January Series in July: Part II
On three Wednesdays in July, Calvin University shared lectures on prison programs, Calvin’s nature preserve, and the archive and collections at the Grand Rapids Public Museum as part of its popular January series program – now a year-long series. Last week CRC News shared about the discussion on prison programs. Below is a summary of the remaining talks.
Ecosystem Preserve and Native Gardens
In the July 16 presentation James Skillen, director of the Calvin Ecosystem Preserve and Native Gardens and a professor of environmental studies, introduced viewers to the 100-plus acres of land dedicated to conservation and education about West Michigan ecosystems and stewardship of the land and its resources. Skillen interviewed the former director of the Calvin Ecosystem Preserve, professor emeritus of biology Randy Van Dragt, about the beginnings of the nature preserve and its use over the years.
Skillen noted, “The Calvin Ecosystem Preserve and Native Gardens preserves, restores, and interprets native ecosystems to inspire people to value and protect the wonders of creation.” He outlined five goals toward which staff and volunteers work to accomplish this vision, such as preservation of ecological communities, providing an academic research space, preparing students for careers in conservation and environmental education, offering a resource for refreshing and renewal for the Calvin University community, and providing West Michigan with a recreational and educational resource.
The preserved areas encompass about 103 acres and include ponds, forest, trails, meadows, and a wetland. A tree survey over time has tracked changes in old growth forest areas, measuring each tree’s growth and recording which species are present.
The idea for the nature preserve started in 1964, when Calvin University purchased 80 acres across from the main campus as a place to store construction materials for the new campus and for parking. One corner of that 80 acres was a 35-acre stand of untouched woods with a stream flowing through it. Several professors found respite from the tensions and pressures of academic life by walking through the old farm trails running through the woodlot, and they suggested the land be preserved as a place of research. A grid was laid out in 1974 to begin the tree census. A meeting in 1977 of the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship focused on the Christian use of natural resources, and participants discussed conservation biology, restoration, and protection of the environment, among other topics. Their conversations led to the creation and publication of the book Earthkeeping.
The preserve was officially commissioned in 1985, and work began on infrastructure and programming to serve the college and community, with help from a generous grant from the Angel Foundation of Muskegon, Mich. Over its 40 years so far, the preserve has grown from the initial 35 acres to about 103 acres.
“I often describe the preserve as the Sabbath portion of Calvin's campus,” said Skillen. “The rest of campus – three quarters of it – are kind of the six days of labor. And it's good labor! This is where we have buildings and parking lots, athletic facilities. It's all good work. But there is this one part of campus in which there is rest for the nonhuman world. In turn that becomes a place of rest and Sabbath for the students of Calvin University and people in West Michigan.”
Several students and volunteers shared what the nature preserve has meant to them during their time of studying at Calvin, discovering career paths, learning about the natural world, and finding a peaceful space for reflection. One student remarked, “During exam weeks, it would end up being almost a daily occurrence; I would come out here just to calm my mind and enjoy time in some green space. Throughout the four years I’ve been here, I have always taken walks in the preserve at least once per week.”
Skillen also introduced viewers to a second nature preserve belonging to Calvin University – the Flat Iron Lake Preserve, located in Oakland Township about 30 miles northeast of Grand Rapids. This 68-acre conservation area includes a kettle lake, tallgrass prairie, some mature forest, and two houses that have been used to provide research and laboratory space and housing for students studying the land. This preserve was made possible by the generosity of Carol and Fritz Rottman.
Calvin graduate Justin Heslinga discovered his love of botany [the study of plants] during his years at Calvin, and he now serves as the conservation director at the Land Conservancy of West Michigan. Another Calvin graduate whose studies were shaped by time spent in the nature preserve and in science studies is Barb Zoodsma, who has worked with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on preserving right whales. Yet another graduate is a leading researcher on sustainable ecosystems and climate change at the University of Western Australia, said Skillen.
Van Dragt noted, “We’re not only sending our students on to do prominent things, but we’re also cultivating and giving a certain hunger for creation to a new generation. That, to me, is really one of the most inspiring things about what we can do here.”
The nature preserve on Calvin’s campus features an interpretation center and plaza where local elementary and high school students can come to learn about local ecosystems and preservation, and to see and touch some of the many local native plant species growing within the preserve, including some grown for sale from a greenhouse for use in gardens across West Michigan. “We’re just stunned in the summer by the color, the richness of it . . . by the pollinators there . . . by the hummingbirds – and it is just a wonderful place to sit,” said Skillen.
Tom Hartzell, Calvin’s environmental education coordinator, commented, “We have probably the best collection of native garden or native plants intentionally planted together in the state of Michigan. We can bring students here to see these different natural communities that exist all over the state, and they're all in this same place, right around our interpretive center. I love being able to share that with people.”
