland.Vander Jagt. who is a 1953 Hope graduate. was elected tothe U.S. House of Representatives in 1966. serving rhe NinthDistrict of Michigan until 1992. "During his quarter centuryin the House of Representatives. a period of time thul coveredsix presidencies, Congressman Vander Jagt played a significantrole locally as well as nationally." said Larry Wagenaar, whois director of the Joint Archives of Holland. 'The records inthe collection provide a thorough look at both me major eventsduring his time in office and me day·to-day activity experiencedby a Congressman. and will be an important resource fordeveloping our understanding of area hislory as well as ournalion's history:'11le materials cover nOI only Vander Jagt's service in Congress.but the decade before as well. His activities from 1957 unlilhis eleclion to the House included serving as news directorof WWTV in Cadillac, practicing law at Warner, Norcross &Judd in Grand Rapids, and serving in Michigan's state senateduring 1965-66.According to Vander Jagt. his formative experience at Hopemade the college-based Joint Archives the logical choice tohouse the collection. "Hope College is very. very special tome. for four of the greatest years of my life were on theHope campus," he said. ,,' was impacted spiritually andintellectually in ways that shaped all the resl of my life. andso, thought it appropriate that the harvest of an entire careergo back 10 where it all began:'While a student at Hope, Vander Jagt was debate championfor the state of Michigan for three consecutive years. andcaptured the National Oralorical Championship during hissenior year. He was also student Ixxly president during hissenior year. He served as a disc jockey at WHTC mdio inHolland while working his way through school.In addition to his degree from Hope. he holds a B.D. fromYale Divinity School, completed in 1957, and a J.D. from theUniversity of Michigan Law School, completed in 1960.(continlle(/ (J/I page 3)It's Done!Our Largest Collection OpensHats off to tire Joi1l1 Arr.:!ril'es staff!Whew! It is finally done! Far outstripping our last "largecollection" (me Willard Wichers papers). me Guy A. VanderJagt Congressional Papers opened 10 the public onNovember 16.The opening of these papers was the culmination of sevenyears of work on a collection with local, regional, and nationalsignilicance. The fonner Congressman rubbed elbows withmany wel1-known figures and was influential in a wide varietyof circles. Not only will he be remembered for this,(conti/Illed 011 l)(lge 4)IFrom the Director IThe opening of the Guy A. Vander Jagt Papers was a majormilestone for the Joint Archives. It marks the opening ofourlargest individual collection, and fealures a set of materialwith local, regionaL national. and international significance.We were honored to have former Congressman Vander Jag!with us on November 16. During his luncheon speech, heshared with us his deep affection for Hope. Later that day,he spoke oCthe long and deep connection between the UnitedStates and the Netherlands as the featured speaker of Dutch·American Heritage Day.His wife. Carol, and his daughter, Ginny (who new in fromColumbus. Ohio. to be a part of the day's festivities),accompanied Mr. Vander lugt. Many other local and regionaldignitaries were with us during a day that included a luncheonfor supporters of the Congressional Papers processing project,a public reception, and the evening Heritage Day event.In the weeks following this special day, we also welcomed anew face 10 the Joint Archives staff and said farewell to along-term volunteer, Archivist David Andrewsjoined us fora one-year term position. He comes from the staff of theCarnegie Mellon University Archives in Pittsburgh. Our staffalso said farewell to long-time volunteer John Maassen. Heand his wife are relocating to Florida. See separate storieson David and John in this issue,As we move through this special season. we wish you a veryblessed holiday!Larry J, WagenaarThe Joint Archives of HollandHoursMonday through Friday. