BRETHREN HISTORICAL LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES

Title:    Ecuador

Series:  4/1/8

Boxes: 1 records center box

History: The Church of the Brethren began its presence in Ecuador in 1943 when the Brethren Service Committee opened a Boys= Club, called Club Brethren, in Quito, under the direction of  Kurtis Naylor.  Later directors were Galen and Mirna Wolfe.  In 1946 a rural mission was established by the Foreign Mission Commission on a farm called Bella Vista, in the Calderon Valley twelve miles north-east of Quito.  The first missionaries were Benton and Ruby Rhoades.  Other missionaries during the 1940s and 1950s included Galen and Mirna Wolfe, Rolland and Josephone Flory, Wilma and George Kreps, and Faye Koontz.  By the 1950s, the mission ran a school and clinic.  The first work camp in South America was held in Ecuador at Bella Vista in 1956.  By 1964 six Ecuadorian congregations formed the Evangelical Church of the Brethren.  This church body joined the congregations of the United Andean Indian Mission in July, 1965, to form the United Evangelical Church of Ecuador.

Description of the Records: These records cover a span of almost two decades, from 1941 to 1956.  The earliest records contain survey materials of Ecuador, including studies of its peoples, geography, politics, and economy, as well as correspondence concerning the opening and running of Club Brethren.  The majority of correspondence from Bella Vista consists of letters between the missionaries (the Rhoadeses, Wolfes, Florys, and Faye Koontz) and Leland S. Brubaker, secretary of the Foreign Mission Commission.  They detail the day-to-day concerns of the mission as well as more singular occurrences, including the January 1956 slaying of five missionaries by Auca Indians and the 1949 earthquake in Ecuador. 

Provenance: Accession number 2001.025.     

Restrictions: The file Kinzie (Vernon) visit 1954" is restricted as a personnel file.            

Separations: Separations were made and separation sheets inserted.  Typed lists of all Gospel Messenger clippings removed were inserted into two files that consisted mostly of such clippings.

Processor: Katie Yelinek, July 19, 2001.        

Container List:

Box 1  File 1 - Ecuador Work Camp 1956

File 2 - Minutes and Reports 1956

File 3 - CorrespondenceMission 1956

File 4 - CorrespondenceGeneral 1956

File 5 - Deputation 1955 BrubakerRobinson

File 6 - CorrespondenceMission 1955

                                    File 7 - ReportsB1955

File 8 - CorrespondenceGeneral 1955

File 9 - CorrespondenceGeneral 1954

File 10 - CorrespondenceMission 1954

File 11 - Gospel Messengers on Ecuador 1951-1954

File 12 - Kinzie (Vernon) Visit 1954 RESTRICTED

File 13 - Reports1954

File 14 - Correspondence1953

File 15 - Reports1953

File 16 - Correspondence1952

File 17 - Harness1952

File 18 - Heifer Project1951

File 19 - Deputation1951 Brubaker-Baugher

File 20 - Correspondence1951

File 21 - Cabuyas in Calderon 1951 Slide Script

File 22 - Correspondence1950

File 23 - Correspondence1949

File 24 - Correspondence1948

File 25 - Report of Survey Comm. 1947

File 26 - Correspondence1947

File 27 - Deputation1946 Russell-Minnich

File 28 - Correspondence1946

File 29 - History of Work in Ecuador

File 30 - Correspondence1945

File 31 - Administrative Visit 1944

File 32 - Correspondence1944

File 33 - Correspondence1943

File 34 - Correspondence1942

File 35 - Correspondence1941

File 36 - Pamphlets: Brethren Missions in Ecuador, Our Churches in Other Lands, and Five Years Advance Program

File 37 - Ethnographic and Mission Notes in Llano Grande

File 38 - Com. On Cooperation in Latin America (DFM Area Committee)

File 39 - Messenger clippings, reports 1950s

File 40 - Messenger clippings, reports 1942-1947