Ekvall, Robert Brained; 1898-1983
Ephemera; 1933-1980
1 box, Audio Tapes, Photographs (.29 cubic feet)
Restrictions: None
Brief
Description.
Oral history interviews,
correspondence, photographs, and a manuscript that describe Ekvall's education
at Wheaton College, work as a missionary in China and Tibet, and military and
diplomatic activities during World War II and after in China and Southeast Asia.
The interviews were recorded in October 1979 and September 1980.
THERE IS ARE TRANSCRIPTS AVAILABLE FOR THE INTERVIEWS IN THIS COLLECTION.
Full name |
Robert Brainerd Ekvall |
|
Birth |
February 18, 1898, in Min-hsien, China |
|
Death |
May, 1983 |
|
Family |
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Parents |
Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) missionaries David Paul and Helen (Galbraith) Ekvall |
|
Siblings |
Alice G. (Ekvall) Joithe |
|
Marital Status |
Married M. Elizabeth Fischer October 26, 1921. After Elizabeth’s death in 1940, he married Eva Kunfi |
|
Children |
David, Erik, Karin |
Education |
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|
-- |
Home schooled by missionary parents on China-Tibet border until 1912 |
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1913-1916 |
Wilson Memorial Academy, Nyack, New York, USA. |
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1916-1920 |
Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, USA. Graduated with a BA. |
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1921-1922 |
Missionary Training Institute, Nyack, New York, USA. |
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1937-1938 |
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Did graduate work in anthropology. |
Career |
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1917-1918 |
Served briefly in the United States Army during World War I |
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1920-1921 |
Western Electric Company of Chicago, Illinois, USA |
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1923-1941 |
Missionary in China and Tibet for the Christian and Missionary Alliance. For a time he taught at the Bible school his father had founded in Gansu province, but soon moved on to evangelistic work among ethnic Tibetan pastoral people in Tibet, including several visits to the kingdom of Ngawa. |
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1927-1928 |
Furlough in the United States, caused by a forced evacuation because of political and military turmoil at the time in China |
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1936-1939 |
Furlough in the United States |
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1938 |
Published Gateway to Tibet : the Kansu-Tibetan Border, a history of C&MA mission work in that region |
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1939 |
Was co-author, with Harry M. Shuman, Alfred C. Snead, John H. Cable, Howard Van Dyck, William Christie, David J. Fant, of After Fifty Years: A Record of God’s Working Through the Christian and Missionary Alliance |
|
1940 |
His wife, Elizabeth, died in Tibet. |
|
1941-1943 |
While visiting his son missionary David in French Indochina, he and David were interned by the Japanese following the attack on Pearl Harbor which brought the United States into the war. He was eventually repatriated back to the United States. |
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1944-1945 |
Joined the United States Army, served as captain in Burma, then became a staff office at Chungking, China. Was wounded in combat on July 7, 1945, and hospitalized for nine months. |
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1946-1947 |
Served as staff officer and translator with the military mission of General George Marshall in Peking, China |
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1947-1948 |
Assistant military attache is China |
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1949-1950 |
Assistant G-2 (intelligence) with the Second Infantry Division |
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1950-1951 |
Joint Armed Forces Public Information Officer, Seattle, Washington, USA. Honorable discharge from the Army in 1951. |
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1951-1952 |
Assisted the brother of the Dalai Lama on behalf of the Committee for Free China |
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1952-1953 |
Research Associate of the Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA |
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1953-1954 |
Recalled to active service in the United States Army as a Lieutenant Colonel. Served as a translator and Chief, Language Division of the Armistice Commission at the Korean truce negotiations. Also translated at the Asian and Indochinese conferences in Geneva, Switzerland. |
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1954-1955 |
Staff officer, Intelligence Division, stationed in the Pentagon in Washington, DC, USA |
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1955-1957 |
On loan to State Department as interpreter at the Sino-American talks in Geneva, Switzerland |
