The Brown County Library will host an exclusive reunion of two researchers who collaborated on investigating the history of Guido Verbeck, a famous Dutch missionary to Japan in the late nineteenth century and who spent three years in Green Bay running the Howard Foundry on behalf of Otto Tank, on Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.in the Brown County Central Library’s auditorium, 515 Pine Street, downtown Green Bay.
Professor Noriko Itoh, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan and Willem Keeris, of Zeeland, Holland will explain their joint research of Guido Verbeck a native of Holland, who lived in Green Bay and Helena, Arkansas in the 1850s, went to missionary school at Auburn College in upstate New York and eventually taught in Nagasaki and Tokyo, Japan. In 1869 and after years of teaching American democracy and legal procedures in Nagasaki, he was invited to Tokyo where he would become one of the founders of Tokyo University.
Itoh, intrigued by the history of Verbeck, came to Green Bay to conduct research at the Brown County Library. It was here she was introduced to Keeris, who frequents the library for his own research. The combined research of Itoh and Keeris resulted in the book, Guido F. Verbeck: A Life of Determined Acceptance, by Professor Itoh on the importance of Verbeck in Japan. Additionally, they have co-authored an article in the current issue, Summer-Fall 2015, of Voyageur Magazine.
Professor Noriko Itoh is a professor of Social and Cultural Studies in the Graduate School of Economics at Nihon University, Tokyo. This library program marks her fourth visit to Green Bay.
Willem Keeris is a recently retired Registered Nurse from Zeeland, Holland who has participated in genealogical programs both in this country and Holland. This year marks his 21st year of visiting the area to do research on Dutch immigrants.
Parking downtown is free after 6:00 p.m.
###
