Cornelis Hendrik van Schooneveld was born on 19 January 1921 in The Hague. In 1938 he started his study in Slavistics at Leiden University, under the supervision of professor N. van Wijk. Van Wijk died in 1941, but not before legating his library to Leiden University Library. In the years 1941-1942 (after Leiden University had been closed down by the German occupiers) Van Schooneveld was employed by the University Library, in order to catalogue Van Wijk’s books. He completed his studies in 1946. A Rockefeller Fellowship enabled him to continue his studies in the United States, at Columbia University, New York. After this appointment Van Schooneveld taught Russian and German at the University of Oklahoma. In 1952 Van Schooneveld was appointed at Leiden University, as professor of Balto-Slavic languages. In 1959 he worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University in California. When this institute offered him a permanent appointment as professor of Slavistics he left Leiden University (July 1960). From 1966 onwards until his retirement in 1986 Van Schooneveld worked as a professor at Indiana University, Bloomington.

In the period 1953-1983 Van Schooneveld also worked on behalf of the publishing house Mouton & Co, The Hague as editor-in-chief of three internationally renowned series in the field of slavistics, linguistics and literary studies: Slavistic printings and reprintings, Janua linguarum, and De proprietatibus litterarum. Van Schooneveld died in 2003 in Vozérier-Amancy, France.