American Seventh Day Adventists in India

[Missionaries]: [Seventh Day Adventists]: [India]: Pohlman, Edna Mabel:

[Pair of Vernacular Photograph Albums Documenting the Experiences of American Seventh Day Adventist Missionaries in India].

Various locations, mostly in India: 1929-1939]. Two contemporary photograph albums bound in matching black cloth. Album 1: [47] leaves, illustrated with 347 mounted photographs (including a handful of real photo postcards), profusely captioned in white pencil on album leaves. Album 2: [30] leaves, illustrated with 285 photographs (including some real photo postcards and commercial images), with only a few manuscript captions. Oblong quarto. Item #12870

A unique pictorial record of American Christian missionary service in India during the years of the Great Depression, detailing the life and work of Seventh Day Adventists Edward and Edna Mabel Pohlman. Edward Pohlman (1906-1970) and Edna Mabel (1906-1997) married in 1928 and served in the Northern India Union (NIU) Section, which was part of the Southern Asia Division, from 1929 to 1946. While in India, it appears that the Pohlman family lived (at least) in Mussoorie, Roorkee and Poona, during which time they had one son, Edward Wendell, born in Punjab in 1933. The father, Edward, received an M.A. and PhD from Ohio State University. The couple likely lived in Roorkee early on, where Pohlman likely taught at Roorkee Adventist College, as there are images of the faculty at Roorkee, their bungalow, and so forth. They may also have been associated with the Vincent Hill School in Mussoorie, of which there are several images. He definitely taught theology at Spicer Missionary College (Now Spicer Adventist University) in Poona (Pune) and became president of Spicer in 1939, a position he held until 1946. Spicer College was the church’s flagship educational institution in India. Pohlman also held SDA conference positions, including educational and missionary volunteer secretary for the Southern Asia Division.

The SAD NIU section focused on establishing mission schools, doing medical work, publishing, and direct preaching, aiming to spread the gospel this way. The organization worked to establish churches and develop indigenous leadership and self-supporting missions in communities across northern India. The albums only pertain to his time in India, but following his time there, Pohlman taught at the Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, then in 1958 was a Fulbright lecturer in sociology and anthropology at the University of Karachi, and then served as executive director of the U. S. Educational Foundation in Pakistan. In 1960 he joined Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he taught and was head of the sociology and anthropology departments until his death. He was fluent in Urdu and Hindustani.

The first few images in the first album document the Pohlman's trip from New York to India as a young married couple in 1929. They spent some time in England and the Holy Land before arriving in India. The first images from India show their first house in Mussoorie and the Vincent Hill School, which was part of the SDA educational system. Other early India images feature Najababad, including a dispensary, a village meeting, and their colleagues the Kimble's bungalow there, plus an image of a building captioned "Northwest Union Headquarters of our work" (in Lucknow). The next group of photos are of Roorkee in 1931, picturing another SDA school, the Roorkee Adventist College, the faculty, a group of students, a sewing class, a Bible class, and a dispensary. Numerous images include Edna and Edward, as well as their colleagues the Steeves, the Kimbles the Garners and others. One shows Edna and four young men and is captioned "my first English class."

Several historic photographs relate to important SDA events, meetings, and facilities. One of the bigger photographs shows a very large group and is captioned "workers from India Burma & Ceylon at Poona [SDA] Council, 1931." Another shows the Division Headquarters at Poona, and a third shows attendees from the Northwest India Union that attended the Poona Council in 1931. Another group of images shows workers and students at the SDA Colporteur Institute, a school that trained people to evangelize and pass out literature. Another shows 17 Abbott Road in Lucknow, the location of the SAD Publishing House. There are also images of the Seventh Day Adventist Training School, many uncaptioned images of SDA student and graduate groups, and some of Edna or Edward with their students.

Other photographs illustrate the missionaries' lives through their bungalows, outings, trips to Kashmir (a large group of images), Lahore and Delhi, riding elephants, celebrating Christmas, and more. Other images show local people harvesting sugar cane, bathing in the Ganges, a pilgrim knee-walking, a street sewing service, Indian weddings, a group in front of the Seventh Day Adventist Training School, many uncaptioned images of SDA large and small student and/or graduate groups, and more.

The albums also provide images of the couple's missionary colleagues, including several who traveled out to India with them and some who were especially notable. These include:

John Milton Steeves (1905-1998), an important SDA missionary and educator, who became a career diplomat serving as acting ambassador to Jakarta, Indonesia, deputy assistant secretary of state for Far Eastern Affairs (1959-62), and ambassador to Afghanistan (1966-69). The Steeves family lived in Western Washington between 1919 and 1927, where Steeves graduated from Walla Walla College (an SAD-affiliated school) and the University of Washington.

Raleigh and Edna Garner, from Nampa, Idaho, who served sixteen years in India then pastored in Idaho. Garner also graduated from Walla Walla College.

Ray LeRoy (R.L.) Kimble (1890-1972) and his wife Jessie M. Estep Kimble. Kimble was a pastor and missionary who served in India from around 1915 to 1950 and was president of the Northern India Union Section from 1946 to 1950. His wife was principal of the North Agra Mission Girl's School from 1930 to 1932; earlier they ran a sanitarium at Bombay. After India's independence, Kimble was part of a delegation in August 1947 that met with Nehru, Gandhi, and Jinnah to explain the role of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in India.

Marion Hulda Belchambers (1886-1949), a pioneer teacher, administrator, and publishing house pioneer, who became secretary and treasurer of the Northwest / Northern India Union in 1923.

The two albums document important contributions made by the Pohlmans and their colleagues to education and healthcare in India, and also provide visual documentation of important Seventh Day Adventist events and meetings and insights into the daily lives of missionaries of the period.

Price: $1,850