COLL/074 Guide to the Richard Drost Collection Drost, Richard 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
This finding aid was encoding in EAD by Archon 3.21 from an SQL database source on March 28th, 2024. The collection description/finding aid is written in English
Guide to the Richard Drost Collection 1930/1961 Heritage Hall, Hekman Library Overview of the Collection Richard Drost Collection 1930-1961 COLL/074 Drost, Richard, 1891-1972 2.00 1.0 cubic ft. 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 history at Calvin College. The collection includes: class notes, maps, correspondence, papers on various topics (labor, student conduct), thesis on forced labor, sermons, travel notes, and records.
Biographical Information:

The 1961 Calvin College Prism was dedicated to Professor Richard Drost of the history department: "ours is the opportunity to recognize the service, which, for the past twenty-two years, has been given to Calvin College by Dr. Richard Drost. We undertake to do so with humility, but encouraged by the knowledge that he will be as sympathetic with our present failings as he has been with them in the past. As Professor of History, as a sponsor of campus organizations, as director of Chapel activities, and perhaps more than any of these, as a friend and personal advisor whose sincerity and warmth were immediately and constantly apparent, Dr. Drost has well-merited the affection with which this year’s Prism is dedicated to him."

Richard Drost served as assistant professor of history from 1939-1941 and associate professor from 1941-1945. His term as professor of history was from 1945 until retirement in 1961. He served as chairman of the department from 1954-1956.

Three years after his birth in Wautena, Friesland, the Netherlands, the Drost family moved to the United States where his father, Rev. F. J. Drost, served churches in Whitinsville, Massachusetts; Eastmanville, Michigan; Byron Center, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; Oak Harbor, Washington; and Otley, Iowa. Richard’s early education was in schools in places where his father served. His undergraduate work was at Calvin Academy (1907-1909); Occidental (1914-1917); University of Washington (1917); and Central College (1924-1925). He received his MA (1926-1927) and PhD at the University of Iowa (1930-1931). The PhD dissertation was on "Forced Labor in the South Pacific."

Before coming to Calvin College, Drost taught in Christian schools in Kalamazoo, Chicago, and Peoria (1909-1914); in high schools in Peoria and Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1921-1929), and at Central and Simpson colleges (1929-1939).

During his tenure at Calvin College, Drost served on various committees at the college as well as serving as elder at Sherman Street CRC (1941-1946) and at Calvin CRC (1947-1949 and 1950-1953). He was a leader of Men’s Society and of Young Men’s Society.

When Richard Drost passed away, January 28, 1972, he was survived by his wife, Minnie; two daughters, Sheila (Mrs. O. Buus) and Josephine (Mrs. M. Geerdes); and a son, Albert F.

Access Terms

This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Corporate Name: Calvin College -- Study and teaching (Higher) Geographic Name: Great Britain -- Maps Oceania Topical Term: Arbitration, Industrial History -- Study and teaching (Higher) Labor Students -- Conduct of life Travel
Arrangement of Materials:

Folder level description

Detailed List of Contents id12723 id12724 1 id12725 1 1 Calvin Prisms with comments of students on Richard Drost 1943-1944 id12726 1 2 Class notes of Rev. F. J. Drost, father of Richard, on church history and dogmatics id12727 1 3 Correspondence 1930-1931 id12728 1 4-6 Family correspondence 1945-1947 id12729 1 7 Family correspondence 1948-1954 id12730 1 8 Debate notes, Morality of Youth of the Day April 20, 1939 id12731 1 9 History notes: Constitutional History of England 1613-1815 id12732 1 10 Maps of Great Britain and of the world id12733 1 11 Paper: Any girl can neck, but . . . id12734 1 12 Paper: Forced Labor in the South Pacific. Thesis for PhD from the State University of Iowa 1850-1914 id12735 2 id12736 2 1 Paper: Germany and Samoa. Thesis for Master of Arts of the State University of Iowa 1927 id12737 2 2 Paper: History III for Calvin College Faculty Syllabi 1943 id12738 2 3 Paper: The Kanaka in Service. Footnotes throughout paper id12739 2 4 Paper: Regulation of the labor traffic. Footnotes at end of paper id12740 2 5 Sermons heard at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago 1948 id12741 2 6 Travel notes on trip to Europe and Near East 1961 id12742 2 7 Travel record of slides of trip to Europe and Near East 1961 id12743 2 8 Value of Men's Society. Notes on speech undated