Dr. Robert P. Swierenga, who is the A.C. Van Raalte Research Professor at the Van Raalte Institute of Hope College, is receiving a 2024 State History Award from the Historical Society of Michigan for his biography of the influential leader for whom both his professional title and the institute are named.
Swierenga, who is also an adjunct professor of history at Hope, is being honored in the category of Books: Private Printing for “A.C. Van Raalte: Pastor by Vocation, Entrepreneur by Necessity,” which was published last fall by the Van Raalte Institute’s Van Raalte Press. Van Raalte, who lived from 1811 to 1876, led the Dutch immigrants who founded Holland in 1847 and later settled throughout West Michigan in search of religious freedom and economic opportunity unavailable to them in the Netherlands, where they were persecuted for dissenting from the state-approved church. Committed to education, Van Raalte established the community’s first school, which he ultimately developed into Hope College, chartered in 1866, with founding president Philip Phelps Jr.
Across more than 600 pages, “A.C. Van Raalte: Pastor by Vocation, Entrepreneur by Necessity” chronicles Van Raalte’s life and achievements; the challenges and controversies he faced; and the roles that his personality, his faith and the times all played. In its announcement of Swierenga’s award, the Society describes the book as “the definitive biography of this towering figure in Michigan history.”
The Historical Society of Michigan (HSM) presents the State History Awards every year to individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the appreciation, collection, preservation and/or promotion of state and local history. The awards are the highest recognition presented by HSM, which is the state’s official historical society. Swierenga and the other award recipients will be recognized during the 150th Annual Meeting and Michigan History Conference taking place on Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 26-29, in St. Joseph/Benton Harbor.
“A.C. Van Raalte: Pastor by Vocation, Entrepreneur by Necessity” opens with a chapter exploring the career and impact of Van Raalte’s father, also a pastor in the Netherlands, before tracing Van Raalte’s life from his birth in Wanneperveen in the Netherlands to his death in his thriving community on Michigan’s west coast. It follows, among other topics, the struggles that he and others endured for breaking from the official church in the Netherlands; the decisions that led him and his followers first to the United States, and then to West Michigan specifically; his acumen in purchasing land so that it would be available to members of the community instead of snapped up by speculators; the schism that led to the creation of the Christian Reformed Church; his many fundraising trips on behalf of the college and the Holland Academy from which it grew; and the disappointment and squabbling that led him to begin a new colony in Virginia after the Civil War and then to seek to become a missionary in Africa.
Swierenga has conducted research and written on Dutch immigration and related topics since the 1960s. In addition to writing or editing more than three dozen books, he has written more than 250 journal articles and lectured widely on issues related to the Dutch in America. His three-volume book “Holland, Michigan: From Dutch Colony to Dynamic City,” for which he spent more than 10 years conducting research and writing, received a State History Award in 2014. He wrote the 88-page chapter “Stewardship of Resources,” covering the college’s financial history, for the two-volume history of Hope “Hope College at 150” (2019), edited by Dr. Jacob E. Nyenhuis, who was also the book’s primary author; “Hope College at 150” received a State History Award in 2019. Both books were also published through the Van Raalte Institute.
Swierenga has been with the Van Raalte Institute since 1996, when he retired from the faculty of Kent State University. He previously taught at Calvin University (1961-62, 1965-68) and Pella (Iowa) Christian High School (1958-61).
The Historical Society of Michigan is the state’s oldest cultural organization, founded in 1828. A nongovernmental nonprofit, the Society focuses on publications, conferences, education, awards and recognition programming, and support for local history organizations to preserve and promote Michigan’s rich history.
Copies of “A.C. Van Raalte: Pastor by Vocation, Entrepreneur by Necessity” are available for $50 and can be purchased at hope.edu/bookstore as well as through Amazon.