Boer, Nicholas (1872-1939). Papers, 1664-2004.

Hope College class of 1897 and class of 1900 at Western Theological Seminary. Received an honorary doctorate from Hope College in 1932. Licensed and ordained by the Classis of Holland in 1900. Served as a Reformed Church in America (RCA) pastor for Second Reformed Church of Jamestown, Michigan, 1900-1903; Bethany Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1903-1907; First Reformed Church of Chicago, Illinois, 1907-1909; First Reformed Church of Passaic, New Jersey, 1909-1915; First Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan, 1916-1918; and Third Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1918-1939. Served on the Council of Hope College (later Board of Trustees) as a member from 1919 to 1939 (president of the Board of Trustees from 1931-1939). The collection contains a variety of biographical materials concerning Nicholas Boer and the Klaas Boer family. A Boer family genealogy (1797-2004) is written into the front pages of the Dutch language 1664 Bible and a summary of the life of Allie Boer by Frances Meengs, her daughter. The collection also contains other Dutch language Bibles belonging to the family, including the 1867 version given to Lambertus Van Dis by Albertus C. Van Raalte in 1873, just before Van Dis’ death. Another exceptional book in the collection is the Dutch language version of Examen Van Het Ontwerp van Tolerantie, Om De Leere In De Dordrechtse Synode Annon 1619, 1754, and objects from the Boer, Wierks, and Van Dis families including a tin container reported to have survived the Holland fire of 1871. Photographs in the collection include two undated identical images of Albertus C. Van Raalte by B. P. Higgins, one undated image of Nicholas Boer, one of Rev. Boer with Mrs. Boer and their three daughters in Passaic, New Jersey, and one of him and others on camels in Egypt in November 1922. Also includes a few writings by Nicholas Boer, as well as diplomas from Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, and the wedding certificate from his marriage to Allie [Smith] Wayenberg in 1900.