Andrew and Martha Ruch photographs
name: label: Photographer
content: Ruch Family
place: label: Place
content: Africa
label: Place
content: Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)
label: Place
content: Mozambique
label: Place
content: Mount Kenya (Kenya)
label: Place
content: Mombasa (Kenya)
label: Place
content: Kikuyu (Kenya)
label: Place
content: Kenya
label: Place
content: Suez Canal (Egypt)
label: Place
content: Port Said (Egypt)
label: Place
content: Cairo (Egypt)
label: Place
content: Egypt
creator: label: Photographer
content: Ruch Family
culture: label: Culture
content: Kikuyu (African people)
abstract: label: Summary
content: Photographs taken and lantern slides collected by Andrew and Martha Ruch to document their experiences as missionaries in Africa during the 1920s. The photographs document Andrew and Martha Ruch's missionary work and their activities among the Kikuyu people. Places shown include Cairo, Egypt; the Mediterranean Sea; a beach in Mombasa, Kenya; Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; Port Said, Egypt and the Suez Canal. Activities depicted include building houses, carrying loads such as grass (for thatching), luggage, water and wood; cooking; drying skins; grinding millet; pounding sugar cane and selling items from boats to ship passagers. Ceremonies included are baptisms and church ceremonies. Portraits of people include Christian converts; chiefs, children; families; Muhia, Ruchs' assistant; the Ruches; and warriors. Many of the portraits document African clothing, ornaments, scarification and weapons. Architectural images include building materials, grain bins, houses (including Ruch's home), mosques, museums in Cairo, pyramids, railroads, temples in Egypt and villages. Boats, motorcycles and ships are also pictured. Nature scenes of landscapes and animals vary greatly and include mountains, trails, rivers, vegetation, waterfalls as well as birds, camels, cattle, donkeys, lizards and a lion.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Andrew H. Ruch, 1899-1966, missionary and pastor; graduate of the Moody Bible Institute, 1921, received ThD from Webster University, 1930. Martha W. Ruch, 1898-1989, wife of Andrew Ruch, graduate of the Moody Bible Institute, 1922.After Martha Ruch graduated from Moody in 1922, they married and left for Africa. They set up a mission in a Kikuyu Reserve in Ruiru, Kenya, and worked there until 1925, when they returned to the United States. Andrew Ruch spent most of his life as a pastor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 326 Photographic prints (dupe prints, 8 x 10 in. )
label: Extent
content: 211 Photographic prints ((1 vol.) + papers., black & white, 8 x 13 cm. or smaller.)
label: Extent
content: 115 Lantern slides (hand colored, 6 x 9 cm.)
unitdate: label: Date
content: between 1922-1925
container: label: Container
content: Item 115
label: Container
content: Volume 1
label: Container
content: Volume 2
label: Container
content: Volume 2
label: Container
content: Box 1
label: Container
content: Box 2
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Photographs and personal papers of Andrew and Martha Ruch donated by their granddaughter, Cynthia G. Cassey, 1991.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.1991-013
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Lantern slides
label: Type
content: Black-and-white photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Images indexed by negative number.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Lantern slides
label: Genre/Form
content: Black-and-white photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographic prints