Hendrik Willem van Loon Timeline
1880
1882: January 14, van Loon is born in Rotterdam.
1900
1902-1905: arrives in the United States, attends Cornell University
1905-1907: serves as journalist for the Associated Press in Russia and Poland
1906: June, marries Eliza Ingersoll Bowditch
1907-1911: attends the University of Munich; receives his Ph.D. in history
1910
1907-1911: attends the University of Munich; receives his Ph.D. in history
1913: publishes The Fall of the Dutch Republic
1915-1917: October 1915-June 1917, lecturer in history at Cornell University
1915: publishes The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom
1917: publishes A Short History of Discovery
1919: January, becomes a United States citizen
1920
1920: publishes Ancient Man: The Beginning of Civilizations
1920: June, divorces Eliza Bowditch van Loon
1920: August, marries Eliza Helen (Jimmie) Criswell
1921-1922: September 1921- January 1922, teaches history at Antioch College
1921: publishes The Story of Mankind
1922: awarded Newbery Medal for Story of Mankind
1922-1923: May 1922- April 1923: columnist for the Baltimore Sun
1922-1925: contributes drawings and illustrations to The Survey
1923: publishes The Story of the Bible
1926-1928: contributes illustrations and drawings to The Nation
1927: publishes The Story of America
1927: October, divorces Jimmie van Loon; marries Francis Goodrich
1928: publishes Life and Times of Peter Stuyvesant
1928: publishes Man the Miracle Maker
1929: October divorces Francis van Loon
1930
1930: publishes R. v. R.: The Life and Times of Rembrandt van Rijn
1930: meets and begins association with Albert Einstein
1932: presents a weekly radio program on history for WEVD in New York; leads to the creation of the University of the Air, for which van Loon is named Dean.
1932: publishes Van Loon’s Geography: The Story of the World We Live In
1932: meets and begins association with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
1934-1935: November 1934-April 1935, writes “Meet the Commentator” column for King Feature Syndicate
1935: meets and begins association with Thomas Mann
1935: May-December, delivers a twice-weekly radio program for NBC
1936: publishes The Songs We Sing (with Grace Castagnetta)
1937: publishes The Arts
1937: November, elected president of the Authors’ Guild
1938: publishes How to Look at Pictures: A Short History of Painting
1938: publishes Our Battle
1940
1940: publishes The Life and Times of Johann Sebastian Bach
1940: Organizes the Dutch Relief Committee; named chairman of the Queen Wilhelmina Fund
1942: publishes The Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, With a Short Life of the Author by Hendrik Willem van Loon of Rotterdam Who Also Illustrated the Book
1942: publishes Van Loon’s Lives
1942: knighted by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
1944: March 11, van Loon dies in Old Greenwich, Connecticut