COLL/483 Guide to the Thedford P. Dirkse Collection Dirkse, Thedford P. Collection

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Hekman Library 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids, MI, 49546 URL: http://archives.calvin.edu Email: crcarchives@calvin.edu Phone: 616-526-6913 Fax: 616-526-7689
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Guide to the Thedford P. Dirkse Collection 1800/1999 Heritage Hall, Hekman Library Overview of the Collection Thedford P. Dirkse Collection 1800-1999 COLL/483 Dirkse, Thedford P., 1915-2006 5.50 12 Boxes Heritage Hall, Hekman Library
Hekman Library 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids, MI, URL: http://archives.calvin.edu Email: crcarchives@calvin.edu Phone: 616-526-6913 Fax: 616-526-7689
Professor of chemistry at Calvin College. The collection details his research work in the field of electrochemistry (development of high power density batteries, the silver-zinc alkaline cell) with research materials, articles, references, evaluations, manuscripts, reports, papers, books, correspondence, and bibliography.
Biographical Information:

Thedford (Ted) P. Dirkse was born on January 5, 1915 in Holland Michigan. Dirkse attended Calvin College, graduating in 1936. He furthered his education at Indiana University, earning his masters and doctorate degrees. In 1939, Iowa State University hired him as an instructor. After two years in Iowa, he spent another two as an assistant professor at Hamline University in St. Paul Minnesota.

From 1942 to 1946, Dirkse worked on battery research for the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. Once World War II ended, he returned Hamline University for a year. In 1947, Dirkse got the opportunity to return to Calvin College, not as a student, but rather as a faculty member. For 33 years, Dirkse served as a chemistry professor at Calvin, where he taught courses in analytical and physical chemistry as well as general and nursing chemistry. He was involved in many college committees such as educational policy, long-range planning, and academic standards committee. Dirkse also kept busy by writing articles in scientific journals like the Journal of the Electrochemical Society. Dirkse retired from Calvin College in 1980.

Dirkse’s research topic of choice was battery chemistry. In 1962, he even earned the prestigious Research Award from the Battery Division of the Electrochemical Society. Dirkse later became the chairman of the Battery Division in 1964. Much of his research in battery technology was sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research. One time even NASA depended on professor Dirkse’s extensive knowledge of electrochemistry when the Apollo 13 was in trouble. NASA sought Dirkse’s advice on how to get the most performance out the zinc batteries on the space shuttle for the astronauts to return safely home.

Dirkse also faced hardship in his life as well. His first wife was Frances Miller and together they had two daughters. Sadly, Frances passed away during childbirth, and their twin sons died soon after as well. Dirkse was remarried to Ruth Imanse and together they had another two daughters. After 43 years of marriage, Ruth passed as well due to breast cancer. He then married Theresa Vroon in 1995. Dirkse was a member of the Mayfair Christian Reformed Church where he served as an elder and deacon. At the age of 91, Ted Dirkse passed away on October 23, 2006.

Arrangement of Materials:

