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Waldo Huntley Heinrichs Papers

 Collection
Call Number: RG 115

Scope and Contents

These papers are of interest for their documentation of Heinrichs' work with the YMCA in India and Jerusalem. Complementary papers are located in the YMCA archives at the University of Minnesota. The collection includes twenty-six diary volumes dating from 1909 to 1945, photographs, clippings, and letters, including some related to Heinrichs' YMCA service. He resigned from the YMCA in 1934 following a disagreement with the International Committee concerning Nazi anti-Semitic newspapers in the reading room of the Jerusalem YMCA Heinrichs was a friend of John R. Mott and Sherwood Eddy and twice participated in the Sherwood Eddy Travel Seminar in Europe. These papers are also of interest because Heinrichs was a child of missionaries and spent a good part of his youth separated form his parents. A few letters written later in life to his children explore the implications of his early experience.

The Letters and Diaries of Margaret Heinrichs in Series VI shed additional light on the activities of the Heinrichs family in India during 1930-1931.

Dates

  • 1901 - 1959

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the Heinrichs family.

Arrangement

  1. I. Correspondence
  2. II. Writings and Notes
  3. III. Personal Items and Memorabilia
  4. IV. Photographs
  5. V. Diaries
  6. VI. Letters and Diaries of Margaret Heinrichs

Extent

5 Linear Feet (9 boxes and 2 oversize containers)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/divinity.115

Overview

Correspondence, writings, diaries, and photographs document Heinrichs career with the YMCA and his service with the U.S. Air Force. Letters and diaries of Waldo Heinrichs' sister Margaret shed additional light on the period of time that the Heinrichs spent in India 1930-1931. Waldo Heinrichs served as a YMCA secretary in Hawaii, India, and Jerusalem. from 1913 to 1934. He then became Professor of Contemporary Civilization at Middlebury College. He was a pilot for the U.S. Air Force during World War I, and a Combat Intelligence Officer during World War II.

Biographical / Historical

1891
Born in British India, son of Jacob and Lydia Heinrichs, American Baptist educational missionaries
1913
B.A., Denison University, Ohio; later received M.A. in European History from Columbia University, New York
1913 - 1915
Fellowship Secretary, Y.M.C.A., Honolulu
1915 - 1916
First American Y.M.C.A. Secretary to work with British troops in India
1917 - 1919
First aviation cadet in Army Ground School at M.I.T. Distinguished service with U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Shot down, severely wounded in September, 1918 and held prisoner until Armistice. Decorated with Croix de Guerre with Palm and other awards.
1919 -1924
Head of Lecture Department, National Council of Y.M.C.A.'s of India, Burma, and Ceylon
1926 -1930
Associate General Secretary, Y.M.C.A., Lahore, India
1930 - 1931
Waldo's sister Margaret stayed with the family in India
1931 - 1934
General Secretary, Y.M.C.A., Jerusalem
1935 - 1956
Professor of Contemporary Civilization, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont
1942 -1944
Combat Intelligence Officer in 66th Fighter Wing, VIII Fighter Command of 8th Air Force in England
1959
Died
Title
Guide to the Waldo Huntley Heinrichs Papers
Author
Compiled by Martha Lund Smalley
Date
1997, 2000, 2003
Description rules
Finding Aid Prepared According To Local Divinity Library Descriptive Practices
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Yale Divinity Library Repository

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