The Arts and Crafts Furniture of the Charles Limbert Company

The Holland Area Historical Society will host a program titled “The Arts and Crafts Furniture of the Charles Limbert Company” on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. The presentation will be held in the Winants Auditorium, Graves Hall, Hope College, Holland, Michigan. Winants Auditorium is located in Graves Hall at 263 College Avenue on the Hope College campus. The public is invited, and admission is free.

The Charles P. Limbert Company was known worldwide as a maker of quality arts and crafts furniture at the beginning of the 20th century. Join local furniture craftsman and historian Clare Heyboer as he presents the fascinating history of this company and its influence around the world.

Joint Archives Contributes to Film “Chasing the Moon”

Chasing the Moon poster image

We are over the moon knowing that the Joint Archives of Holland contributed archival materials to a new three-part, six hour film that will debut on local PBS stations July 8, 2019. Last February we were contacted for information about astronaut Col. Frank Borman’s visit to Hope College on February 19, 1970 to present at a special convocation presentation where he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree. “Chasing the Moon,” a film by Robert Stone, reimagines the race to the moon for a new generation, upending much of the conventional mythology surrounding the effort. The series recasts the Space Age as a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama. Utilizing a visual feast of previously overlooked and lost archival material — much of which has never before been seen by the public — the film features a diverse cast of characters who played key roles in these historic events. Among those included are astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman and Bill Anders; Sergei Khrushchev, son of the former Soviet premier and a leading Soviet rocket engineer; Poppy Northcutt, a 25-year old “mathematics whiz” who gained worldwide attention as the first woman to serve in the all-male bastion of NASA’s Mission Control; and Ed Dwight, the Air Force pilot selected by the Kennedy administration to train as America’s first black astronaut.

Chris-Craft Boats and the D-Day Landings

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces clamored over the sides of large troop ships into 4126 landing craft, many of those LCVPs (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), and prepared to storm several beaches of northern France in Operation Overlord, better known as D-Day. Preparation for this day started in the early 1942 as companies throughout the United States converted their factories from peacetime to wartime production. In Michigan, all three Chris-Craft Corporation plants quickly converted from pleasure boat building to building boats for the war effort full time. Together, the three plants would become part of the America’s arsenal of democracy from 1941-1945 producing more than 12,000 landing craft for D-Day and other invasions.

Learn more about the Chris-Craft Corporation’s role in winning the war in the July/August 2019 Michigan History magazine available in many Michigan bookstores and from The Historical Society of Michigan.

Lives of Early Christian Reformed Church Wives

The Holland Area Historical Society will host a program titled “For Better, For Worse: Stories of the Wives of Early Pastors of the Christian Reformed Church” on Tuesday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m. The presentation will be held in the Maas Auditorium, Maas Conference Center, Hope College, Holland, Michigan. Maas Auditorium is located at 264 Columbia Avenue on the Hope College campus. The public is invited, and admission is free.

The Christian Reformed Church in North America was founded in 1857 and the lives of its pastors have been well documented, while the stories of their wives have been sadly ignored. Join historian Janet Sjaarda Sheeres as she brings the challenges of these important women to light for the first time.

Big Red Lighthouse: Aid to Navigation to Local Icon

HISTORY OF BIG RED LIGHTHOUSE WILL BE SUBJECT OF MEETING

HOLLAND — The Holland Area Historical Society will host a program titled “Big Red Lighthouse: Aid to Navigation to Local Icon” on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Big Red lighthouse hasn’t always been big or red. Join local historians John Gronberg and Valerie van Heest as we learn more about this local icon over time and its importance to Lake Michigan navigation and Holland history.

The presentation will be held in the Maas Auditorium, Maas Conference Center, Hope College, Holland, Michigan. Maas Auditorium is located at 264 Columbia Avenue on the Hope College campus. The public is invited, and admission is free.

 

History of Design at Herman Miller Program

A program titled “History of Design at Herman Miller” will be hosted by the Holland Area Historical Society on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 , at 7:30 p.m., at the Maas Center Auditorium, Hope College, 264 Columbia Avenue, Holland. This program is free to the public.

The Herman Miller furniture line began in 1923 when an ambitious Dirk Jan De Pree found himself at the helm of a new furniture company in Zeeland, Michigan. Join Amy Auscherman, corporate archivist for Herman Miller, as she presents the history of the company’s product design and the influence it has had in the furniture history overall.

How Much Dutch: The Linguistic Landscape of Holland, Michigan

 

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

The Holland Area Historical Society will host a program titled “How Much Dutch: The Linguistic Landscape of Holland, Michigan” on Tuesday, February 12 at 7:30 p.m. The presentation will be held in the Maas Auditorium, Maas Conference Center, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.

Maas Auditorium is located at 264 Columbia Avenue on the Hope College campus. The public is invited, and admission is free.

Dutch language and culture have been part of Holland since early settlers came in 1847 and play an important part in the local economy. Join Dr. Kathryn Remlinger as she presents her findings on how language use and cultural objects communicate meanings that reimagine Holland as a “Dutch” city.