William John Barnett - Collection 248

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent. Some or all of this collection can be borrowed through interlibrary loan. ]

Table of Contents

Brief Description of This Collection

Title Page and Restrictions

Biography of William John Barnett

An Essay on the Contents of the Collection (Scope and Content)

List of Audio Tapes in This Collection (Location Records)


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Transcript 1

Transcript 2

Transcript 3

Transcript 4

Transcript 5

Transcript 6

Collection 248

[January 31, 2008]

Barnett, William John; 1917-

Interviews, 1983, 1995, 1998

Audio Tapes (0.16 cubic feet)

Brief Description: Oral history interviews with Barnett in which he describes his childhood in Kenya with his Africa Inland Mission parents; experiences with members of the Masai people; attendance at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya and high school in the United States; attendance at Columbia Bible College and Wheaton College; memories of a revival at Wheaton; medical training at Albany Medical College; service as an army surgeon in Korea immediately after World War II; his initial work as a missionary doctor in Tanzania in the early 1950s; the Africa Inland Mission and Africa Inland Church in Tanzania in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly at Kola Ndota; and a revival at Wheaton College in the late 1930s.

Restrictions: None

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTS TO TAPES T1-T4 ARE AVAILABLE.

Biography

Scope and Content

William Barnett was interviewed by Robert Shuster on March 29, April 5, and May 27, 1983, at the Billy Graham Center and on May 30, 1995 at his son’s home in Peoria, Illinois, and on April 24, 1998, at his home in Laguna Hills, California. Dates covered during the interview are between the early 1920s and 1983. Cassette copies of the reel-to-reel interviews were made and the time indicated on the index is based on the length of the cassette copy. Tapes T4 through T8 were originally recorded on cassette tapes and later transferred to reels. Topics discussed are listed to the right of the time elapsed on the tape. Note sound interference during these interviews.

T1 - side 1

00:00   Beginning of tape

00:05   Typical worship service during his childhood in Africa as son of a pioneer Africa Inland Mission missionary family; construction of churches on the station and out-stations

02:36   Use of corrugated iron from Britain and India for church construction; length of

Sunday services

03:49   Singing, testimonies, teaching; impressive sincerity and earnestness of prayers of

African converts

05:21   Content of one elder's prayer and its beauty

06:58   Barter items brought as offerings

09:33   Mother's sorting and use of offerings primarily for orphanages; faithful recording of each gift

11:06   Father's preaching in Swahili and mother's gifts as linguist using Masai language; contents of both

12:26   Invitations and responses

13:54   Baptisms and their attraction to the people of the countryside

15:01   Curiosity of the ceremony; impact of testimonies given at baptisms

16:13   Father's baptistry in the church and its construction

17:19   Baptistry's first use [tape interference]

18:47   Differences in lives after conversion; Masai resistance because of refusal of

converted girls and women to undergo circumcision customs; opposition of early missionaries to this practice

21:44   Night-time raids to capture resistant girls; major point of testing for converts; those who succumbed and resisted

24:23   Male rites and lesser pressure

25:02   Father's services at Christmas time; carbide lantern and glass slides of life of Christ; Masai warrior watching outside the church, his tears at Christ on the cross and his becoming one of first converts

30:58   End of side 1

T1 - side 2

00:00   Beginning of tape

00:05   Subsequent work of Masai convert in translation; steady church growth after this incident

01:09   Use of western tunes with translations; peoples' love of singing; four-note scale

02:44   Original translation of western lyrics; contemporary church use of indigenous lyrics, tunes, choirs

04:32   Prayer meetings, Bible studies, schools at the station; learning with Africans under his mother as teacher; searching for school supplies in the countryside

07:11   Missionaries' program for schooling and its disruptive results for colonial governors

07:52   Parents' care to follow rules of the country; the bohma (enclosure) and father's

participation in official government events

09:58   Father's instigation of road and bridge building; "Barnett's bridge" and its

permanence compared to others in the district; dealings with settlers

12:03   Incident of one settler, Major Smith, and his killing an African without regret or

prosecution; British handling of colonials in comparison with Belgians, French; British interest in education, fundamental necessities like water

