AADAS Association for the Advancement of Dutch-American Studies The Dutch: Emigration to North America

April 27 – May 9, 2022

Hosted by Henk Aay and Mary Risseeuw hy, from where, and how did the Dutch immigrate to North America (and other continents) beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and continuing until after W WWII? And who left? This tour answers these and other migration questions. Led by Dutch experts, you visit provinces with a history of large outmigration, ports of embarkation and a variety of immigration exhibits at local museums. Are you interested in your own Dutch heritage? Plan to stay a few days longer to bring your own history to life!

Dutch Migration History in a Nutshell From the beginning, migration has been countries around the world have made its 16th and 17th-century colonies and part of human history. Like every other the their home. trading centers in parts of what today country, the area that today makes up are the United States, Suriname, South Now for emigration. Our tour is focused the Netherlands has experienced both Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and on Dutch emigration to North America continuous immigration and Brazil. Another significant wave, emigration throughout its history.  this time largely to the United States, took place from the mid- First, immigration. During 19th century to around 1920. the early phases of hunting The availability of inexpensive and gathering and agriculture land and the desire for religious different tribes came and freedom helped fuel this settled. Later, refugees arrived emigration. Right after WWII from Jewish communities and until the early 1960s, another Protestant areas in Catholic emigration push—brought Europe. Many Germans and on by housing shortages, eastern Europeans came and agricultural economies of scale settled to take advantage of and mechanization, and fear of economic opportunities during another European war—brought the 17th and 18th centuries. Dutch residents to other mid- During the 20th century, latitude countries around the economic migrants from world: Canada, United States, Mediterranean lands such as Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey and Morocco and people South Africa. In this century, emigration from former Dutch colonial territories during the 19th and 20th centuries but it has ticked up again but this time such as Suriname and Indonesia came to is important to have the bigger context principally to other European Community the Netherlands in large numbers. More in mind. The first significant emigration countries. recently, many asylum seekers from streams from the Netherlands were to

Tour Cost Led by $4,454 per person from Chicago, Henk Aay and Mary Risseeuw based on double occupancy Henk has 30 years of Mary is a genealogist, Register online at experience leading historian, writer, bookings.wittetravel.com student and adult teacher and lecturer. groups on tours of She has researched use booking code the Netherlands. 19th & 20th century 042722AAY He is Professor Dutch immigration to or complete and return the printed of Geography and Wisconsin for 30 years registration form. Environmental Studies, Emeritus at Calvin and has lectured throughout the Midwest University. Since retiring from Calvin in and the Netherlands on the subject. She 2012, he is Senior Research Fellow at has a B.S. from UW-Madison and an M.A. the Van Raalte Institute at Hope College, & M.F.A. from Northern Illinois University. Tour Pace where he focuses on Dutch American Mary has taken numerous trips to the history and culture. He grew up in the Netherlands and has traveled extensively Netherlands, is fluent in Dutch, and has in the Achterhoek and . spent a number of semesters on research and teaching leaves in the country. 

April 2022 April 29, Friday April 30, Saturday April 27, Wednesday Frisian Coastal Het Hogeland, Groningen | Leave the U.S. Communities | Region of Region of High The day of departure is here! We meet in High Outmigration Outmigration Chicago for our flight to . After breakfast, we will drive from Today we drive through the Hogeland, (D-in flight) to Leeuwarden, the capital of another region of 19th-century high the Province of Friesland. There we will outmigration. We will be joined by April 28, Thursday meet Dr. Annemieke Galema, author of a historian from the University of Arrive, , Zwolle Frisians to America, 1880-1914. We will Groningen. Our first stop is in Ulrum, Welcome to the Netherlands! After going enjoy coffee, tea, and oranjekoek(!) and Groningen, one of the first sites of the through passport control and customs listen to her talk about emigration from Secession of 1834 (a split in the Dutch we meet our driver/guide, who takes Friesland. She will then guide us on a tour Reformed Church). Seceders from the us to the Open-air Museum in Arnhem. through the coastal areas of the province state church made up a significant portion Because a significant number of 19th- that experienced high outmigration. of the early immigrants. After visiting the century Dutch immigrants to the U.S. We will stop for lunch in Zwarte Haan church in Ulrum, we will drive through came from rural villages and farms, we in the region of Het Bildt. Over lunch, the region, taking note of the economic will focus our visit on such displays. some Friesland guests will join our circumstances contributing to emigration A guide will show and interpret these conversation. Each of our guests has from this area. We will stop for lunch exhibits for us. The museum tram line will relatives in North America. Then we return at Verhilverdsum, a fortified house and allow us to easily move from one display to Zwolle. (B, L) country estate (borg in Dutch), and have to another. After the visit, we will drive another opportunity to talk with some to Zwolle and check into our hotel there. residents who have relatives in North After some rest and relaxation, we will  Grote Markt in Zwolle America. After lunch, we will complete enjoy a welcome dinner at the hotel. www.mkb-in-overijssel.nl our tour of the area and head back to our 6.6.2013 public domain (B-in flight, D) hotel in Zwolle. (B, L)  Aerial Photo of Dordrecht with the Grote or Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk https://beeldbank. rws.nl, Rijkswaterstaat Cover: Immigrants on Pier of the Holland America Line, by the Statendam, 1920 Permission, Heritage Hall, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI  

