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Collection Overview
Title: Vernon J. Ehlers Collection, 1955-2010
ID: COLL/525
Primary Creator: Vernon James Ehlers (1934-2017)
Extent: 93.0 Boxes
Arrangement: Folder level description
Abstract
Professor of physics at Calvin College; and a politician (Kent County Board Commissioner, State Representative, State Senator, and Federal Congressman). The collection details Ehlers’ political career including committee service and bills sponsored/co-sponsored, plus his earlier academic career. The collection includes biographical data, resolutions, reports, news releases, memorandums, correspondence, notes, speeches, bills, proclamations, acts, concept papers, house statements, articles, remarks, political campaign material, testimonies, debates, awards, papers, interviews, handouts, studies, appointment books/cards/lists/schedules/sheets, news clippings, videos, cassettes, DVDs, posters, photographs, and artifacts.
Biographical Note
Vernon James Ehlers is the youngest of the four children of Rev. John William Christian and Alice Cornelia (née Doorn) Ehlers, born on 6 Feb 1934 in Pipestone, MN. He suffered from severe asthma as a child and as a consequence was unable to attend school. He was home- and self-schooled and received a diploma from Edgerton (MN) Christian School and did his high school work via correspondence. He attended Calvin College, 1952-1955; and the University of California, Berkeley, from which he received an AB in 1956 and a PhD in 1960; his doctoral dissertation was “The Nuclear Spins and Moments of Several Radioactive Gallium Isotopes.”
He taught and conducted scientific research at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 1956-1966, and joined the Physics Department of Calvin College in 1966, ultimately serving as department chair. He was a member of the Faculty Organization Study Committee (FOSCO), 1968-1977, that developed a new faculty governance system for the college, whose enrollment had grown from 500 in 1945 to 3,200 when Ehlers joined the faculty. He left the college faculty in 1983 to serve in the Michigan Legislature.
Ehlers was elected to the Kent County Board of Commissioners, 1975-1983; the Michigan House of Representatives, 1983-1985; and the Michigan Senate, 1985-1993. In 1993 he won a special election in Michigan’s 5th District (later 3rd), after the death of former fellow faculty member Congress Member Paul B. Henry (Coll. 357) and won a full term in 1994, and subsequent elections, serving until 2011.
Ehlers married Johanna Meulink on 14 Jun 1958; they have four children: Heidi, Brian, Marla, and Todd. The Ehlers were founding members of Faith Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, Walnut Creek, CA, in 1961.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Personal, 1955-2010],
[
Series 2: Student Years, 1955-1960],
[
Series 3: Post Graduate Correspondence, 1960-1967],
[
Series 4: Research, 1962-1968],
[Series 5: Class Lectures, 1967-1979],
[
Series 6: Student Evaluations, 1979-1982, n.d.],
[
Series 7: Calvin College Faculty, 1963-1983],
[
Series 8: Kent County Board of Commissioners, 1878-1982],
[
Series 9: Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, 1982-1993],
[
Series 10: United States Congress, 1993-2012],
[
Series 11: United States Congress, 1993-2012],
[
Series 12: Election campaigns],
[
Series 13: Legislation],
[
Series 14: Reference material],
[
Series 15: Invitations],
[
Series 16: Awards and Honors],
[
Series 17: Subject files],
[
Series 18: Photographs],
[
Series 19: Media Relations],
[
Series 20: Ehlers' Campaigns],
[
Series 21: Constituent Gifts],
[
Series 22: Aeronautics and Aerospace],
[
Series 23: Plaques and Awards],
[
Series 24: Certificates],
[
Series 25: Photographs],
[
Series 26: Republican Party],
[
Series 27: Buttons, Decals, Patches, Memorabilia],
[
Series 28: Legislation],
[
Series 29: Miscellaneous],
[
All]
- Series 5: Class Lectures --- 1967-1979
- Box 7
- Folder 11: Notes for Physics 112 course at Calvin College --- 1967
- Box 8
- Folder 1: Notes for Physics 112 course at Calvin College --- 1967-1968
- Folder 2: Material for Physics 110-110L courses at Calvin College --- 1967