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1957-1958 |
Assistant military attache in Paris, France. Retired from Army in 1958 because he was over-age for his grade. |
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1958-1960 |
Chairman, Inner Asia Research Project, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA |
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1960-1964 |
Research Instructor, Far East Department, University of Washington |
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1960 |
Published Faithful Echo, a memoir of his experiences as an interpreter during the Korean truce negotiations and the Geneva conferences. |
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1965-1969 |
Curator of Asian Ethology at the Thomas Burke Memorial Museum of the University of Washington |
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1969-1974 |
Research associate, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington. He retired in 1974. |
Other significant information |
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His father, David Ekvall and his uncle, Martin Ekvall, were the first C&MA missionaries in Tibet. After his father’s death on May 18, 1912, Helen Ekvall returned with her children to the United States. |
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Fluent in Chinese, Tibetan, and French |
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Author of numerous missionary and scholarly works on Tibetan culture, including Religious Observation in Tibet: Pattern and Function (1964); Fields On the Hoof: Nexus of Tibetan Nomadic Pastoralism (1968); The Lama Knows/ A Tibetan Legend is Born (1979); also a novel, Tents Against the Sky (1955) |
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[Note: In the Scope & Content section, the notation “folder 2-5" means “Box 2, Folder 5"]
Series:
Paper records
Date
Range: 1933-1935
Volume:
.25 cubic feet
Geographic
coverage: Tibet
Type
of documents: Correspondence, manuscript
Correspondents:
Leonard Hall, William Christie
Subjects:
C&MA missionary work in Tibet and in other parts of the world
Notes: The paper records in this collection
consists of four letters and a copy of a typed manuscript. Folder 1-1 includes
three ALS (autograph letters, signed) that are from Ekvall to one of his financial
supporters in the United States. The brief letters describe his missionary activities
among Tibetan tribes people in Ngawa and elsewhere and a C&MA field conference
held in Taochow, China. The fourth letter is a printed letter by William Christie,
treasurer of the C&MA, to supporters in the United States, giving general
statistics on the denominations missionaries. Also in the collection are several
copies of Ekvall family photographs dating from David and Helen’s work
in China and Tibet during the first decade of the 20th century. The
manuscript by Ekvall (in folder 1-2), is entitled “Attache Trek: China
1947-1948" and describes his experiences and extensive travels as an American
military attache in China and Tibet during 1947. The manuscript was apparently
never published. The table of contents of the manuscript is more of an index
to the different topics covered in each chapter. The manuscript itself only
goes up to the fifteenth chapter (out of 26 listed in the table of contents)
and it is unknown by the Archives staff if the manuscript in the BGC Archives
is incomplete, or Ekvall never finished it. The manuscript contains descriptions
of Chinese Christianity as it was developing at the time and also of the diplomatic
and military complexities of the time period.
Series:
Oral History Interviews
Date
Range: 1979-1980
Volume:
.04 cubic feet
Geographic coverage: Tibet, China, United
States
Type of documents: Reels of audio tape
Notes: This
series consists of two oral history interviews with Robert Ekvall who was interviewed
by Robert Shuster October 1979, and September 1980. The events described in
the interviews cover the time period 1900-1980.
Tape T1
00:00 Beginning
of tape
00:30 Introduction
01:00 Family
background
02:00 Boxer
Rebellion; furlough in the United States
04:00 Mission
stations on the Kansu-Tibetan border; home education
06:45 Early
missions on the border; evangelism in Labrang
07:30 Annie
Taylor's mission work in Lintan (Taochow)
08:45 Childhood
in China; Chinese language
10:30 Work
of David and Helen Ekvall in China; Central Bible School
13:15 Church
services in Lintao; attracting non-Christians to services; death of David Ekvall
(1912); establishment of the Chinese Republic
16:45 Experiences
of missionary children
17:30 Return
to the United States
19:30 Service
in the Army during World War I
21:45 Reasons
for attending Wheaton College; feelings of Christians toward higher education
23:45 Academic
standards at Wheaton; extra curricular activities; athletics
26:30 Spiritual
life of the college
29:30 Preparation
for mission work; Nyack Christian College (Missionary Training Institute)
32:30 Elsie
Dow
33:30 Preparation
at Wheaton for mission work
35:15 V.
