The collection provides documentation of American Methodist mission work in China, particularly in Fujian Province, and in Korea. The Ohlingers were educational missionaries and pioneers in the field of translation and publication for the church in China. Franklin Ohlinger was born in Ohio in 1845. He served as a missionary under the Methodist Episcopal Church Foreign Mission Board beginning in 1870, based in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. He was a founder of the Union Theological School and the Anglo-Chinese College in Fuzhou. In 1887 the Ohlingers were reassigned to Korea due to conflicts with missionary colleagues in China. Following the deaths of their two younger children in Korea, the Ohlingers returned to the U.S. and Franklin returned to China as an independent missionary in 1894. He started an orphanage in Antau and was reinstated as a Methodist missionary in 1897. Ohlinger was involved in educational and literary work until his death in 1919.
Records of the Frontier Internship in Mission program, including correspondence, intern files and reports, photographs, and administrative and historical documents.
Correspondence, writings, sermons, and collected material document the life and work of George A. Chauncey, who graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1952 and served as a Presbyterian parish minister in the South, activist for civil rights and peace, and founding director of the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church.
Correspondence with personal friends reveals Coe's personality and character, while correspondence with professional colleagues gives insight into the development of Coe's thought. Notable correspondents include William Clayton Bower, Emil Brunner, Adelaide Case, Harrison Elliott, and A. J. W. Myers. Writings include articles, essays, and drafts. Printed material includes reviews of Coe's books and committee reports and minutes. George Albert Coe was born in Mendon, New York on March 26, 1862. He received degrees from the University of Rochester and Boston University. He was a prominent author and professor in the fields of psychology of religion, philosophy, and religious education at the University of Southern California, University of Berlin, Northwestern University, Yale University, Union Theological Seminary, and Columbia University. Coe was chairman of the Committee on Militarism in Education and Honorary President of the Religious Education Association. Coe died on November 9, 1951.
Correspondence, writings, notes, course-related material, and collected material document the life and work of George Lindbeck, noted Yale theologian. The collection is a rich source of information about Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue and Vatican II. Lindbeck, the Pitkin Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology, served on the faculty of Yale Divinity School and the Yale University Religious Studies department after graduating from the Divinity School in 1946 and receiving his Ph.D. from Yale in 1955. He is the author of six books, including The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age and Challenge and Response: A Protestant Perspective on the Vatican Council. Lindbeck's many awards include several honorary degrees and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was a delegate to the second Vatican Council in Rome in the 1960s and has long been active in ecumenical dialogue, particularly between the Lutheran and Roman Catholic Churches. Lindbeck's "Report on Ecclesiastically Independent Theological Education" released by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1976 was also a notable contribution.
Correspondence and printed material document the work of the Evangelical and Reformed Church China mission. George and Grace Snyder were American missionaries in Yuanling, Hunan Province, China, serving under the Evangelical and Reformed Church from 1920 to 1950.
The papers document the work of the conservative Free Methodist Church in central China. Both George and Mary Schlosser was active in evangelistic work in the countryside and came in close contact with the Chinese people. Famine relief work, societal routine, and the disruption of Chinese society during the period 1908 to 1949 are documented. George and Mary Ogren Schlosser were missionaries under the Free Methodist Church Foreign Missionary Board. Stationed primarily in Henan (Honan) Province, George served from 1908 until his death in 1936. Mary served from 1909 to 1936, and then returned to China from 1939 to 1940 and 1946 to 1949. In the years between her missionary work she was a pastor in North Dakota and South Dakota.
Correspondence, diaries, notes and writings of George Leon and Williston Walker form the core of the collection and provide extensive biographical information. They detail the activities of a typical New England clergyman during the second half of the 19th century and provide information on national news, political events, the Civil War, slavery, financial news on currency and taxes, and daily weather conditions. Also included are records of sermons preached and pastoral records. George Leon Walker (1830-1900) was a Congregational clergyman in Portland, Maine (1858-1867), New Haven, Connecticut (1868-1873), and Hartford, Connecticut (1879-1892). He was a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and served on the commission to prepare the Congregational creed. His son, Williston Walker (1860-1922) was professor of history/church history at Bryn Mawr College (1888-1889), Hartford Theological Seminary (1889-1901) and Yale University (1901-1922). He also served as a trustee of Amherst College (1896-1922), acting dean of Yale Graduate School (1916-1917) and provost of Yale University (1919-1922).
The collection consists of correspondence, writings, collected material, personal items, and memorabilia that document the activities and associations of George Sherwood Eddy throughout his career as a YMCA secretary, seminar leader, author, lecturer, and evangelist. George Sherwood Eddy was born in Leavenworth, Kansas on January 19, 1871. He earned a Ph.B. degree from Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University in 1891, attended Union Theological Seminary and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary. Eddy worked for the YMCA, Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, and American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was appointed YMCA secretary for Asia in 1911. Eddy wrote and published numerous books and pamphlets from 1895-1955. He died in Jacksonville, Illinois on November 4, 1963.
These papers document the work of Gerald H. Anderson, who was a missionary educator, college president, and Director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center from 1974 to 2000. Anderson's extensive writings, lectures, and conference activities provide a valuable overview of the ecumenical mission scene during the second half of the twentieth century. A substantial portion of the collection relates to Anderson's work as editor of the Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. These records include drafts and materials not included in the final publication as well as correspondence with the contributors. Other areas of research interest for Anderson included Christianity in the Philippines, Jewish-Christian relations, and the history of the International Association for Mission Studies.
Connecticut's Archives Online 