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m,Special Holiday 1·loursDecember26-29, I:OO-5;()() p.m. onlyClosed December 22 & 25, January I2Wagenaar on SabbaticalAfler a dozen years on the staff and faculty of Hope Collegeas director of the Joint Archives of Holland. Larry Wagenaarwill begin a sabbatical in January, 2001. He plans to undertakea study of other cooperative archival efforts in the UnitedStates, as well as conduct additional research in other fieldsof interest including Dutch American Studies. MichiganHistory and Archival Science.The study of other cooperative archival programs will be thefirst ever done and the results will be valuable to the JointArchives as well as other communities and organi7..ations thatarc considering such ventures. II will add to the professionalarchival resources available. as currently no materials arcavailable in archival professionalliteraturc on such cooperativeventures,Over the past decade Wagenaar has been a consultant forseveral organizations that have or are considering joint orcooperative archival arrangements, He will rejoin the staffin August.Joint Archives StaffLarry J, WagenaarDirector ami As~'oci(J/e ProfessorGeoffrey 0, ReynoldsCollec:tiol1s Arc:llivisf al1d As.\'i.H(/I1/ Profe,\',wlrDavid A, AndrewsVisiting Archil'isl a"d Assis/(ull ProfessorLori Trethewey, SecretaryAllyson Boggess. Research A~'sis/(l11/Alicia Irvine. Research As~'i.l"f(/l1/Gregoor Passchier. Researc:h Assis/(J!I/Abby Plan, Researc:h A~',\'i,~/(mtVolunteers:Sue Brandsen. Lois Kayes, John Maassen.Carolyn Nienhuis. Russ Norden, Jean Postma,Bill Van Dyke. Shirley Weersing. Lee WilteveenVander Jagt Paper)' Open (continlled from (mge I)During his time in the U.S. House of Representatives. VanderJagt rose to the second·mnking Republican seat on the HouseWays and Means Committee and to the ranking Republicanseats on the Trade Subcommittee, the Select RevenueMeasures Subcommittee. and the Health and HumanResources Subcommittee. He was also a member of the JointTaxation Committcc. among other committee appointments.As chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee(NRCC), he was a member of the Republican leadership.consulting on a regular basis with Presidents Ford. Reagan.and Bush and their Cabinets. He was the keynote speaker ofthe Republican National Convention in 1980.Since 1992. he has practiced in the Washington, D.e. officeof the law firm of Baker & Hostetler. With offices inCincinnali. Cleveland. Columbus. Denver. Houston. LongBeach. Los Angeles. Orlando and Washington. the finn isone of the 25 largest law finns in the United States. Heconcentnlles his practice in the areas of tax and legislativelaw.Vander Jagt was inducted by the Queen of the Netherlandsas a grand officer into the Order of Orange Nassau in April,of 1982. :lOd was named the Outstanding DUlch-Americanof the Year by the Netherlands Amity Trust Association in1991.Vander Jagt was also the keynote speaker for the Dutch·American Heritage Day event at 7 p.m. in the Haworth Innand Conference Center. Over 200 people attended heard aspecch that focused on the rich relationship between theUnited States of America and the Netherlands, stretchingback over 200 years. The Dutch played a critical role in theearly years of the Revolution and arguably were one ofAmerica's only friends at a time ofgrave need.3The Vander Jagt papers are open for research. A collectionregiMer of the entire collection can be found at: h1.Ul.JLwww,hope,edu/resources/arc/collections/reg isters/hope/l:yLhtml. You can also search the Joint Archives of Holland'sother holdings at www,hQ[)C,cduJjointarchiyes.A. C. Van RaaUe:Dutch Leader and American Patriotby Jeanne Jacobson. Elton Bruins. and Larry WagenaarSECOND PRINTINGNOWAVAIlABLE!The first fully annotaledbiogmphy ofA. C. Van Raalteis a well-illustrated. 256-pagehardcover volume that hasbeen well received byreviewers. The book covcrsmany events in the life of theDutch pastor who led theDutch to Western Michigan.inclUding persecution in theNetherlands. the harrowingjoumey to America. strugglesin the first years. Holland and the Civil War, the great fireof 1871. his wifc Christine, and Van Raaltc's Icgacy today.