Andrews Receives Pedersen Collection
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Date: May 17, 2007Contact: pr@andrews.edu
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Phone: 269-471-3322
The Center for Adventist Research, housed in the James White Library on the Andrews University campus, recently received the personal papers of early Seventh-day Adventist missionary Emmanuel Pedersen. The papers were presented by Borge Schantz, a retired professor of religion and specialist in Islamic relations and a personal friend of Pedersen, as well as members of the Pedersen family during a regularly scheduled chapel service at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary on April 17.
Pedersen was born in Odense, Denmark--also home to writer Hans Christian Andersen--in 1904. He served the Adventist Church in Denmark in many different capacities throughout his life, including stints as a literature evangelist, teacher, pastor and missionary. In 1937, he and his wife, Esther, went to Uganda as missionaries, where they helped establish Bugema University. From 1943-53, the couple served as missionaries in Kenya.
Even in retirement, Pedersen served as an advisor to the president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and in 1971, he traveled to Iran as a guest for the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great.
The collection contains items such as official correspondence, personal letters, sermons, personal mementos, photographs, books and other items.
"This collection is particularly valuable because it provides information on early mission work in Africa," commented Merlin Burt, director of the Center for Adventist Research. "Many records and much information have been lost to the ravages of time. Dr. Pedersen's materials help us preserve important documentation on how people interacted on important projects."
The Pedersen Collection will be housed in the Center for Adventist Research, and will be a great resource for researchers.