Erwin H. Richards Papers

The Erwin H. Richards papers consist of a scrapbook, correspondence, writings, photographs and photograph albums, glass plate negatives, lantern slides, a map, and printer’s blocks that document the family’s missionary activity in Portuguese East Africa.

The writings constitute a significant portion of the Erwin H. Richards papers. Included are writings and translations by Richards, used as instructional tools during his missionary work in Africa. The writings by others also include grammars and translations used for missionary teachings, as well as biographical information relating to the Richards family. Of use to researchers are a typed biography of Richards from a letter written by Barbara Shirley-Scott (dated March 7, 1991), and a typed document detailing the life of Richards and his family, compiled partly from Who’s Who in America, ca. 1930, and by Alden Fletcher, 1977, Helen Richards Hantower, 1991, and Nelson R. Eldred, November 2010.

The correspondence series contains letters written by E.H. Richards and family members from 1879 to 1991, with gaps in the latter part of the 20^th century. Oral history recordings of Alden Fletcher’s (son of Dorothy Duncanson Richards Reinhardt and grandson of E.H. Richards) account of the life of the Richards family significantly augment the collection.

The photographic series contains formal portraits, snapshots, and glass plate negatives and lantern slides which document the Richards’ family life and mission work in Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The glass plate negatives and lantern slides from the 1880s to 1890s complement the scrapbook well, providing images of the communities and mission station where Richards and his family and friends were located. While the majority of negatives, slides, and photographs in the scrapbook are not described with standard descriptive elements (date, name of individual or place depicted), the images nonetheless provide a good pictorial representation of missionary life in the late 19th century. The photographs not only document the lives of Richards and his family members, but also highlight the many African friends Richards made during his travels. Several different photographs of the same African family appear throughout the scrapbook. A few photographs in the scrapbook are accompanied by printed text (author unidentified) and reveal a superior and bemused attitude toward African peoples and their culture.

Not included in this collection are books from the Richards family library and a number of African artifacts collected by E.H. Richards; these are temporarily stored in the Archives until a suitable location on campus is identified.