Seminar “One Way to Bella” in Nordelus

August 29, 09:57

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Seminar “One Way to Bella” in Nordelus

Nordelus • The symposium “One Way to Bella” will be held at Norderhaus in Nordelus on Friday 30 September.

Central to this is the relationship between the placerward and the city of Pella, Iowa, in the United States. The reason for this seminar is that 175 years ago, the eponymous priest H.P. Schulte immigrated to the United States with a large group of Dutch and settled in Pella, Iowa. In Pella this anniversary is celebrated with great intensity and this seminar is also a contribution to that.

In the 1840s, H.P. Schulte and other dissident ministers took the initiative to regulate immigration to the United States. Economic and religious motives played an important role in this. This seminar focuses on the Dutch aspect of immigration. How was that organized, logistically but also financially? And who are these immigrants who have decided to leave home and church for a new personal and ecclesiastical future in a foreign land? How do we view this part of Dutch immigration history and Schulte’s role in it?

Many people are from Plassarvard
It is remarkable that in the group of immigrants collected via Scholte, relatively many came from the Alblasserwaard. Who are these people and what does the relationship (genealogy) mean to the present-day inhabitants of Pella in the Netherlands and with these pioneers of the nineteenth century?

Participation in the seminar is free, but pre-registration is required via https://tukampen.nl/agenda/pella/

Several speakers were invited to give their views on the symposium, including Valerie Van Koten, Head of the Historical and Museum Department of Bella. One of the speakers is Michael Van Dejlen. He is a historian, writer and educator at Christelijk Lyceum in Zeist and will speak on the historical novel ‘De exodus van Hendrik Peter Scholte to Pella’ that he wrote which will be published on September 23. The novel describes the origins of the city of Bella and H.P. Schulte’s experiences there.