Museum Archives and Collection
On July 23 the “January Series in July” offered a behind-the-scenes view of the archives and collection of the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Chief curator Alex Forrest explained that what is on display at the museum is usually only about 5 percent of the artifacts held by the museum; the rest – about a quarter-million artifacts – is preserved in a carefully environmentally controlled facility cared for by conservators and preserved for the future.
“Objects from the collections are going back and forth between the museum and the archives on a regular basis. Everything that we have is all part of the collection. It's all available to us for our exhibits that we build, for our programming, for loans to other institutions – that’s what’s here at the archives,” said Forrest.
Tours of the archives typically show the processing room, where artifacts are accessioned, photographed, and lightly repaired, if needed – then rooms such as the archives of two-dimensional documents and resources, the furniture space, historic clothing storage, the world cultures collection, and the natural science collection.
Forrest noted that many of the artifacts in the museum’s collection are donated, and the museum appreciates the generosity that has made their collection an excellent resource. At the same time, he noted, it’s necessary to be discerning about what gets included in the permanent collection. “When we collect a thing, that’s only half of the work,” he explained. The other half, he said, is the story that goes along with it.
Each piece is evaluated for its historical, cultural, and/or scientific significance. The stories that go along with each artifact help with this evaluation and with exhibit creation when the artifacts are put on display or shared with other institutions.
As an example, Forrest pointed to a wastebasket, one of the first products created by the company that eventually became Steelcase, Inc. A metal wastebasket was needed in offices to prevent fires caused by the careless disposal of cigarettes in wicker or wooden wastebaskets. When the metal wastebasket was created in 1912, offices were furnished in rich, ornate, dark-stained wood, so the Metal Office Furniture Company invented a process to impose artificial wood grain on metal so that it looked wooden. “This product line was so popular that they actually eventually changed the name from Metal Office Furniture Company to Steelcase – which was the product line.” This also led to a turning point in the furniture industry from using mainly wood to using metal and other materials such as we have today, he said.
As the virtual tour continued, viewers heard from specialists in various areas of the museum’s collection. Katrina Furman, the Anishinaabe (“First People”) curator for the museum, showed several artifacts such as baskets woven from wood strips, sweetgrass, porcupine quills, and even one made from the ashwood slats of a mini-blind after the black ash tree – a primary source of wooden strips used for baskets – was nearly wiped out by the emerald ash borer. “Kelly Church made this basket using the same traditions and techniques that she would for a black ash basket . . . I just think it's a really great example of our perseverance and how we adapt and how we are going to continue to be here,” explained Furman.
A major part of her work right now, said Furman, is redesigning the Anishinaabe exhibit, which will reopen in fall 2026. “I’m a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and I just love being able to share my culture and knowledge with people,” she remarked.
Curating “the biggest, best [clothing] closet in West Michigan” is Andrea Melvin, senior collections curator in charge of the clothing collection at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. The collection includes about 10,000 artifacts from dresses to shoes to accessories, uniforms, base layers, and outerwear. The whole collection is digitized and available for viewing online.
Melvin trained in costume studies at Dalhousie University after developing a childhood love of sewing and garments. “I just realized how incredible the everyday clothes of people are, and the amazing stories behind these pieces,” said Melvin. “Clothing is literally the most personal artifact. Clothing can bring a lot of memories for people, and seeing these collections being preserved here at the museum is really special.”
Corey Redmond, the museum’s science curator, oversees the preservation of and education related to bones, fossils, minerals, shells, taxidermied animals, and much more – including the bones of the Moorland mastodon, about 70 percent of a complete skeleton found in Moorland, Mich., in 1904.
Redmond noted that an unusual artifact he found when he was unpacking boxes to become familiar with the collection was a lava medallion with the name “Vesuvius” on it. Apparently a number of medallions have been collected as souvenirs from Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii and other settlements in A.D. 79. “I've heard of plenty of people bringing home lava rock souvenirs,” he noted, “but not actually sampling the lava themselves and then cooling it to solidify it.”
Redmond said he enjoys the variety in his work, which depends on upcoming exhibits and on the educational needs of local science programs. “I really never know what I'm going to be doing from one week to the next. One week I might be learning about butterflies. The next week I might be working with rocks and minerals.”
The archive building is being expanded, said Forrest, to create better accessibility for the community. The space was first created for collections rather than for people when it was established in 2000, he noted, but the new space will include interactive spaces, professional development for teachers, new museum programming, and more. “At the Grand Rapids Public Museum, we really believe that the purpose of our collections is for education and inspiration,” he said.