Raymond Edman
39:45 Charles
Blanchard
42:00 World
War I on Wheaton campus; the college's interest in the military
46:00 Internment
in Indochina from 1941-1943; Office of Strategic Service
48:00 Training
at Nyack; the Nyack school song
55:00 Courses
taken at Nyack; emphasis on missions
56:45 Evaluation
of preparation for mission field
59:30 Transfer
to Tibetan work; Smonlam Festival
63:45 Learning
the Tibetan language (1923); a new way to teach a language
67:45 Meeting
with Tibetan monks, staying in a monastery, monkish hospitality
69:00 Study
with a Tibetan monk
70:45 Reasons
for leaving Bible school and going to Tibet; missionary paternalism
71:30 Taochow
(1925-1926)
73:00 Exploration
of Tibet (1926), Kingdom of Ngawa
76:00 First
visit to the royal palace; attitudes toward women and babies; first experience
of the Bible
79:00 Tibetan
view of personality; the three parts of the human structure; "In the beginning
was the Word."
81:00 Contacts
with common people; hostility of the monks
83:15 Second
visit to the royal palace
85:45 Reaction
of the monks to Christianity
86:15 CMA
strategy for reaching Tibet
88:45 Place
of monasteries in Tibetan life
89:15 War
between the Nationalists and warlords; forced to leave China (1927)
89:45 Return
to China and Tibet (1928); move to Lhamo; the robber tribes
91:15 Preaching
to the robber tribes
92:45 Death
of Mrs. Ekvall; first converts to the Gospel
95:15 Worshiping
the Mountain God; Christian converts must stay within their own culture
97:45 Building
a bridge; contextualization
99:00 Religious
freedom in the tribe
100:00 Meeting
with the tribal chief; the advantages of ruling a Christian village; double
insurance
103:45 Leaving for Indochina
104:30 Turning
over control of CMA churches to National Christians
105:30 Conditions
in China in 1928; return to Kansu border after the 1927 evacuation
107:30 The little General
110:15 The
Christian community in Lungsi; a Chinese Christmas
112:15 Financial
support of the native church
113:30 Later
career of Ekvall after 1941; possibility of return to China in the 1970's
117:15 "All
Chinese are Archaeologists"
120:00 Contacts
with Yeh Chien-ying; "It's time I went to see the grave of my father."
123:00 Leaving
China and returning (1927-1928); trips into Tibet
124:45 What
Tibetans found appealing in the Gospel message; reincarnation; lamas and redundant
saviorhoods"
127:45 Tibetan
concept of sin
130:45 Tents
against the Sky and other novels; Pearl S. Buck
141:15 Contacts
with Vietnamese guerillas during World War II; repatriation
148:15 Messages
to Cordell Hull
149:45 Meetings
with a lama in Lanchow; a Chinese version of Paschal's wager
154:45 End
of tape
Tape
T2
00:00 Beginning
of tape
00:30 Introduction
01:00 Origins
of Ekvall's 1980 trip to mainland China
02:15 Purpose
of the trip; the CMA mission field in northwest China
04:30 Archeology
in northwest China; G.G. Anderson
05:15 "To
see the grave of my father"
06:00 Getting
in touch with Chinese officialdom; Yeh Chien-ying; Huang Hue; difficulties
08:45 Arrival
in Hong Kong; Jimmie Wang; Rewi Alley
11:15 Crossing
the frontier and customs; the national tourist agency
12:30 Chinese
airlines
13:15 Contacting
Peking; Chinese telephones
14:15 Arrangements
for traveling to Peking; the tour group
16:45 Visit
to Shanghai
17:00 Visit
to Sian
17:45 Visit
to Rewi Alley; ability of the Chinese guides
20:45 William
Kerr
21:30 Reasons