16:03   German East Africa, Tanganyika, and characteristics of government there; whip

made from hide of hippopotamus used on prisoners in all colonies

17:50   Ministering to an early convert after his being whipped

19:19   Early class consciousness excluding the African in church and home contacts; wonderful

change in behavior after conversion of one settler's family and their help to build a good church

21:22   Tribal antagonisms; real changes brought about by conversion to Christianity; tribal groups near Eldama Ravine and mixed congregational membership from these tribes

24:16   Church membership affected by British system of tribal reserve areas with strictly limited mobility; British system of requiring registration identification cards for each male with penalties for movement; lingering memory of this era with head taxes

27:05   Responsibilities of tribal elders and early appointments by missionaries

28:36   Instruction in moral behavior from missionaries to assist elders in their role as

church nucleus

29:29   Father's pastorate of a church in 1927-28; Barnett's memories of first converts, one from Muslim faith and another from a local tribe

31:23   End of side 2

T1 - side 3

00:00   Beginning of tape

00:05   Overlap from side 2

01:28   [Tape interference renders this section mostly unintelligible]

06:26   Barnett discusses establishment of the early Bible schools, 1920s, following work of Cameron Scott, at Kijabe, Eldama Ravine and other areas

06:59   Shared room at Rift Valley Academy of four Barnett brothers; cornerstone laid by Teddy Roosevelt

07:20   Description of the eastern wall of the Rift Valley, craters [tape interference], tropical forest, animals

09:41   Playing "cops and robbers" and sister's encounter with leopard

10:46   Description of bedroom and rats' invasion after lanterns put out at night

13:35   Bucket used for trapping rats

14:26   Trapping and hunting rats and bounty

14:58   Rat-infested outdoor toilets

15:27   Lack of success in attempts to rid station of rats during his youth; comparison of

students' living conditions today

15:46   Number of students during his residence about 1925

16:17   Furlough with his family; visit to Australia via Capetown and first encounter with

snow, winter [tape interference]

18:28   Incident of drunken man in white suit and mud puddle; man's death by a train

19:42   Getting lost in the city when about eight years old; fear, tears, father's rescue

21:14   Experience used as example of "lost" without salvation

21:40   Time spent in Australia, California

22:25   Problem with eyes; diagnosis of cancer

23:15   Parents' prayers and new diagnosis with use of new machine

25:00   [Tape interference] Baptism in Los Angeles by Charles Hurlburt

25:19   Return to Africa, 1927, with sister and parents

26:49   Birthday gift of New Testament from brothers; impact on his conversion

28:49   Rereading the text

30:01   Decision page [tape interference]

31:07   Life changes as a result; visit of J. Edwin Orr to Rift Valley campus [tape

interference]

32:49   End of tape

T2 - side 1

00:00   Beginning of tape

00:05   Introduction

00:12   Father's birth, 1876, in Australia; emigration to US; conversion from challenge given by missionary speaker from India at a city rescue mission; quitting of job next day

05:27   Study at Moody Bible Institute, 1905-07; influence of Hurlburt and joining Africa

Inland Mission, 1907; party of seven who sailed to Africa

06:57   Father's high opinion of Charles Hurlburt; Hurlburt's baptism of Barnett and his

sister

07:53   Hurlburt's qualities of independence and strong will, pioneer safaris with Barnett's

father; AIM mission policy of allowing independence to each missionary for action and financial support

10:37   AIM's emphasis on allowing the Holy Spirit to guide its missionaries

13:09   AIM's guarding of independence; advantages and disadvantages of a strong field

director; democratic representative governing policies of AIM

16:00   Barnett's lack of personal knowledge of Hurlburt's independence and others in AIM's history

16:41   Father's courses at Moody; practicality of Father's abilities; family garden; first aid in dental instruction and subsequent use of this on the mission field for family and in mission work

18:53   Father's ordination, probably in Baptist church; Moody as main supporting church; Mother's arrival in US from Sweden about same time as Father

