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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 4-2012 Faithful Remembering: Constructing Dutch America in the Twentieth Century David E. Zwart Western Michigan University, zwart.com Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/dissertations Part of the Anthropology Commons, Religion Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Zwart, David E., "Faithful Remembering: Constructing Dutch America in the Twentieth Century" (2012).edu/dissertations/23 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact wmu-scholarworks@wmich.

FAITHFUL REMEMBERING: CONSTRUCTING DUTCH AMERICA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by David E. Zwart A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History Advisor: Edwin Martini, Ph. Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan April 2012 THE GKADUATE COLLEGE WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN March 12, 2012 Date WE HEREBY APPROVETHE DISSERTATIONSUBMITTED BY David E. Zwart ENTITLED Faithful Remembering: Constructing Dutch America inthe Twentieth Century AS PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DECREE OF Doctor ofPhilosophy History (Department) History (Program) Mitch Kachun, PMX Dissertation Review Committee Member Robert Ulfri, Pt»,D.

Dissertation Review Committee Member APPROVED iDeanorThe Graduate College Date .A^QTtl rUXl' FAITHFUL REMEMBERING: CONSTRUCTING DUTCH AMERICA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY David E. Western Michigan University, 2012 The people of the Dutch-American community constructed and maintained a strong ethnoreligion identity in the twentieth despite pressures to join the mainstream of the United States. A strong institutional completeness of congregations and schools resulted from and contributed to this identity. The people in these institutions created a shared identity by demanding the loyalty of members as well as constructing narratives that convinced people of the need for the ethnoreligious institutions.

The narratives of the Dutch-American community reflected and reinforced a shared identity, which relied on a collective memory. The framing, maintaining, altering, and remodeling of the collective memory from the 1920s to the 1970s reflected both dynamics within the community as well as pressures from the outside. The commemorations that were directed at internal audiences, such as congregational commemorations, as well as commemorations directed at external audiences, such as Tulip Time Festivals and town anniversaries reflected these dynamics. This dissertation shows the constructed nature of these narratives and the resulting ethnoreligious community.

At the same time acknowledging the common descent of most of the people in the group. Further, these narratives reflect a particular religious framework of the Dutch- American community. The members of Dutch America interpreted their experience through a Calvinistic theology. For this group, this theology meant they understood themselves to be God‘s covenant people who God blessed if they were faithful.

The narratives and institutions constructed by this ethnoreligious group reflected and reinforced this religious framework. Finally, this dissertation argues that the institutions of Dutch America remained strong from the 1920s to the 1970s because people found them helpful to navigate the changes in the twentieth century. The narratives constructed about these institutions convinced members that the congregations, denominations, and schools needed to be maintained in order to show their faithfulness. As they faithfully remembered their past and constructed a collective memory, they did so in the home of constructing a stronger Dutch America.

Copyright by David E. Zwart 2012 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I was only able to write this dissertation because of the support and encouragement of many people. Academically, my interest in history as a discipline and career began under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Otto while I was an undergraduate at Dordt College.

His love of studying the past was infections and I have continued to enjoy his cheerleading from afar. At California State University, Fresno, Dr. Isabella Kaprielian introduced me to the field of ethnic and immigration history and Dr. Jill Fields helped shepherd my first project exploring Dutch America.

I found the history department at Western Michigan University to be the ideal place to be apprenticed into the guild of historians. From the first time I met Dr. Nora Faires, I knew we would work well together. She continually pushed me to do good work but also cheered my successes.

Her knowledge of the fields I worked it was only surpassed by her kindness. I could not have found a better mentor to show me how to be a historian. I can see her influence on almost every page of this dissertation and I regret I did not finish this dissertation before she died on February 6, 2011. Other members of the history department at WMU helped create the kind of place that allowed me to learn the ropes.

Ed Martini shepherd this dissertation in its final stages with a careful reading and helpful comments. Mitch Kachun helped me understand memory and commemorations. Robert Ulin, in anthropology, pushed me to think about different disciplinary perspectives. I also benefitted from the expertise and encouragement of Dr.

Bill Warren, Dr. Judy Stone, Dr. Cheryl Lyon-Jenness, Dr. Kristin Sylvian, and Dr.

Historians can only write about the past because of the archives that have been ii Acknowledgments—continued preserved. The trust accorded me by these archivist was truly appreciated. Debra Postma-George at the Holland Museum Archives and Research Library helped me in the early stages of this research. Lisa Jaarsma-Zylstra and H.

William Sause gave me great assistance at the Pella Historical Society. Ingrid Mulder at the Dordt College Archives became a colleague after I started this dissertation. Dan Daily and Doug Anderson gave much valuable help at the Ramaker Library. Dick Harms, Wendy Blankespoor, and Melanie Vander Wal at Heritage Hall always welcomed me with a smile even when I requested box after box and scanned congregational anniversary book after anniversary book.

Geoffrey Reynolds and Lori Trethewey at the Joint Archives of Holland have welcomed me repeatedly with much gracious help. The bulk of the research for this dissertation was completed through the generous funding of the Van Raalte Institute at Hope College. Director Jack Nyenhuis and the staff at the VRI not only granted me two visiting research fellowships, but also provided a collegial and supportive environment to work. Elton Bruins, Dr.

Robert Swierenga, Dr. Bill Kennedy, Nella Kennedy, Dr. Don Bruggink, and Karen Schakel all took a continued interest in my work which has been a consistent source of encouragement. And the coffee time rarely, if ever, included an ―organ recital.‖ The bulk of the writing of this dissertation took place after I was appointed as an assistant professor of history at Dordt College.

