PITTS THEOLOGY LIBRARY
ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS DEPT.

FULLER, CHARLES EDWARD, 1907- .
Papers, 1908-1988.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 246


EXTENT: 14 cubic ft. (21 legal size archives boxes, 2 oversize legal boxes, 3 card file boxes, 2 slide collection boxes, and 1 oversize folder)

ACCESS: Unrestricted

REPRODUCTION: All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

COPYRIGHT: Information on copyright (literary rights) available from repository.

CITATION: Charles Edward Fuller Papers, MSS 246, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.


Biographical Note

Charles Edward Fuller was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 23, 1907 to John Charles and Elizabeth Kohn Fuller.  He grew up in the Cheltenham township and graduated from Cheltenham High School in 1925.  After graduating from Dickinson Seminary in 1926 he became a supply pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church.  He received his B.A. in Bible and Theology from Juniata College in 1936.  In 1938 he received both a M.A. in History and Literature of Religion from Northwestern University and a M.Div. from Garrett Theological Seminary.  Fuller completed his formal education with a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Northwestern University in 1955.

Fuller was a Methodist pastor and missionary as well as a scholar.  He was received "on trial" in 1930 in the Central Pennsylvania Conference and into "full connection" in 1933.  In the Central Pennsylvania Conference he served the charges of Riddlesburg and Burnt Cabins, and he served the Cherry Tree charge in the Western Pennsylvania Conference.  Fuller also served charges in the Missouri East Conference in the 1950s.  From 1939 to 1951 he served as a missionary in southeast Africa including Mozambique from 1939 to 1942, South Africa from 1942-1945, and Southern Rhodesia where he was Superintendent of Schools from 1947 to 1951.  The Methodist missionary was also the associate editor of The Africa Christian Advocate during his tenure in Southern Rhodesia.

Except for brief assignments or visits to Africa during the 1960s, Fuller spent his career in the United States in academia.  He was a professor of theology and anthropology at the Missouri School of Religion at the University of Missouri, Columbia from 1953 to 1964; a professor of anthropology at Scarritt College in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1967; and a professor of anthropology at St. John's University from 1968 to 1972 where he was Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology from 1970 until his retirement at the end of 1972.  Following his retirement Fuller was a visiting professor at Florida Southern College in Lakeland for seven years.  He lived the remainder of his life in Rabun County, Georgia.

Fuller married Edna Marie Worthing on June 6, 1931 and had two children, Charles Edward, Jr. and Judith Anne.  He died on March 17, 1990 in Clayton, Georgia.


Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of writings by Charles Edward Fuller and others regarding missionaries in Africa, African anthropology, and social issues and political events in Africa. The collection also contains other writings by Fuller including sermons, essays, and dramas.  Fuller collected African periodicals, especially those produced by the Methodist church, as well as other publications pertaining to missionary work in Africa.  His subject files consist primarily of printed newsletters, articles from publications, printed letters from missionaries, and reports from various agencies.  The bulk of the written material is from 1937 to 1980.  Course material from Fuller's classes include some notes and syllabi but the bulk of this material consists of overhead transparencies, maps and other visual aids.

A major component of the collection is Fuller's photographic images of Africa taken from the late 1940s through the 1960s.  His slides document places, cultures, people, worship and social functions, plants, and animals as well as vacations, family, and friends in the United States.  Many of the slides document the activities of the United Methodist Church in south Africa.  Among the specific countries and places where photographic images were taken are Botswana, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Inhambane in Mozambique, and South Africa.  The slides are numbered according to the original unit in which each group was housed, i.e., carousel, slide box, or loose in a paper bag.  Each unique grouping or unit was assigned a number.  Handwritten slide listings that appeared to accompany a unit of slides are identified with the unit number and housed in a separate folder, however, researchers should be aware that many of the listings do not seem to correspond with the images in the unit.  A detailed slide listing is available in the repository.