$29.95Please send me _copies at $29.95 each (plus $4.00for postage and h:llldling; MI residents add 6% sales tax).Total enclosed _Namc _Address _Phone _l\'lail to: The Joinl Archives of HollandHope CollegeP.O. Box 9000Holland, MI 49422-9000lArgest CoJlectioll Opens (continued from IHlg~ I)but his papers will be sought out by students and scholarsinterested in the American political scene from the mid 1960s10 the beginning of the Clinton years.TIlerc arc many people to thank in such a project, going backto Hope students David Evenhuis and Ryan Kreider whospellt the fmmmer of 1993 working to complete our firstinventory of the collection. Back then it was a daullIing massof material that arrived mostly by semi·truck and came in atover 725 boxes (and over 1,000 linear feet)! It clearly wasnot going to be an easy project. FonnerCollections ArchivistJenifer Holman led our early efforts to gain an understandingof what this collection included.All too often large and significant collections like this are left10 languish for decades. We were committed not to allowthat to happen. We knew our first task was to do a roughinventory 10 give us a good idea of what we had and whereto start. The next slep was 10 find the funds to make thisproject happen.Carol a1/(1 Gi/lflY \.il/lder Jagt reriew the collectio/lCongressman Vander Jagt's fonner chief of staff. the lateJames Sparling. helped us in this regard. Numerous friendsof Mr. Vander Jagt contributed to the effort 10 process thesepapers in 1996 and 1997. This set the stage for us to hire ourfirst graduate student summer intern. Helen Baer. in thesummer of 1998. Two additional interns. Christina Schmidtand Sallie Garrell in 1999 and 2000 respectively, followed.Euch of these trained archivists (two from the University ofTexas and one from the University of Michigan) did anexcellent job. Before the second intern had completed herwork. we had commillcd to opening the papers in November.2000. Little did we know thai the race to the finish in the lasttwo months would be such a challenge. Writing the detailedcollection register (inventory). finishing the last 17 boxes. andnumerous "c1ean-up" activities to make it retldy for the public.4\.iI/liter Jagt \';s;ts witl, Rei). Peter Hoekstraand State Rep. Wayne KIl;fH'rschallenged us. Hats off 10 Collections Archivisl GeoffreyReynolds and our secretary Lori Trethcwey for their intensework during the last months running up to the opening.We also bencfited from the diligent help of our student staff.Allyson Boggess. Alicia irvine, Gregoor Passchier and AbbyPlatt, and Joint Archives volunteers Russ Norden. Bill VanDyke. and Lee Wilteveen.Visit us atwww,hope.eduljointarchivesorwww.jointarchives.orgDAVID ANDREWS JOINS STAFFThe Joint Archives is pleased 10 announce the appointmcnt ofarchivist David Andrews to a one~year term as our VisitingArchivist and Assistant Professor. Most recently he has beenprocessing the papers of artificial intelligence pioneers AllenNewell and Herbert A. Simon. the lauer a Nobel Pri7..c winnerin 1978.Andrews is a 1999 graduate ofDuquesne University'sarchi"alstudies program and comes tous from the swff of CarnegieMellon Univcrsity. where hehas been a processing andproject archivist.This position is designed to assist the Joint Archives staffwhile director Larry Wagenaar i" on sabbatical. as well as towork on sc\'eraltargeted projects through the ye<tr. Hejoinedthe Joint Archives staff on December 4 th .David also has a variety of interests including the developmentof historical documentaries and film production.Democrat Wins Holland District...- ..EDWIJIl Y. alfErTGeoffrey D. ReynoldsNope College Collection:We will miss John here at the Archives, and wish theMaa...scn,!, Godspeed in their ncw home!1-188-0039. Diekema. Gerrit John (1859-1930).Papers. 1868·1989. 