Collection 184 [April 4, 2001]
Campus-in-the-Woods, 1951; Newsletters
Records; 1961-1981
2 Boxes (DC; .8 cubic feet), Photographs
Restrictions
There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.
Historical Background
Campus-in-the-Woods was the name given to summer camps held by Canadian Inter-Varsity to
train college and university students in discipling. The newsletter and correspondence in this
collection were informal personal projects of Lois Ottaway, who with about one hundred others
from the United States and Canada attended one of these camps in 1951 on Bracebridge Island,
about 150 miles north of Toronto. Because of her interest and training in journalism, she
undertook the publication of an annual mimeographed newsletter designed to keep many of these
students in touch with each other. Campus-in-the-Woods newsletters originated from her home
in Wheaton, Illinois.
*****
Biography
Lois N. Ottaway was born October 9, 1931, in Wichita, Kansas. She received a B.S. degree in technical journalism in 1953 at Kansas State University, where she won the Fay N. Seaton scholarship, and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Mortar Board, Phi Alpha Mu honor societies. In 1958 she graduated from State University of Iowa with an M.A. in journalism. At the University she was editorial assistant for the Alumni Review and worked as Press Box Assistant during the football season. Between 1960 and 1980, Lois did special studies in theology at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.
Lois began her career in journalism on the Kansas State campus where she held a number of
positions including business manager of Royal Purple, the yearbook, editor of K-Book, and
collegiate editor of Who's Whoot, 4-H yearbook for the state of Kansas. The summer of 1951 she
attended Campus-in-the-Woods, directed by a staff which included Ed Cornell, D. Stacey woods,
H. Wilbur Sutherland, director of Canadian Inter-Varsity, and Edward C. Pentecost, missionary
to Mexico, one of the principal speakers. In 1958 Lois accepted a position as assistant to the
Director of the News Service at Wheaton College, a job which included advising for student
publications and assisting the Director of Public Relations. From 1965 to 1981 she was manager
of the News Service of the College.
[NOTE: In the Scope & Content section, the notation "folder 2-5" means box 2, folder 5.]
Scope and Content
The collection consists of nineteen folders arranged in chronological order for the years 1961 to 1981. Each folder contains selected correspondence to Ottaway for each year, which was then compiled by her for the annual Campus-in-the-Woods newsletter. Included are postcards and Christmas cards, Christmas letters, personal letters, mission newsletters, and a few newspaper clippings and pamphlets. They document a nineteen year span of the lives and careers of this group of former students who had attended the summer camp together. Also included is correspondence from Edward C. Pentecost, speaker at the camp.
Two-thirds of the correspondence is from those who were serving in foreign mission fields. A list of these families, in alphabetical order, the country in which they served, and the mission, if known, is included in this guide. Folders in which their correspondence can be found are noted. These letters contain details of daily life, facts about the people and country, the mission work, problems and successes with schooling, churches, evangelizing, translation, etc. Not all letters from each family are from the country listed because of furlough years, change of vocation, or return to the United States for other reasons.
A second group of letters is from individuals not in full-time Christian service but living in foreign countries where their professional lives have taken them. Comments in these letters range over reactions of Christian families living in cultures alien to them, their contacts with other Christians in those countries, and personal events of significance. A third group of families includes those who remained in this country or Canada, most of them involved with Christian work, either as vocation or avocation. Some of these are: professor of religion, Earlham College (Baer); staff member of Christian Home for Children (Hardwick); pastor, Calvary Bible Church (Jones); minister of Christian Education (Hoffman); tutor, PACE Institute, Cook County Jail (Ottoway); member of Christian Medical Society, Medical University of South Carolina (Rambo); Child Evangelism Follow-up, Chicago Billy Graham Crusade (Robinson).
Copies of Campus-in-the-Woods newsletters are found in folders 1-2 to 1-6, 1-8, 2-1, and 2-3.
*****
Provenance
The materials for this collection were received at the Center in August, 1980.
Accession 80-104
December 14, 1981
Frances L. Brocker
J. Nasgowitz
FAMILIES SERVING IN FOREIGN MISSION FIELDS
The following list includes family names of those for whom there is substantial correspondence, except as indicated.
| Name | Country | Mission |
| Beattie, Dr. Lillian M. | Congo Republic | American Baptist Foreign Mission Society |
| Chapman, Robert and Dorothy | Ethiopia | Sudan Interior Mission |
| Corry, Kay
(folders 1-1, 1-2 only) |
Philippines | Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. |
| Dresser, Dr. C. Kenneth and Sylvia | Indonesia | The Evangelical Alliance Mission |
| Fletcher, Ruth
(folders 1-4, 1-7 only) |
India | Canadian Baptist Mission |
| Hughlett, John and Mary Jane | Congo Republic,
Rhodesia |
Methodist |
| Milne, William and Lucie Gobbel | India | C. P. Mission |
| Pentecost, Edward and Margaret | --- | --- |
| Piersma, Norman and Donna | Colombia | Latin America Mission |
| Rhodes, Dr. Charles and Marilyn | Central African
Empire |
Baptist Mid-Missions |
| Roberts, Alan and Doris
(folders 2-2 to 2-4, 2-9 only) |
Kenya | Africa Inland Mission |
| Secondino, Rosalie
(folders 1-3, 1-5 only) |
Philippines | Evangelical Free Church in America |
| Stewart, Ruth E. | Algeria | North Africa Mission |
| Torsch, Rev. Edward and Mary | Africa, Brazil, Iran | Presbyterian Mission |
| Wakefield, Gordon L. and
Florence |
Peru | Emmaus Bible Correspondence
School, Lima |
LOCATION RECORD
Accession 80-104
Type of material: Photographs
The following items are located in the PHOTO FILE. Request by the boldfaced folder title at
the beginning of each entry below.
CORBETT (?), MARY ANN, JIM AND FAMILY.
DENNY, DUANE, BILLIE, AND FAMILY. Christmas card. 1 b&w.
GORDON, ROY, JUDITH, "GEFF". Christmas card. 1 color.
HOFFMAN, FAMILY. Christmas card. 1 color.
KNUDSON, RON, JANE, AND FAMILY. Christmas card. 1 b&w.
CONTAINER LIST
| Box | Folder | Item | |
| Missionary Newsletters, Correspondence, Cards | |||
| 1 | 1 | 1961, n.d. | |
| 1 | 2 | 1962 | |
| 1 | 3 | 1963 | |
| 1 | 4 | 1964 | |
| 1 | 5 | 1965 | |
| 1 | 6 | 1966 | |
| 1 | 7 | 1967 | |
| 1 | 8 | 1968 | |
| 1 | 9 | 1969 | |
| 2 | 1 | 1970 | |
| 2 | 2 | 1971 | |
| 2 | 3 | 1972 | |
| 2 | 4 | 1973 | |
| 2 | 5 | 1974 | |
| 2 | 6 | 1975 | |
| 2 | 7 | 1976 | |
| 2 | 8 | 1977 | |
| 2 | 9 | 1978 | |
| 2 | 10 | 1979, 1981 | |