Folder level description

Detailed List of Contents id46860 [General Materials] id46861 1 id46862 1 1 Research material on zinc 1901-1920 id46863 1 2 Research material on zinc 1921-1929 id46864 1 3 Research material on zinc thru 1952 id46865 1 4 Research material on zinc 1953-1962 id46866 2 id46867 2 1 Research material on zinc 1963-1967 id46868 2 2 Research material on zinc 1968-1972, 1977 id46869 2 3 Research material on zinc 1980s id46870 2 4 Research material on silver 1800-1900 id46871 3 id46872 3 1 Research material on silver 1930-1949 id46873 3 2 Research material on silver 1950-1959 id46874 3 3 Research material on silver 1960-1962 id46875 3 4 Research material on silver 1963-1966 id46876 4 id46877 4 1 Research material on silver 1967-1968 id46878 4 2 Research material on silver 1969-1975 id46879 4 3 Research material on silver 1976-1986 id46880 4 4 Research material on silver 1987-1991 id46881 5 id46882 5 1 Research material on copper id46883 5 2 Research material on copper id46884 5 3 Research material on copper id46885 5 4 Research material on conductance id46886 5 5 Research material on ion hydration id46887 5 6 Ion hydration references id46888 5 7 Research material on silver oxides id46889 6 id46890 6 1 Research project on metal formates, pages 1-170 id46891 6 2 Research project on metal formates, pages 171-326 id46892 6 3 Articles on alchemy 1931-2002 id46893 6 4 Articles on copper 1901-1928 id46894 6 5 Articles on copper 1929-1942 id46895 6 6 Articles on copper 1942-1998 id46896 7 id46897 7 1 Articles on conductance 1979-1990 id46898 7 2 Articles on cadmium 1964-1982 id46899 7 3 Articles on cadmium1928-1962 id46900 7 4 Cadmium evaluations 1982-1991 id46901 7 5 Articles on gold 1924-1985 id46902 7 6 Articles on mercury 1897-1951 id46903 7 7 Articles on mercury 1942-1971 id46904 7 8 Articles on silver oxides 1949-1989 id46905 7 9 Articles on zinc 1927-1949 id46906 8 id46907 8 1 Articles on zinc 1899-1925 id46908 8 2 Articles on zinc 1950-1964 id46909 8 3 Articles on zinc 1964-1981 id46910 8 4 Silver evaluation material 1985-1988 id46911 8 5 Mercury evaluation material 1981-1986 id46912 8 6 Copper evaluation material 1989-1990 id46913 8 7 Metal Formates manuscript, pages 1-60 id46914 8 8 Metal Formates manuscript, pages 61-326 id46915 9 id46916 9 1 Report of committee on battery additives id46917 9 2 Technology Reports: Battery Zinc Electrode Kinetics Investigation Zinc Electrode Kinetics Research id46918 9 3 Technology Report: Silver Migration and Transport Mechanism Studies in Silver Oxide Batteries id46919 9 4 Unidentified manuscript, pages 1-190 id46920 9 5 Unidentified manuscript, pages333 191- id46921 9 6 Conductance data id46922 9 7 Paper: The Use of AgO as a Cathode in Aqueous Salt Solutions 1965 id46923 9 8 Paper: Evidence for Trivalent Silver 1970 id46924 9 9 Alcohol impairment tests conducted with the Grand Rapids Police Department id46925 9 10 Correspondence 1967-1969 id46926 9 11 Correspondence 1970-1977 id46927 9 12 Correspondence 1980-1989 id46928 9 13 Correspondence 1990-1991 id46929 9 14 Correspondence with N. Jonas and Co. 1993 id46930 10 id46931 10 1 Biographical sketch of the Dirkses - 1989, 1999 id46932 10 2 Class notes - Indiana University 1938 id46933 10 3 What Does the Bible Say? by Thedford Dirkse 1990 id46934 10 4 Papers by Thedford Dirkse 1938-1991 id46935 10 5 List of papers/publications by Thedford Dirkse 1978 id46936 10 6 American Chemical Society Certificate 1989 id46937 11 id46938 11 1 Articles published in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society 1950-1970 id46939 11 2 Calvin Forum articles 1954 id46940 11 3 Paper, The Conductance of Salts in Monethanolamine [partial fulfillment of PhD requirement] 1939 id46941 11 4 Miscellaneous published articles 1946-1977 id46942 11 5 Articles published in Electrochimica Acta 1971-1991 id46943 11 6 The Society of Sigma XI 1937 id46944 11 7 Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 1289-1470: "IUPAC -NIST Solubility Data Series 66. Ammonium Phosphates" id46945 11 8 id46946 11 8 Lyts Frysk Wirdboek 1934 id46947 11 8 Frysk Rymsnoer 1925 id46948 11 8 Ta Nocht en Nut in Sangboekje 1939 id46949 11 8 Us Fryske Psalmen id46950 11 8 De Fryske Husfrneon 1904 id46951 12 id46952 12 1 Solubility Data Series (volume 23): Copper, Silver, Gold and Zinc,Cadmium, Mercury Oxides and Hydroxides, edited by T.P. Dirkse, et al [HERH QD543.S66 V.23] 1986 id46953 12 2 Solubility Data Series (volume 30):Alkali Metal Halates, Ammonium Iodate and Iodic Acid, edited by T. P. Dirkse [HERH QD543.S66 V.30] 1987 id46954 12 3 Solubility Data Series (volume 31): Alkali Metal Orthophosphates, edited by T. P. Dirkse, et al [HERH QD543.S66 V.31] 1988 id46955 12 4 Zinc-silver Oxide Batteries (contributor: T. P. Dirkse) [HERH TK2921 .S95 1968] 1970 id46956 12 5 The Primary Battery (contributor: T. P. Dirkse) [HERH TK2921 .P75 V.1] 1971 id63764 13 id63765 13 1 Research Material and Progress Reports for Investigation of the Silver Oxide-Zinc-Alkali Primary Cell 1947-1955 id63766 13 2 Clippings and Photographs id63767 13 3 Misc. Research Papers