20:15   Mother's birth in Sweden; meeting AIM couple who had worked with Peter Cameron Scott; coming to New York City and Bible school at Hepzebah House; going out to Africa from Sweden; meeting Barnett's father on the ship; Barnett's visit with his maternal grandmother, 1927, in Sweden

23:33   Reason for mother's choice of Bible school; influence AIM missionary couple on her

24:13   Mother's training as Swedish masseuse; use on cripples, Europeans living in Africa and resultant conversions

25:45   Mother's scheduling of treatments over short and long periods; grateful patients

among Africans and Europeans; influence of Mother's caring on his choice of career as a doctor

27:05   No remembrance of orientation school, but strict screening of candidates; institution of orientation training within last 20 years

28:01   Brothers' and sisters' mission commitment as doctors and nurses; brother Paul and his grilling by AIM committee on general Biblical knowledge and personal convictions because of his background as a child of AIM missionaries

29:59   Paul's instruction from committee to return for one more year's training before going back to Africa and compliance

31:09   Parents' three-month shipboard romance; requirement to be on field one year before marriage; father's appointment to help station where mother sent; leeches, swamps, porters; Masai people; moving out the Masai to make way for European farmers and settlers; problems still to be solved from that decision; tree house and getting away from lions

31:22   Learning Masai and early contacts with them; marriage of Barnett's parents one year later; death of oldest brother by meningitis without doctor; birth of twin brothers

35:29   Masai fascination with birth of twins who didn't bring curse upon Barnett family;

                 parents' move across Rift Valley; mission station outside Eldama

38:12   Safaris to remote areas near Lake Rudolph in Rift Valley opened up to missions only in past 10 years since Kenya's independence; travel with Charles Hurlburt and John Stauffacher and enduring friendship as a result

40:23   Eating berries for liquid after prayer to be saved from thirst when separated from

porters

42:02   Repeat experience, about 1908, of running out of water and oasis; Hurlburt's refusal to allow overindulgence of water which might kill his men; his waiting until all others' thirst was quenched before taking his own turn

43:41   Episode of the charging rhino while Barnett's father was traveling with Stauffacher; tree and smashed umbrella handle

45:00   End of side 1

T2 - side 2

00:05   Beginning of tape

00:32   Parents' marriage at Kijabe and resettlement; his birth and others; Mary Slater's

attendance at birth

01:57   Episode of Masai woman's waking in time to see Barnett hut on fire

02:38   Inflammability of houses; saving possessions; finding infant William under a mattress

04:15   Parents' retelling of this and conviction of his life's being spared for a purpose

04:28   Father's practical nature and abilities; willing listeners among Masai but few converts

05:47   Missing pots belonging to Barnett family which appeared in Masai villages; period

of six-seven years without a convert

07:24   Barnett's hearing story of God's response at chapel at Columbia Bible College;

discouragement and decision to give up the role of evangelist; God's message through the morning sunlight

10:07   Beginning of success with the ministry after this experience; increased interest and

attendance at Sunday services

11:28   Use of carbide lantern equipment for slide shows; fascination of Masai with slides 13:17             Christmas episode with first Masai converted after seeing Christ on the cross in a

slide show

14:56   Masai question about who the man was on the cross and telling him the story;

concrete results of return of stolen pots after conversions began

15:17   Mother's travel before family born; her ability as a linguist; Father's effectiveness in spite of being unable to learn Masai

16:45   Methods of travel

17:07   Criticism by some for the family's purchase of a car

17:51   Little support money, difficulty of contacts with homeland; parents' teaching about

God's provision and living without fear

19:14   Father's hope for a college education for each child, but lack of funds; being taught the principle of never going into debt

20:29   Strangeness of adjusting to debtor living in the States

20:54   Early memories of new home after earliest one had burned

21:38   Parents' development of an orphanage for abandoned girls; Mother's dispensary as part of care and concern for the girls

23:14   Use of the church as school during week; mother as teacher until she could train

others as teachers

24:01   Teaching basics and his first reading lessons; getting supplies of chalk from the hills, slates