- Folder 3: Material for Physics 112 course at Calvin College --- 1968
- Folder 4: Course material for CPOL 100 --- 1968
- Folder 5: Correspondence and related material of Calvin Science Building dedication --- 1967-1968
- Folder 6: Problems and tests for Physical Science 112 course --- 1968
- Folder 7: Lecture notes and related material for Physics 375-376 courses --- 1968-1969
- Folder 8: Galley proofs for Hyperfine Structure of 67GA and 72GA --- 1968
- Box 9
- Folder 1: Lecture notes and related material for Physics 110 course --- 1969
- Folder 2: Course material for Physics 375 and 376 --- 1968, 1969
- Folder 3: "Search for Electron Mass Shift in 133 CS in Intense Electromagnetic Field" Calvin College --- 1969
- Folder 4: Problems and tests for Physical Science 110 course --- 1969
- Folder 5: Problems, lab experiments, and tests for Physical Science 112 course --- 1970
- Folder 6: Problems and experiments for Physical Science 110 course --- 1970
- Folder 7: Lecture notes and related material for Physics 126 course --- 1971
- Folder 8: Run 548 Experiment --- 1971
- Folder 9: Material for Physics 112 course, Calvin College --- 1972
- Box 10
- Folder 1: Physics 112, test and evaluations --- 1972-1979
- Folder 2: Material for Physics 126 course --- 1973
- Folder 3: Copy for Scientific Inquiry and Science Teaching (pp 202-327) --- 1973
- Folder 4: Physics 379, notes --- 1973-1975
- Folder 5: Physics 126, test and evaluations --- 1973, 1975
- Folder 6: Physics 345, tests and evaluations --- 1974
- Folder 7: Physics 346 lecture notes, "E & M Optics" --- Fall 1974
- Folder 8: Physical Science 110 lecture notes, summer --- 1974
- Folder 9: Physics 382 and 390 --- 1974
- Folder 10: Physics 346, test and evaluations --- 1974
- Folder 11: Physics 110, notes and evaluations --- 1974
- Box 11
- Folder 1: Physics 345 "E & M" lecture notes --- Spring 1974
- Folder 2: Material for new approach to teaching Physics 112 course --- undated
- Folder 3: Book: Readings in Science Education --- 1974
- Folder 4: Scientific Inquiry and Science Teaching (VJE) --- 1975
- Folder 5: Lecture notes for interim photography courses, Calvin College --- 1973-1975
- Folder 6: Lecture notes and related material for Physics 126 course --- 1975
- Box 12
- Folder 1: Interdisciplinary 108 Christian Perspectives on Contemporary Problems, notes and evaluations --- 1976
- Folder 2: Physics 113, notes and evaluations --- 1976-1979
- Folder 3: Lecture notes for Physics 222 course and related material --- 1977
- Folder 4: Interim course IDIS 151, Contemporary Problems --- 1977
- Folder 5: Lecture notes and related material for Physics 221-2 course --- 1976-1977
- Folder 6: Interim course Your Use of God's World --- 1978
- Folder 7: Physics Interim course IDIS 12, notes and evaluations --- 1978
- Folder 8: Physics 113 course notes --- 1979
- Folder 9: VJE Notes on "The Electron 9, Factor Anomaly" --- undated
- Folder 10: Scientific Inquiry and Science Teaching, Physics 112 at Calvin College --- undated
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Personal, 1955-2010],
[
Series 2: Student Years, 1955-1960],
[
Series 3: Post Graduate Correspondence, 1960-1967],
[
Series 4: Research, 1962-1968],
[Series 5: Class Lectures, 1967-1979],
[
Series 6: Student Evaluations, 1979-1982, n.d.],
[
Series 7: Calvin College Faculty, 1963-1983],
[
Series 8: Kent County Board of Commissioners, 1878-1982],
[
Series 9: Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, 1982-1993],
[
Series 10: United States Congress, 1993-2012],
[
Series 11: United States Congress, 1993-2012],
[
Series 12: Election campaigns],
[
Series 13: Legislation],
[
Series 14: Reference material],
[
Series 15: Invitations],
[
Series 16: Awards and Honors],
[
Series 17: Subject files],
[
Series 18: Photographs],
[
Series 19: Media Relations],
[
Series 20: Ehlers' Campaigns],
[
Series 21: Constituent Gifts],
[
Series 22: Aeronautics and Aerospace],
[
Series 23: Plaques and Awards],
[
Series 24: Certificates],
[
Series 25: Photographs],
[
Series 26: Republican Party],
[
Series 27: Buttons, Decals, Patches, Memorabilia],
[
Series 28: Legislation],
[
Series 29: Miscellaneous],
[
All]