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The Blough missionary letters and diaries from China are an invaluable resource to those researching Church of the Brethren history, along with those scholars studying the more Western missionary endeavor in China in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They enhance other collections of Western missionary documents, such as those housed at Yale Divinity School, the Union Theological Seminary, and Harvard University. In addition, the letters and diaries of Anna Blough provide information about Chinese people and events that may not be available in China, as well as offering general information about life in China at that time (1913-1922). Anna V. Blough was born in 1885 near Waterloo, Iowa. She was baptized into the Church of the Brethren in 1989, and later attended Mt. Morris Academy and Bethany Bible School. In 1913 she sailed for China, where she served as a missionary at the Pingding station until her death from typhus on May 9, 1922. Blough's service was part of the broader Church of the Brethren involvement in China, which began in 1906 when Daniel Long Miller traveled there for the General Mission Board to investigate possible sites. He stopped at Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shanghai; after returning home, he made his report to the board. In the fall of 1908, the board sent George and Blanche Hilton, Frank and Anna Crumpacker, and Anna Horning to China to begin the church's missionary work. After speaking with missionaries of other denominations, devoting themselves to prayer, and studying the Atlas of Missions by H.P. Beach, they selected Shanxi Province as their mission field. The Crumpackers opened the first mission station in Pingding on May 25th, 1910, and the Hiltons opened a second station in Zuoquan in June 1912. The Brethren missionary presence in China ended in 1951 following Mao's rise to power. less

The Church of the Brethren Photograph Collection consists of more than 500 mostly black and white photographs of meeting houses and churches in eastern Pennsylvania, historic more sites, gravestones, portraits and nursing homes associated with the Church. The photographs date from the 1890's to the present. A subset of the collection includes images from 200 glass-plate negatives dating from 1890 to 1915. These photographs were taken by J.G. Francis, a leader in the founding of Elizabethtown College and a minister of the Church of the Brethren in eastern Pennsylvania. less

Welcome to the Elizabethtown College: Historic Images Collection, a part of the POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents. This collection consists of ca. 3000 mostly black and more white photographs documenting the history of Elizabethtown College from its founding. The College was founded by the Church of the Brethren in 1899 and as been an important institution in the area since that time. In the early years, the people depicted were often not only imporatnt to the College's history, but they were also noted figures in the Church of the Brethren, an important religios group in the history of Eastern Pennsylvania. The Brethren movement migrated to Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1710. The movement spread westward and southward over the next 200 years. There is an especially strong concentration of people associated with the Church of the Brethren in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana. less

Elizabethtown College was founded by members of the Church of the Brethren, one of the original "peace churches" to spread from Europe to the United States. more This peace pamphlet collection contains pamphlets that focus on peace issues and conscientious objectors' movement. Pamphlet dates range from 1775 to the 1970's. less

The Teachers for West Africa Program was a program for young people certified in teaching to work in schools in West Africa. The teachers taught in more schools in Ghana and Nigeria, usually alongside volunteers in the Peace Corps and other smaller groups such as Teachers for East Africa and Operation Crossroads Africa. The program started in 1961 and was phased out in 1972. The Hershey Foods Corporation sponsored it, while Elizabethtown College administered it. The teachers who applied were from all over the country, and only a selected few were sent to West Africa. Dr. James Berkebile, the program director; many members of the program; and teachers took photographs while traveling, living, and interacting with the local people. This collection contains photographs illustrating the landscapes, schools, and people of Ghana and Nigeria, which were later used for brochures, pamphlets, and other advertisements for the program. less