25:11   Need for new church as congregation outgrew it; Father's design of new building,

simple rectangle, cedar shingles from the forest

25:58   Saw mill built about six miles away for supplies afterward; extension to accommodate larger congregation; crowding the benches

28:15   Baptisms in streams

28:45   Building a baptistry in the church with hinged cover; rush to view it the first time and members falling into the hole

29:50   Methods of evangelizing at first; motorcycle and sidecar; slow buildup of interest

31:42   Multiplication of small churches and their placement on farms of Europeans when

allowed

32:42   Legal use of private property and gifts by farmers

33:43   Trips into reserve and primitive tribal areas

34:59   Establishing basic medical services

35:18   Story of parents' encounter with a swarm of bees dislodged by exhaust from Model-T Ford; flight of mother and prayer which saved him from jumping into river full of crocodiles

37:37   Parents' camping in area full of elephants and their safety

39:19   Story of Barnett’s protection by their "god" which preceded their travels in Masai country

40:13   Characteristics of the Masai people

41:35   Importance of cattle to them and reasons for resistance to Christianity

42:26   Simplicity of Masai life, diet; high levels of intelligence and Christian leadership

43:31   Contemporary requirement for schooling

44:10   Story of missionary who encountered Masai shepherd who had Ph.D. in philosophy

46:15   Masai belief in evil spirits and in God

46:32   Belief in a good God who made all things; fear only of evil and appeasing spirits

47:14   Masai belief in Shatoni (?) as personified evil

48:14   End of tape

T3 - side 1

00:00   Beginning of tape

00:05   Introduction

00:22   Barnett's visa problem because of parents' being one of earliest missionary family in Kenya; formation of home for children of missionaries during high school and college years by the Westervelts who had to return to the States because of Mrs. Westervelt's health

02:29   Return in 1927 with for furlough with family; Westervelt home in Siloam Springs,

AK; brothers and other AIM sons who were first residents

04:16   Stay with Westervelts until 1929 until attendance at Columbia Bible College [SC];

move of Westervelt home to Columbia and opening to daughters of missionaries

06:14   Three-month stop in Sweden at this time of return on furlough and visit to

grandmother

06:37   Attendance at Rift Valley Academy until 1931; fine British teacher and principal at Rift Valley; returning to the States and entry into high school of Barnett and his sister; graduation from Columbia High School

08:05   Parents' countries [Australia and Sweden] of birth and British passports and wrong papers issued Barnett in Kenya; memories of Ellis Island and a harsh judge

10:55   Bond posted by AIM home office until papers cleared

12:20   Return to Columbia and parents' attempts to contact individuals for correct data;

aggressive retired Army colonel and his contact with director of AIM's home office; weekly immigration staff visits to check on his status

15:03   Contrast with personal attention to Barnett's case and contemporary immigration

situation; Canada's refusal to deal with the problem; letter from Washington indicating all was corrected

17:14   Necessity for law of Congress to be passed to admit cases like his

17:52   Success of brusque Army colonel in visa problem; attendance at Columbia Bible

                 College

18:41   Difficulties with bullying high school students; intervention of the Andersons, Paul

                 and Earl; dealing with different standards and curriculum

21:09   Difficulty with shyness; lack of regrets about being a child of missionaries and

                 parents' success in conveying love and closeness, practicality of Christian living

23:12   Father's desire for college education of his children; small amount of financial

support available, and their awareness of the financial sacrifice this meant; successful completion of college educations for all five members of the family, including three who became doctors with no debts remaining

25:30   Trauma of seeing black people in chain gangs in southern United States

27:19   Fine pastor and Bible teacher who smoked and Barnett's difficulty with this; pastor's work in penitentiary

28:37   Bad dreams caused by common occurrence of execution by electric chair, especially of blacks accused sometimes falsely; shock of finding rough treatment, often seen in Africa, used in his own country

30:36   Influence of the group of children of missionaries with different views of black

people; debates in churches and bible classes

32:06   Influence of Columbia Bible College and students from many states involved in Christian

service assignments within cities; visiting and involvement with Southern blacks as an innovation in this area

