Robert Brainerd Ekvall and Betty Ekvall photographs of Tibet, China and Vietnam
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 2003-12
name: label: Creator
content: Ekvall, Robert B. (Robert Brainerd), 1898-1983
label: Names
content: Christian and Missionary Alliance
label: Names
content: Ekvall, Betty (probable photographer)
place: label: Place
content: Vietnam
label: Place
content: Tibet (China)
label: Place
content: Gansu Sheng (China)
creator: label: Creator
content: Ekvall, Robert B. (Robert Brainerd), 1898-1983
culture: label: Culture
content: Vietnamese
label: Culture
content: Chinese
label: Culture
content: Tibetans
setName: label: See more items in
content: Robert Brainerd Ekvall and Betty Ekvall photographs of Tibet, China and Vietnam
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Robert Brainerd Ekvall (1898-1978) and Betty Ekvall were missionaries for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the Tibetan Plateau on the China-Tibet border.  Robert Ekvall was born in Gangsu province, China, to parents who were among the first Christian and Missionary Alliance missionaries in Tibet.  After his father's death, Ekvall returned to the United States with his mother.  He attended Wheaton Academy and Wheaton College, graduating in 1920.  In 1921, Ekvall married fellow Wheaton alumnus Martha Elizabeth Fischer (commonly known as Betty) and both attended the Nyack Missionary Institute.  The next year they left for China, where Robert taught at the Bible school.  They also traveled into Tibet to establish a mission station in Ngawa.  In 1927, the Ekvalls returned to the United States due to political turmoil in China, though they went back to China the following year.  On another furlough in the U.S., Robert Ekvall did some graduate work in anthropology at the University Chicago.  The Ekvalls returned to Tibet, where Betty Ekvall died of illness in 1940.  In 1941, Robert Ekvall traveled to Indochina where their son, David, was doing missionary work; he returned to the United States in 1944 and joined the United States Army in Burma and China.  He later published books, articles, and poems on Tibet and China, and taught at the University of Washington.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 146 Color slides (circa)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1925-1940
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Donated by Elizabeth S. Schober, Betty Ekvall's niece, and transferred to the archives by Schober's daughter Candace Greene, Department of Anthropology, in 2002.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.2003-12
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Color slides
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Original order was retained. Slides are arranged in groupings, or "sets" created by Ekvall and seem to  follow the order described in Ekvall's descriptive notes.  Two "sets" of slides were unnumbered.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Color slides
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Photographs made by Robert Brainerd Ekvall and Betty Ekvall while missionaries on the China-Tibet border. The photographs document Tibetan, Chinese, and Vietnamese people, ceremonies, dances and musicians, shrines, traders, boats, towns, agriculture, and scenery. The collection also includes images of the Ekvalls and other missionaries and a map of Gansu province from the Christian and Missionary Alliance newsletter.  There is also descriptive information about some slides, created by the Ekvalls, possibly for slide show presentations.


Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College holds the oral history interviews, correspondence, photographs, and a manuscript by Ekvall (CN 092).
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The Newark Museum holds some Tibetan material from Ekvall.