The Albert Schweitzer Exhibit

• The Young Albert Schweitzer
  In his own words, Schweitzer describes significant events of his youth in his Memoirs. Photographs depict his birthplace in Kaysersberg, Alsace, the young boy and his family in Gunsbach, and Schweitzer as a young man in Strasbourg.
  
  
• The Musician and Scholar
  By the time of the outbreak of World War I, Albert Schweitzer had earned recognition as an organist and had published books in theology, philosophy, and medicine. Some of his books are on display, as well as a recording of Schweitzer's organ music and photographs of Schweitzer at work.
  
  
• Lambarene: The Locale
  A map of Africa shows the location of what is now the Republic of Gabon, where Schweitzer established his hospital in 1913. Photographs depict the people of Gabon as well as some local scenes. Gabonese fabric and artifacts such as decorative and ritual masks and figures, an ironwood tray, and two different types of native harp are on display.
  
  
• Work and Life in Lambarene
  Photographs depict Albert Schweitzer at work in his hospital in Lambarene, and the people to whom he dedicated his life in order to alleviate their suffering. Additional photographs depict some of those who helped Schweitzer. Excerpts from his Out of My Life and Thought and On the Edge of the Primeval Forest provide insight into the universal significance of his work. Two rare African ancestral figures are displayed, as well as a number of Schweitzer's personal possessions from his years at Lambarene, including examples of his handmade notebooks and stone and ivory sculptures made by his native patients
  
  
• Reverence for Life
  Schweitzer's greatest legacy is the philosophy of "Reverence for Life" by which he lived his own life. Excerpts from Schweitzer's Out of My Life and Thought, Civilization and Ethics, and Indian Thought and Its Development, present different aspects of this philosophy. These are supplemented by some of Schweitzer's letters and photographs.
  
  
• As The World Sees Albert Schweitzer
  Finally, these photographs and the sculpture give a sense of how artists, sculptors, and the general public saw Albert Schweitzer, and the display recognizes the organizations that have been inspired to work in his spirit for the benefit of all humanity.
  

The Albert Schweitzer Collection

The public exhibit on the second floor of Argyros Forum shows only a portion of the extensive collection of Schweitzer memorabilia held by Chapman University.

The Albert Schweitzer Collection was presented to the University in 1978 by Mr. and Mrs. Lee Ellerbrock, encouraged by Mrs. John Scudder. It is an extensive collection of letters, books, pamphlets, manuscripts, articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, slides and African artifacts, collected by Lee and Dorothy Ellerbrock over some 30 years beginning in 1949.

Lee Ellerbrock assisted Albert Schweitzer with his correspondence beginning in 1953 until Schweitzer's death in 1965. Upon his retirement the following year, Ellerbrock fulfilled a promise made to Albert Schweitzer 40 days before Schweitzer's death, selling his possessions in order to move with his wife Dorothy to Lambarene to help Schweitzer's daughter, Rhena Schweitzer Miller, with the hospital. The Ellerbrocks spent ten years in Lambarene in the service of Schweitzer's work before returning permanently to the United States in 1976.