for not visiting Tibetan border; the luncheon for Ekvall; discussing the Korean
truce negotiations
29:30 Developments
in the Chinese church; policy on freedom of worship
30:15 Visit
to a Presbyterian church in Shanghai; the pastors; the church turned into a
factory during the cultural revolution; house churches; attitude toward help
from western churches; Chinese versions of the Bible; parents teaching religion
at home
41:00 Text
of the new constitution; religious liberty
42:30 The
Three Self Policy
44:00 The
Three Self Policy in the local church
46:00 Different
church services; prayer
47:00 Ownership
of church property
47:30 Government
attitudes toward the church; development of the Three Self Policy; Protestants
and the Chinese Catholics
51:00 The
Christian and Missionary Alliance's mission policy
52:30 Bringing
literature into China
54:00 Contacts
with other Chinese Christians; a house church; talk with a Chinese lay pastor;
building with bricks
63:00 The
growth of the church in China, in Lanchow, in Sinkiang
65:30 "Where
did you learn Chinese?", witnessing , varied reactions
69:45 Long church
services; links between churches; training of new pastors
73:00 Publication
of Ekvall's books in China; Ekvall's history of CMA missions; the need for missiology
case books
74:00 Impressions
of Shanghai; the gang of four
75:30 Laughter among
the Chinese
75:45 Mules and
donkeys; mechanical transportation; taxis
78:00 Anti-Christian
attitudes; Buddhism and Islam
79:45 The condition
of Islam in China
82:15 Condition
of Buddhism in China
85:45 Chinese attitudes
toward Ekvall
86:45 Anti-foreign
attitudes in the past times
88:45 The Chinese
view of America; French culture compared to Chinese culture
95:15 End of tape.
Provenance
The interviews in this collection were given to the Center in October 1979 and September 1980 by Robert Ekvall. The other material in the collection was given by Robert Carlson in 1990 and 2007 and Ray Smith in 1997.Accession #79-117, 80-122
March 5, 1980
Robert Shuster
S. Kouns
Revised, March 5, 1981
Robert Shuster
B. Pietra
# |
R/C |
speed |
length |
Sides |
Contents |
Dates |
R |
3.75 |
149 |
2 |
Oral history interview of Robert B. Ekvall by Bob Shuster |
10/12/1979 |
|
R |
3.75 |
107 |
2 |
Oral history interview of Robert B. Ekvall by Bob Shuster |
9/18/1980 |
MISSIONS–CHINA. 12 b&w. These prints are copies made from originals owned by Grace Ekvall Beck, daughter of Martin Ekvall and cousin of Robert Ekvall. The copies were given to the Archives by Ray Smith, Mrs. Beck’s nephew. Mr. Smith also supplied captions for the photos. The pictures show the various members of the families of the three Ekvall siblings who went to China in the late nineteenth century as C&MA missionaries: David Ekvall, Martin E. Ekvall, and Otilia (Ekvall) Simpson. Among the people pictured are missionaries to China and Tibet: Jessie Christie, William Christie, David P. Ekvall, Emma Ekvall, Helen G. Ekvall, Martin E. Ekvall, and Robert B. Ekvall, There are also scenes of travel on the Yangtze river, the towns of Min Xian (Minchow), Wuchang and Choni in Gansu (Kansu) province of China, travel by sedan chair, Martin Ekvall preaching to a crowd, David, Helen and Martin Ekvall with a group of Chinese Christians. Ca. 1909-1911.
Box |
Folder |
First Folder/Last Folder |
Dates |
1 |
1 |
Correspondence |
1933-1935 |
|
2 |
Manuscript, “Attache Trek: China 1947-1948" |
n.d. |