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Loeweke (Eunice) Collection
MSS 0433
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Eunice Loeweke Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0433
Physical Description:
8.2 Linear feet
(16 archives boxes, 1 record carton, 4 flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1935-2011 (bulk 1961-1993)
Abstract: Papers of Eunice L. Loeweke, missionary and translator working for Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Southern Highlands Province
of Papua New Guinea from 1961-1993. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, negatives, slides, audio recordings
and films documenting the language and culture of the Fasu people and other tribes of Papua New Guinea.
Scope and Contents of Collection
Papers of linguist, translator and missionary Eunice Loeweke during her time in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New
Guinea. The collection contains correspondence, photographs, negatives, color slides, audio recordings and films created by
Loeweke and her colleague, Jean May.
Loeweke and May were affiliated with the Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics. They worked mainly
with the Fasu, a group which lives near Lake Kutubu in the Southern Highlands Province. This work resulted in a grammar and
dictionary of the Fasu language, as well as a translation of the
New Testament published in 1976.
The collection ranges in date from 1935-2011 and is arranged in the following series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) MISCELLANEOUS
MATERIALS, 3) PHOTOGRAPHS, 4) AUDIO RECORDINGS, and 5) FILMS.
Eunice L. Loeweke was born October 1, 1935 to Howard A. and Viola Loeweke. She graduated from the University of Michigan with
a B.M. in music in 1957 and a M.A. in music literature in 1958. Loeweke then joined Wycliffe Bible Translators. After attending
a Summer Institute of Linguistics training course in Mexico, she was posted to Papua New Guinea with Australian missionary
Jean May in 1961.
Loeweke and May traveled to the Fasu village of Kaipu in the Southern Highlands Province near Lake Kutubu. They lived among
the Fasu people, learned their language, developed an alphabet, and began teaching literacy to Fasu men and women. Their publications
on the Kaipu and Namome dialects of Fasu include dictionaries, grammars, primers, readers, journal articles, and collections
of Fasu stories. Their translation of the
New Testament from English to Fasu was dedicated on September 8, 1976 and quickly sold out among the Fasu people.
In 1978, May and Loeweke moved to the village of Simbine, where they studied the Kaukombaran language family, which includes
Maiani, Miani, Mala, and Maia. In Simbine they worked with the Bible Translation Association, training and advising Papua
New Guineans who were translating the
New Testament into their own languages. Loeweke and May also taught linguistics at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Sydney, Australia,
sponsored workshops on writing stories in local languages, and began using computers in their translation work.
After twenty-five years in Papua New Guinea, Eunice Loeweke began experiencing visual problems due to the chloroquine she
had been taking for malaria. She returned to the United States in 1986 and transferred to the Asia Core Group of Wycliffe.
From 1991-1992 she traveled in China and taught English at Guizhou University. She returned to Papua New Guinea in 1992 to
work with Jean May on a revision of the Fasu
New Testament in Ukarumpa. May retired in 1994 and returned to Australia. Loeweke returned to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1993, where she worked
with Chinese students from the University of Michigan. She passed away on April 18, 2011.
Acquired 2013.
Eunice Loeweke Collection, MSS 433. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Media is restricted. Researchers must request user copies be produced. Negatives in the negative archive are restricted. Researchers
must request permission to view negatives from the director of UCSD Special Collections & Archives.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Fasu language
Southern Highlands Province (Papua New Guinea)
Fasu (Papua New Guinean people)
Loeweke, Eunice -- Archives
May, Jean -- Correspondence