[Photo Collection of Student Missionaries in Africa] Kensinger, Edna Moser and William Africa,Education,Religion,Women

Screw-bound, string-tied album with 48 leaves, 285 B&W photographs (from 1¾" x 2½" to 5" x 7") adhesive mounted both sides and handwritten captions to nearly every page + 54 loose photos and 3 real photo postcards, half are captioned on versos. Album good due to front board lacking; two leaves detached; 7 photos excised. All photos generally very good plus: a few chipped at edges, a bit wavy or spotted. This is a collection of well-composed photographs, some loose and some compiled in an album, revealing large groups of student missionaries dedicated to Africa, and some of them on sojourns to the continent. It offers ample documentation of an important bible school in Chicago (with a focus on its women), as well as fantastic coverage of native African life. The album's first few pages show the 27-member, co-ed "Africa Prayer Band" and even larger "Student Volunteer Band," which we determined based on clues in captions were from Chicago's Moody Bible Institute (MBI) the second bible college in the country and pioneers of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. Over 200 photos reveal life at MBI, and the captions give great context to almost every shot. We see the "Superintendents of Women," female graduates of 1917 and '18, and the eight women "In Charge of the 'Promised Land.'" The compilers, Edna Moser and William Kensinger, both graduated from MBI, were married in 1918 and within a year were working at the Ndjoko Punda Mennonite mission station in the Congo. The album shows MBI sports teams and student functions, the Kensingers on outings and groups of "Mennonite Girls." It has identified portraits of students already gone to Africa, as well as teachers, friends and classmates, including one Asian American and as noted, several women. There are also wedding photos, shots on the farm and an image of William's missionary honor roll plaque. The loose photos depict work in the Congo, and 44 of the 54 shots feature natives. We see Africans carrying missionaries in a palanquin, tents and huts for "living quarters," children in the chapel and the school huts, and playing by the water. There are 28 shots of individual African students, most captioned with their name on the back, including boys and girls, teenaged and slightly younger, and one of them is clearly blind. We also see missionaries holding (terrified) African babies. Three real photo postcards show the "Congo-Inland Mission Bible Training School" in 1922, with headshots of students and their names; "Kalamba Station" huts identified by use, such as girls' and boys' homes, the "new chapel" and "carpenter shop"; and an image of "the church finished." A great collection documenting devoted young missionaries, their time at MBI and their work in Africa.