Description
Collection consists of bound volumes, objects, and a small amount of artwork collected by James and Marion Rohrbaugh during
their missionary work in Ethiopia in the mid-1930s. Additionally included are letters dating 1935-1936, with eye witness accounts
of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and missionary work by the Rohrbaugh family and a small number of personal photographs.
Among the bound volumes are two Psalters, one belonging to Qes Badima and an Ethiopian Amharic Bible published by the British
and Foreign Bible Society. The artwork includes a linen panel depicting 12 of the traditional trades of Ethiopia. Objects
include coins, four elephant ivory spoons, two wooden combs, a miniature amulet (kitabe) necklace, woven baskets, and an Ethiopian
Hippopotamus leather war shield, among other items.
Marion Rohrbaugh, nee Walker, was born in 1904. She went to work for the Presbyterian mission of Dr. Thomas Lambie. James
Rohrbaugh was born in 1906. He served as a pastor in Montana and then went to Ethiopia in 1933 to conduct missionary work,
where he met and married Marion Rohrbaugh. After World War II, the Rohrbaugh family settled in Seattle, where James continued
his pastoral work in the Presbyterian Church. Marion Rohrbaugh died in 1988; James Rohrbaugh died in 1994.