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M. Howard Rienstra Collection

Overview

Abstract

Biographical Note

Detailed Description

Reels in Audio Visual Collection

Personal Materials

Correspondence and History Teaching Material

History Teaching Material

History Department

History Materials

Philosophy of History Academic Affairs

Student Papers

Card Indexes, Microfilm of G. Della Porta's De Distillations Liber 13, Datebooks

Writings

Speeches

Meeter Center

Sabbatical in Italy

Correspondence as City Commissioner

Grand Rapids City Commission Materials

Housing in Grand Rapids

Kent Community Action Program (CAP)

Michigan Advisory Committee on Civil Rights to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Michigan Advisory Committee (MHR secretary) on Civil Rights (MHR)

Michigan Advisory Committee on Civil Rights to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

CRC Race Commission

Miscellaneous Items

Selected Books

Miscellaneous Material

Addenda and Varia

Calvinism and Racism International Conference

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Contact us about this collection

Title: M. Howard Rienstra Collection, 1949-1987

ID: COLL/203

Primary Creator: M. Howard Rienstra (1931-1986)

Extent: 39.0 Boxes

Arrangement: Folder level description

Professor of history at Calvin College; director of the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies; city commissioner for Grand Rapids, Michigan; chairman of the Michigan Advisory Committee; and service commissioner. The collection includes lecture notes and outlines; papers on medieval history, the Renaissance, Western Civilization, Russian history and philosophy of history; speeches; addresses; commencement addresses; chapel talks; essays; articles; correspondence; book reviews; student papers; Michigan Consortium of Medieval and Early Modern Studies records, 1976-1977; reprints of articles regarding John Calvin; Calvinism and Racism Conference paper and  materials; Grand Rapids City Commission records, 1970-1983; Community Action Program materials; Michigan Advisory Committee on Civil Rights records, 1975-1984; Christian Reformed Race Commission records, 1961-1971; and scrapbooks on the Urban League and city commissioner activities. [See also the Campus Titles Database.]

M. Howard Rienstra (1931-1986) was born in Warren Point, New Jersey, orphaned at age five and adopted at age ten.  Rienstra was educated in the Christian schools of Paterson, New Jersey, Calvin College, and the University of Michigan.  His area of specialization was the Italian Renaissance, which drew him on several scholarly ventures to Italy.  However, his intellectual travels as reflected in his papers were universal indeed.  Thus, his papers contain valuable insights into the activities of Calvin College during his tenure in the history department from 1957 to 1986.  A large portion of the collection reveals his intense involvement in civic affairs during his thirteen-year stint as Commissioner in the city of Grand Rapids.  Moreover, because of his keen interest in civil rights, the Rienstra papers bring together not only his contributions to the Michigan Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights but also many significant articles and papers on this subject.  His own articles and speeches cover topics as varied as the “Christian Philosophy of History” to “Racism in Grand Rapids.”  As the first director of the H. H. Meeter Calvinism Research Center (1983-1986), Rienstra brought together his linguistic talent, his love for John Calvin, his historical sensitivity, his administrative ability, and his dream of building a Calvin collection par excellence.

In sum, the Rienstra collection mirrors the sobriquet “A Renaissance Man” often given him on the Calvin College campus.  The papers reveal admirably the life and work of a man dedicated to God and the service of man.

M. Howard Rienstra passed away due to cancer. He died on June 16, 1986. His wife, Mary, and their seven children survived him.