M ay 2022 May 2, Monday May 3,Tuesday May 1, Sunday Achterhoek, | Noord Brabant | Catholic Zwolle | Free day Region of High Migration Today you set the itinerary. Use your free Outmigration We will drive from Zwolle to the city of day to explore Zwolle or take the train to After breakfast, we will head to , home of Radboud University, neighboring places. Top sites in Zwolle , a town with strong a Catholic institution. There we will include the Sassenpoort tower and gate, connections to America’s Midwest. proceed to the Catholic Documentation the Grote kerk, and the Museum de From Winterswijk alone, 4,000 - 6,000 Center where Dr. Hans Krabbendam is Fundatie. If you want to get out of town people emigrated between 1840 and the director. He is the author of Freedom consider visiting nearby Kampen (an old 1920. Here, local historians will explain on the Horizon: Dutch Immigration to Hanseatic City), Hattem (a very attractive, the emigration beginning in the 1840s of America, 1840-1940. He will talk about nearby small city with many historic Achterhoek families to the Midwest and and show materials in the archive related sites and museums), Staphorst (known the impact on the local communities. to Dutch Catholic emigration to North for the traditional dress still worn by the We’ll see the memorial to the victims of America. He will then serve as our guide elder generations), or Giethoorn (a town the Phoenix shipwreck, which burned on as we make our way to Uden, Noord of thatched-roofed houses connected by Lake Michigan in 1847. The tour will also Brabant, and surrounding villages where waterways). (B) include stops in and Bredevoort. many Catholic emigrants originated. We We will tour the Dutch Reformed Church will enjoy lunch in Uden and again will in Aalten and view the murals that were have a chance to speak with residents uncovered—dating to the time the church who have relatives in North America. was Roman Catholic. In Bredevoort we At the end of the tour, we will drive to will explore the remains of the castle and Dordrecht, the site of our second hotel. the 17th-century gate, St. Joriskerk, and We’ll have a group dinner after we settle the historic center. From there we return in. (B, L, D) to Zwolle, where the evening is free. Be sure to take some time to pack your bags; we’ll be changing hotels tomorrow. (B, L)  Day Laborer Cottage, Nunspeet, Open Air Museum Creative Commons Naamsvermelding- GelijkDelen 4.0 Internationaal  Oude Biltdijk, Oude Biltzijl Copyright Raimond Spekking, Wikimedia Commons  Farm Ottama in the Hogeland, Groningen (public domain) Wikimedia Commons  Part of the Open Air exhibits at the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, photo courtesy Henk Aay 

May 4, Wednesday May 5, Thursday May 6, Friday Rotterdam | Emigration Liberation Day | Dutch National Archives, Port Holiday Den Hague | Antwerp Today we will drive from Dordrecht to Today is the celebration of the surrender Emigration Port the Maritime Museum in Rotterdam of Nazi Germany. Throughout the country, We will begin our day at the National where curator, Irene Jacobs, will speak parades and festivals take place. The Archives in The Hague with a talk led and show us some of the immigration day is free so that we can participate in by Johan van Lange highlighting the artifacts in the collections of the museum. this event at our leisure. Area museums materials in their collection related to We will also have an opportunity to visit will be open, so you can also continue overseas emigration. Items from the the general and special exhibits both in your exploration of Dordrecht and its collection will be available to browse the building and in the old harbor section surroundings. (B) and you will learn what the archives hold outside. After lunch we will proceed to that may be relevant to your personal the Holland America Line Building (now genealogy. After lunch in The Hague we Hotel New York) on the Wilhelmina Quay; will set out for Antwerp, to visit many Dutch emigrants left from this the Red Star Line Museum. Two million harbor. We then return to Dordrecht for passengers traveled from Antwerp, the the evening. (B, L) Red Star Line’s main European port, to North America. The interactive displays, all with English signage, provide a fascinating insight into the journey of the emigrants. Concluding our visit, if there is time, we will explore the port area of  Antwerp and the MAS before returning to Dordrecht. (B)  

May 7, Saturday May 8, Sunday May 9, Monday Zeeuws Vlaanderen | Dordrecht | Free day Return Region of High Today is a free day. Feel free to explore After breakfast we head to the airport for Outmigration Dordrecht, do some last-minute our return flight. (B) In the 1840s and 1850s, large numbers shopping, or take a day trip to some of emigrants left Zeeuws Vlaanderen place of interest. Visit the Grote Kerk, (and other areas of Zeeland) for the U.S. the Dordrecht Museum, het Hof van Today, we will be met by local guides Dordrecht, the City Gate, and the in Terneuzen, which is a city beautifully Wijnstraat, or take a boat ride through the situated on the Western Scheldt (an city’s canals. Or head out to Biesbosch estuary of the Scheldt River) running National Park, the largest freshwater tidal between the North Sea and Antwerp. delta in Europe. For those who want to They will explain the emigration history head out of town, public transport makes of this area between 1840 and 1920. day trips possible. Tonight, we gather for Along the way, we’ll have a group lunch our farewell dinner. (B, D) and we will also explore the area of and Cadzand. Oostburg was heavily bombed during WWII and little of the original village remains. If time permits, we will also make a stop in Sint Anna ter Muiden (a beautiful medieval  village of 50 inhabitants) or visit the island of with a stop in Middelburg. The Abdij in the city center and the canals are something to see! The evening in Dordrecht is at your leisure. (B, L)

 Church of St. Peter, Uden, Noord Brabant Wkimedia commons  Aerial view of Terneuzen  Achterhoek, photo courtesy Mary Risseeuw