34:10   End of side 1

T3 - side 2

00:00   Beginning of tape

00:05   Recapitulation of 32:06 to 34:10

02:04   Lack of black students at Columbia Bible College, 1935, and difference now;

realization of his need to go out of protective environment of the Westervelt home and encouragement from older brother just starting medical school; extreme shyness and encouragement of Columbia professor, Dr. Starrett and his wife

04:56   Leaving the Home and enrolling at Columbia; God's grace in giving him abilities to relate to other people and overcome shyness; being elected president of the student body

06:52   Small number of students at Rift Valley which mitigated early shyness; vision for

missionary work among students as result of leadership position at Columbia

08:11   Formation of Student Missionary Fellowship at Columbia and early leaders--Will

Norton, from Wheaton College, Joe McCullough, others

10:31   Being urged to come to Wheaton College and start another group

10:49   Dr. Buswell's speeches at Columbia as his only previous contact with Wheaton;

mission emphasis at low ebb on campuses at that time, and sense of need to establish these groups

12:20   Agenda for Student Missionary Fellowship meetings

13:40   [Break for glass of water because of cough]; end of tape

T4 - side 1

00:00   Start of tape

00:10   Introduction

00:45   First impressions of Wheaton in 1937; Barnett's work at Wheaton from 1937 to 1941;

comparison between Wheaton and Columbia Bible School

 7:00     Reason for Barnett's decision to become a doctor; Barnett's attitude toward sports at                 Wheaton

11:00   The beginning of a revival on campus [Note: On the tape, Dr. Barnett’s refers to these

events as happening in 1937. However, in talking with the Archives staff in 1995, he and Mrs. Barnett thought it must have happened later, perhaps in the fall of 1939. He described Dr. Buswell as involved in these events and Dr. Buswell’ presidency ended in 1940]; confession of sins; faculty involvement; theological and denominational conflicts at Wheaton at the time

18:30   Differences of theological belief among missionaries; "big bath" and "little bath"

baptism; attitudes toward the charismatic movement in the AIM; connection between conflict at Wheaton and the revival

23:00   Comparison of Buswell and V. Raymond Edman; details about the revival; music

program at Wheaton; the Men's Glee Club; music during the revival; James and Robert Savage; more about the music; congregational singing at the College, such as "Wonderful Grace of Jesus"

30:15   Personal influence of the revival on Barnett; anxieties about going to medical school;

very little criticism of the revival; effect of the revival on campus and on sports teams; the spontaneity of the revival

36:30   Influence of the revival on the Student Foreign Mission Fellowship at Columbia;

memories of the services at the Tabernacle in the town of Wheaton; Buswell's reaction to the revival

44:00   Reaction of the campus community to Buswell's replacement by V. Raymond Edman

44:45   End of side 1

T 4 - side 2

00:00   Start of tape, overlap from side 1

01:00   Arguments on Arminianism versus Calvinism at the Lane House; calming influence of

Edman; description of Edman's personal qualities

08:30   Memorable Wheaton teachers; exposure to the theory of evolution; Professor Louis

A. Higley; Professor Paul Wright; the Naitermian Literary Association (the Knights) and a typical club meeting

15:15   Memories of Carl F. Henry as a student; beginnings of the Student Foreign Mission

Fellowship at Wheaton; influence of the revival on the SFMF; Barnett's duties as president of SFMF at Wheaton

22:15   Overcoming his shyness at Columbia; the work of the College's Gospel Teams

26:15   How Barnett got to know the Lane family at Wheaton and met his wife, Laura Lane;

attending Bethany Chapel of the Plymouth Brethren; history of the Lane family

34:00   End of side 2

T5 - side 1

00:00   Overlap from the end of T4

01:30   Continuation of the history of the Lane family; description of the family; engagement to