3.00 linear fl.Rev. Maassen joined our volunteer siaff approximately fiveyears ago and played an important role assisting us with oralhistory tran~criptions (essential to making these tapedinterviews availablc for research) and various processing tasksto assist the archivists. His work has been invaluable··including many hours listcning to tapes Ihat were a part ofollr Sesquiccntennial Oral History Project. TIle Joint Archivcscompletcd over 170 intcrviews for that project.Growing up in the Holland-Zecland area, Rev. Maassengraduated from Hope College (1942) and Westen] Seminary(1949) before being ordained in the Refornled Church inAmerica. Through his career be served churchcs in Palmyra.New York. Kalamal.oo. Grandville. Hingham. Wisconsin. andDes Moines. Iowa. Bcfore his move to I-Iolland. he was amember of the staffof the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove.California.Other Congressional Collectionsat the Joint ArchivesH92-1165. Vander Jagt. Guy A. (1931-).Papers. 1957·1992. 244 linear fl.T88-0 179. Sm;lh. W;lIiam Alden (1859-1932).Papers. 1900. I item.HoJlalld Muse"", CoJlection:In early Deccmber. the Joint Archives said farewell to one ofits long-time voluntecrs. Rev. John Maassen and his wife.Harriet. relocated to Aorid" to be closer 10 family and fricnds.Farewell to John MaassenT88-0055. D;ekema. Gerril J. (1859-1930).Papers. 1876-1969.3.50 linear fl.We have been so fortunate as our volunteers come to be apan of the Archives and stay for years. All of them make acritical contribution to what we do and making historicalmaterials available for research.With our area's heavy Republican voting record. I thought itwould be infonnative to highlight a member of the area'sDemocratic Pany thut served no;; our representative to theU.S. Congrcs~.roa COO<lIU:as Edwin Forrest Sweet wasbom in Dansville. LivingstonCounty. New York, onNovember 21. 1847. Afleranending local schools and aseminary. he continued on toearn a degree from theliterary department of YaleUniversity in 1871 and a lawdegree from the Uni\'crsityofMichigan in 1874. Afler he was admiucd 10 the bar. Sweetquickly set up a law pmclice in Grand Rapids. Michigan.After some lime. he began his political career with a seat onthe Board of Education (1899-1906) followed by onc term asmayor (1904·1906). There he refused 10 bestow politicalappointments to his supporters solely on his position in theDemocratic Party. but instead sought and gained suppon fornon·panisan politics at the local level. This would be hisundoing as a biller political fight emerged during the nextmayoral campaign. in which he was defeated.Swcct's next political position came with a close victory. withthe slogan "Let the People Rule:' over two-term incumbentRepublican and former mayor of Holland. Gcrrit J. Diekema.for the 5'" U.S. Congressional District seat in November.1910. This was probably due to his following in Kent Countyand Grand Rapids. then part of the 5'" district (Kent, Ionia.•md Ottawa counties) and splintcring in the Republic;m Partydue to thc Progressive Movement. He held this position from1911-1913, after which he was appoimed Assistant Secretaryof Commerce in the Wilson presidential cabinel. Sweetremained in that post until his resignation in 1916 to acceptthe nomination ror governor of Michigan on the Democratictickct. After being defeated for that position he returned tohis former post with Wilson's administration.Lalcr political endeavors included an unsuccessful bid forthe 1916 Michignn gubernatorial race. Grand Rapids boardofeducation member (1923-1926). and an appointcd seat onGrand Rnpid~City Commi<;.l.ion from 1926 to his resignationin 1928.Sweet retired to Ojai. California. where he later died on April2. 1935. I-lis body was returned to Grand Rapids' OakhillCemctery for burial.5Hope Coflese smdell/s /(Ike a break for wimerrime fUllConraCl us at (616) 395-7798. Fax (616) 395-7197. Email archives@hope.edu. www.hope.edu/joimarchivesThe JointHISTORY RESEARCH CENTER''''''''<'''....1''''''-' ll__., , .....I_~ ........'1~.. '"",,,.,...ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTEDNon-ProfitOrganizationU.S. POSTAGEPAIDHope College

The Joint Archives Quarterly, Volume 10.03: (Spring) Winter 2000

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The Joint Archives Quarterly, Volume 10.03: (Spring) Winter 2000

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