Finding Aid for the James and Marion Rohrbaugh collection of Ethiopian manuscripts, letters, photographs and objects LSC.2251

Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections

Title: James and Marion Rohrbaugh collection of Ethiopian manuscripts, letters, photographs and objects

Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2251

Physical Description: 8 Linear Feet (4 boxes, 1 shoe box, 1 tube box and 3 oversize cartons)

Date (inclusive): circa 1800s - 1980s

Language of Material: English .

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UCLA Catalog Record ID: 7680302 

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.