Laura and marriage in Albany, New York

08:15   Supporting himself financially while attending Wheaton and after; depending on the Lord

for funds; working in Louisville 1941-42

15:30   Attending Albany Medical School starting in 1942; news of the attack on Pearl Harbor;

exempted from the draft for medical school

21:45   Takeover of Albany's medical school by the military; Barnett's induction into the Army

and enrollment in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP); continuation of his accelerated medical training at Albany; marriage to Laura; internship in 1945-46 at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, New York; Pastor McKeel of the Presbyterian church in Schenectady; McKeel's influence on the engineers of General Electric

30:30   Support of Barnett's missionary work by the Presbyterian church in Schnectady; no need

for deputation work; surgical residency at Ellis in 1946-47; called to active duty at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; work with a top orthopedic surgeon at Fort Bragg

36:30   Sent to Korea in 1949; low morale among the U.S. Army in Korea; crossing the Pacific

by boat; sent to station hospital in Seoul, Korea, after a week in Japan; immediate appointment as chief of surgery; prejudice against Koreans at the hospital; low morale at the hospital; appointment as commanding officer of the hospital a month after arrival; benefits to Barnett from his service in Korea; admitting Korean patients to the hospital

44:45   End of side 1

T5 - side 2

00:00   Start of tape, overlap from side 1

01:00   First Korean emergency case at the hospital; opposition of American nurses to helping

Koreans; talk to the staff about serving Korean patients

08:45   Using coal dust in the winter; discussion of religion with his roommate and the later

history of the man, including a letter from forty years later

13:45   Discharge from Army and return to the United States in 1949; residency in anesthesia and

ob-gyn in Schnectady; application to Africa Inland Mission to be workers

20:00   Very informal application process for admission to AIM; Ralph Davis; need for a doctor

at Shinyanga Hospital in Kola Ndoto, Tanzania; Dr. Maynard and the beginning of the mission station at Kola Ndoto; Arthur Barnett's presence on the Zam Zam, military service in North Africa and postwar temporary service at Shinyanga Hospital

25:15   William and Laura Barnett's travel to Tanzania via Mobossa, Kenya, by sea in 1950 with

medical equipment and vehicles for the hospital; driving to Kola Ndoto from Nairobi

31:45   First impressions of Africa upon his return; white Europeans' belief in pith helmets

34:45   End of side 2

T6 - side 1

00:00   Start of tape, overlap from the end of T5

03:45   Independence movements in east Africa after the war; development of indigenous

leadership for African churches; building on the foundations of great missionaries such as William and Nina Maynard

08:45   End of tape

T7 (73 minutes). Drs. William and Nina Maynard and the beginnings of AIM’s work in Tanganyika, establishment of the hospital at Kolo Ndota, more on William Maynard (gentlemen, always wore long sleeve shirt and tie, regular in work, meetings), church service, importance of daily prayer, effect of Maynard’s lack of support during World War I, long term illness of Nina Maynard and miraculous provision of food, introduction of sulfa drug treatment for leprosy, problems with termites and bats in buildings, medical work, make-shift operation room, typical day in the hospital for Barnett, chapel service in the leprosarium, describes first direct blood transfusion done in the hospital, evangelistic work at the hospital, organizes and conducts medical classes for hospital staff.

T8 (58 minutes). Josephine Downey, growth of the Africa Inland Churches, reflections on granting AIM churches independence and effect on missionaries, arrival of a female osteopathic physician and cardiac specialists, Dr. Clifton Nelson, Dr. Denis Burkitt and the Burkitt’s Tumor, strengths and weakness of the Africa Inland Church in Tanganyika, relations between the missionaries and the AIC church regarding church leadership and finances, characteristics of a person called to be a missionary, recollection of a 1930s Wheaton College revival.

Provenance

These tapes were received at the Center in March, April and May 1983, May 1995, and April 1998.

Accession 83-34, 83-37, 83-60, 95-96, 98-21

November 21, 1986

Frances L. Brocker

J. Nasgowitz

Updated January 30, 1997

Robert Shuster

May 8, 2007, Revised

Wayne D. Weber

The following items are located in the AUDIO TAPE FILE. 

Item# - Reel or cassette, speed, length, number of sides, contents (title of session, participants) according to the program, date.

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