The Albert Schweitzer Collection

Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Lee Ellerbrock
Display Funded by The Fashionables

By Professor Alice Bergel, Ph.D.
Who is this man – Albert Schweitzer? Why does the world stand in awe of him, and why have we, at Chapman, acquired a collection of Schweitzer memorabilia, a part of which we display permanently on our campus?

Albert Schweitzer was a theologian, philosopher, musicologist, organist, organ-builder and physician, and he achieved greatness in all these fields. He was truly a "Renaissance man." But he was more: he was a thinker who lived his philosophy. He found a definition of "good" and "evil" which everyone can understand and live by:

Good is maintaining, furthering, heightening life;
evil is destroying, harming, hindering life.

This is the core of his "Reverence for Life." At this time when there seems to be a danger of losing all respect for life, Schweitzer's message is compelling for us all.

The story of Schweitzer's life is the story of the development of his thought and its translation into action. Therefore, the Chapman exhibit follows Schweitzer's life story step by step, starting in an Alsatian village with his experience of the suffering of human beings and animals; leading through his education, his varied activities, studies, and scholarly, pastoral, and musical achievements to the establishment, in 1913, of his hospital in Lambarene in what was then French Equatorial Africa and is now the Republic of Gabon; and ending with the help he brought to untold Africans, who, had it not been for him, would have died in agony.

Why did Schweitzer decide to give up his successful career at the age of 30 in order to study medicine and become a jungle doctor? The statue of the African man, in the town of Colmar, the picture of which occupies a prominent place in the exhibit, told the young Schweitzer of the plight of the African natives. These people were helpless victims of pain that could be taken from them if a physician were available; yet no physician would go to that hot, humid, and dangerous place. So Schweitzer decided to go – and in order to bring the needed help, he first took up the study of medicine.

As you walk through this exhibit, you will see Schweitzer's struggle against nature in the jungle; the setback he experienced when he had to abandon his hospital and was interned as an enemy alien during the First World War; the enormous effort he had to put forth to rebuild the hospital after the war; his opposition to nuclear weapons and involvement in peace work, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize; and the recognition that finally came to him when people all over the world realized that his humble work in the jungle could become a model for the moral regeneration of human beings everywhere.

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.