Colleagues in the history department provided valuable advice at different times including Dr. Keith Sewell, Dr. Bobbi Sutherland, Dr. Paul Fessler, and Dr.

Friends in other departments provided another sounding board including Dr. Mark Tazelaar, Dr. Neal DeRoo, Dr. Thomas Wolthuis, Howard Schaap, Matthew Drissell, and Laremy De iii Acknowledgments—continued Vries.

Finally, friends and family have encouraged me from the beginning. Numerous friends have provided lodging, particularly Seth and Leann Koerner and Lam and Aggie Vander Kooi. Cresta‘s family has shown multiple kindnesses to me over the years, including letting me be part of the family. My brothers and sisters and their spouses and children have helped in numerous ways.

My parents, Merlin and Beverly Zwart, have been a constant encouragement to ―get an education,‖ but I am not sure they anticipated it taking this many years. Words escape me for how to thank Benjamin and Nathanial for being my little buddies. Cresta deserves the biggest thanks for supporting me on this adventure. She has been a constant source of encouragement and accountability to get this thing done.

Without her sense of the value of what I was doing and sacrifices she has made, this dissertation would not have gotten off the ground, let along finished. I dedicate this dissertation to her. Zwart iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. INTRODUCTION: CONSTRUCTING AN ETHNORELIGIOUS IDENTITY.

11 Methods and Sources. THE INSTITUTED DUTCH-AMERICAN COMMUNITY. 23 Migration Patterns Prior to the 1920s. 35 The Duyst Family.

40 Institutional Patterns Prior to the 1920s. FRAMING THE NARRATIVES OF DUTCH-AMERICAN IDENTITY PRIOR TO WORLD WAR II. 84 Migration and Institutional Patterns. 87 v Table of Contents—continued CHAPTER Tulip Time Festivals.

107 Other Community Celebrations. 118 Denomination, Congregation, and School Commemorations. MAINTAINTING THE NARRATIVES OF DUTCH-AMERICAN IDENTITY DURING THE WORLD WAR II ERA. 158 Migration and Institutional Patterns.

167 Connecting with the Netherlands. 185 Tulip Time during a Time of War. BUYING AND SELLING THE NARRATIVES OF DUTCH- AMERICAN IDENITY FROM 1947 TO 1957. 219 Migration and Institutional Patterns.

REMODELING THE NARRATIVES OF DUTCH-AMERICAN IDENTITY FROM 1957 TO 1976. 278 Migration and Institutional Patterns. 282 vi Table of Contents—continued CHAPTER ―Authentic‖ Tulip Time Festivals. 341 Dutch-American Sources.

351 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: CONSTRUCTING AN ETHNORELIGIOUS IDENTITY Between 1846 and the 1920s, approximately 210,000 to 240,000 Dutch Protestant migrants arrived in the United States.1 These migrants made up only a small part of a multi-million person movement from Europe yet they and their descendants left a lasting mark on the landscape of the United States far larger and longer than the demographics would suggest. The prolonged strength of the institutions of these migrants and their descendants in the twentieth century suggests a strong, shared ethnoreligios identity that guided their actions. This dissertation asserts that the stories these Dutch Americans constructed about themselves defined the boundaries of the group and reinforced their institutions, resulting in a strong and lasting ethnoreligious identity by the middle of the twentieth century. Both the institutions they built such as congregations, schools, and settlements and the stories they constructed about themselves reflected basic assumptions held by members of this group about themselves and their place in the United States.

While these institutions and stories changed through the twentieth century reflecting internal and external dynamics, this dissertation argues that Dutch Americans remembered their past through a particular religious framework. This understanding explains how they 1 Herbert Brinks, ―Introduction,‖ in Herbert Brinks, Dutch American Voices: Letters from the United States, 1850-1930 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995), 1-2. Brinks cites the number 380,000 with 70% being Protestant. Brinks also notes at 75% of all immigrants between 1847 and 1900 settled in a few enclaves in seven states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Wisconsin).

1 2 understood themselves and their religious reasons for staying loyal to their institutions. Dutch Americans constructed narratives about themselves in many forms that helped make sense of and give meaning to their lives. Congregations, denominations, schools, colleges, and settlements all commemorated themselves and constructed a collective, usable past to form a shared identity. These commemorations constructed, reflected, and reinforced beliefs about the migration experience, settlement and institution building, definitions of success and failure, being Dutch and American all while interpreting the past through a faith perspective.

These were people who took religion seriously as an organizing belief system for all of their actions. They believed their actions had consequences beyond the immediate setting. The Dutch Americans, who this dissertation interrogates, saw themselves first as ―reformed‖ but often used Dutch American and reformed interchangeably.2 The narratives constructed by Dutch Americans in commemorations had consequences. These narratives spurred people to action, to join and maintain institutions the community had built.

Membership in a congregation associated with the Reformed Church in America or the Christian Reformed Church meant you chose to associate and participate in the Dutch-American community and share in the ethnoreligious identity. Attending Hope or Calvin College or Northwestern or Central meant that you shared a common experience and heard narratives that laid out what it meant to be participating in these ethnoreligious institutions. Participating in the institutions and the ongoing narrative construction occurring during 2 In the nomenclature of the group, ―reformed‖ was the short-hand and distinct term for being Calvinistic Protestants.