David L. Vikner and Louise Lindbeck Vikner Papers 1934-2002 ; 1946-1999.

ArchivalResource

Vikner, David L.(1916-2003). David L. Vikner and Louise Lindbeck Vikner Papers 1934-2002 ; 1946-1999.

David L. Vikner and Louise Lindbeck Vikner Papers 1934-2002 ; 1946-1999.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70413330

This series documents the career of David L. Vikner through its three main stages: missionary (1946-58), missionary board official (1959-82), and adjunct professor of mission studies (1982-95). The records were generated from 1934-2002, with the bulk dating from 1946-1999. These papers provide a detailed record of Vikner's total immersion in the missionary life and in the Far East. These include his birth to missionary parents in China in 1916; his early education in China; his theological training for the mission field in the U.S.; his mission work in China and Japan, his rise to leadership positions within the mission boards of the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA) and the Lutheran Church in America (LCA); and his post-retirement career as Adjunct Professor for Word Mission at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC). The papers also document Vikner's ceaseless lecturing at churches, Lutheran synodical conventions, Lutheran summer institutions, colleges, and other venues on the topic of missions; and his long-term correspondence with many he had met along the way in the mission field. Vikner's interest in revisiting his personal past and those associated with it created an interesting record when (in 1979 and thereafter) he was able to locate and then visit Chinese Lutherans with whom he had closely worked in the late 1940s, before the Communist takeover. Record types include: correspondence, speeches (both transcriptions and notes), sermon notes, reports, newsletters, bulletins, agendas, minutes, graphs, field notes, certificates, programs, memoirs, maps, brochures, clippings, posters, photographs, videotapes. Subject matter addressed includes: Lutheran missions, China, Japan, Hong Kong, the American School Kikungshan, the Division for world Mission and Ecumenism of the Lutheran Church of America, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, the World Council of Churches, and Augustana College. Family matters are also addressed, particularly in the correspondence and reports that the young David Vikner sent to friends and sponsoring congregations during his years as a missionary. The files are arranged into five subseries: correspondence; writings, speeches and reports; biographical files; topical and research files; and photographs. Within these subseries the files are largely arranged in chronological order, although the subject and research files are arranged alphabetically by topic. Eight oversize Chinese Christian posters from the 1940s are in a separate folder in the map case area.

14 boxes (5.6 cubic ft.)

eng,

chi,

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library, ELCA Library