Jeannette Veldman was born November 23, 1901, to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Veldman in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After attending public schools in Grand Rapids, Veldman studied at Davenport Business College in 1916-1917, Hope College Preparatory school from 1920-1922, and graduated from Hope College in 1926. She went on to graduate from the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago in 1929. During 1930-1931, she attended the Kennedy School of Missions in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1946, she received a Masters of Nursing Education and Administration from Columbia University. She obtained a Nurse Midwifery Certificate from the Maternity Center Association in Harlem, New York, in 1952.

Veldman spent one year working as a community nurse in Gray Hawk, Kentucky, for the RCA Women’s Board of Domestic Missions before taking a missionary nursing position at Hope Hospital in Amoy, China, in 1930. Returning from a furlough, she was briefly assigned to the RCA’s Arcot Mission in India from April 1937 until February of 1938 before going on to Amoy. While in India, she assisted in nursing administration and teaching at the Scudder Memorial Hospital.

The Hope Hospital and the nursing education program in Amoy flourished under Veldman’s leadership. During World War II, she was interned for two years as a Japanese prisoner of war, which interrupted her mission work at Amoy. She was released in 1943 and returned to the United States and used this time to tour churches and discuss mission work in China. Veldman returned to the mission in 1946. The Communist government took over Amoy in 1949 and ordered Veldman’s departure in 1951.

In 1952, Veldman was reassigned to the Arabian mission as Director of Nursing and in-service education. Her assignment there was to begin a school of nursing which would serve Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

In August 1967, Veldman returned to the United States for a pre-retirement furlough. She remained in Holland, Michigan, and in 1968 signed on with Portable Recording Ministries (PRM). PRM is involved in distributing cassette tapes and playback equipment in various overseas mission fields.

While working for PRM, Jeannette was encouraged by RCA archivist Russell Gasero to begin writing her memoirs for possible publication in the RCA Historical Series. She completed rough chapters on her personal computer, however, a stroke terminated her work in 1989. Jeannette Veldman passed away on March 2, 1994.

The Jeannette Veldman Papers, 1922-1989, are divided into nine series including CLIPPINGS, CORRESPONDENCE, DIARIES, MANUSCRIPTS AND WRITINGS, MISSIONS, PHOTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL/BIOGRAPHICAL, SPEECH NOTES and ARTIFACTS. The major strengths of this collection lie in the MANUSCRIPTS/WRITINGS and CORRESPONDENCE series which tell the detailed story of Jeannette Veldman’s missionary work.

The CLIPPINGS series (1930-1989, 1.00 linear ft.) includes magazine articles which Veldman retained on various RCA mission fields. Extensive clippings on China, Arabia, and India provide an overview and it provides an alphabetical reference file on mission activities.

The CORRESPONDENCE series (1925-1989, 1.00 linear ft.) is an expansive set of Veldman’s personal and professional correspondence. One of the most valuable assets to the collection, it shows she was prolific in her writing and reflections to both friends and colleagues.

The MANUSCRIPTS AND WRITINGS series (1926-1989, 0.50 linear ft.) includes chapters which Veldman wrote from her personal computer. These are divided into chapters following a rough chronological approach and were numbered BK1 through BK62 (Chapters 1-62). She intended that these chapters would be turned over to an editor and completed as a volume in the RCA’s Historical Series.

MISSIONS (1912-1981, 1.00 linear ft.) is a series of files relating to the various mission fields and organizations which Veldman was involved with or kept up on.

PERSONAL/BIOGRAPHICAL (1922-1989, 0.50 linear ft.) contains a file with background information, including Veldman’s educational and employment history, materials on a 1976 oral history on the China mission, her academic record (R), and materials about her pension which sheds light on how the RCA handles missionary retirement.

During Veldman’s career she spoke to a wide variety of groups. The SPEECH NOTES (1936-1986, 0.50 linear ft.) series consists mainly of index cards which recorded the major points and anecdotal material which she used for these talks. There is also an interesting notebook containing notes and transcripts of her speeches during her forced furlough from 1943 to 1946.

The PHOTOGRAPHS (c. 1900-1989, 0.50 linear ft.) include images on the Veldman family, friends, and various RCA mission sites.

The ARTIFACTS (1.50 linear ft.) are items given to and collected by Veldman during her lifetime. Many are from China and include clothing and other trinkets.