CONTAINER LISTING
BOX/FOLDER      DESCRIPTION                                DATES
                Course material:
21/1            Africa                                     n.d.
21/2            [Africa]                                   1971, n.d.
21/3            [Anthropology] - [Family relationships]    n.d.
                Maps:
21/4               Africa for class use                    n.d.
21/5               Africa climate and geography            1966
21/6               Africa - Colonial rulers                n.d.
21/7               Southern Africa cultures                1968
21/8               Africa language families                1970
21/9               Africa - Outline                        n.d.
21/10              Peoples of Africa                       1968-1973
21/11              Southern Africa peoples of Zambia       1973
21/12              Africa and races                        1970
21/13              Tribal map of Africa [fragile]          n.d.
21/14              Veg./Culture                            1924-1958
21/15              Africa - Miscellaneous                  1936-1966
21/16              Africa - Miscellaneous                  1949-1969
21/17              Africa - Miscellaneous                  1966-1967
                Overhead transparency graphics:
21/18              Economies of Africa                     n.d.
21/19              African elevations                      n.d.
21/20              Geography of Africa                     n.d.
21/21              African kingdoms                        n.d.
21/22              African languages                       n.d.
21/23              [Africa maps]                           n.d.
22/1               Africa races                            n.d.
22/2               Africa regions                          n.d.
22/3               Africa in the world                     n.d.
22/4               [Anthropology]                          n.d.
22/5               [Anthropology]                          n.d.
22/6               [Anthropology]                          n.d.
22/7               [Anthropology]                          n.d.
22/8            Sociology/Anthropology                     n.d.
22/9            Syllabi and notes                          ca.1960-1970s
22/10           Miscellaneous                              1955-1972
22/11           Miscellaneous                              n.d.
23              Filmstrips                                 n.d.
23/1            Filmstrip aids                             n.d.

                Photographic material:
1/4             Photographs                                ca. 1950s, n.d.
27              Slides                                     ca. 1930s -1980
28              Slides                                     ca. 1930s -1980
23/2            Slide listings                             n.d.

                Publications:
                Books:
2/1                Juta's modern teaching atlas for South 
                      African schools                      n.d.
2/2                Ortmayer, Roger.  Sing and pray and  
                      shout hurray                         1974
2/3                Strong, Kendrick.  He actually lived
                      in our midst                         1982
2/4             Catalog - Hunting World                    1969
                Clippings:
2/5                                                        1940
2/6                                                        1952
2/7                The Times British Colonies Review       1952
2/8                                                        1953
2/9                                                        1954-1957
2/10                                                       1960-1966
2/11                                                       1967
2/12                                                       1968-1969
2/13                                                       1973
2/14                                                       n.d.
2/15            [Hymnal and catechism in Tonga (?)
                   language]                               1945, n.d.
2/16            Journal articles                           1937-1966
2/17            Journal articles - M. D. W. Jeffreys       1941-1953
                Literature:
3/1                Africa                                  1956-1966
3/2                Botswana                                n.d.
3/3                British West Africa                     1947-1951
3/4                China                                   1972
3/5                French colonies in Africa               n.d.
                Methodist Episcopal Church missions - 
3/6                Inhambane                               1908-ca. 1936
3/7                Methodist Church missions               1939-1968
3/8                United Methodist Church missions        1972-1974
3/9                Morocco                                 1951
3/10               Mozambique                              1925-1964
3/11               Other denominations                     1963, n.d.
4/1                Rhodesia                                ca. 1930s-1960s
4/2                South Africa                            ca. 1930s-1960s
4/3             Maps                                       n.d.
4/4             Pamphlets                                  1936-1939
                Periodicals:
4/5                Africa Christian Advocate               1943-1944
4/6                Africa Christian Advocate               1945-1948
4/7                Africa Christian Advocate               1949
4/8                Africa Christian Advocate               1952-1955
4/9                Africa Christian Advocate               1956-1959
4/10               Africa Christian Advocate               1960-1963
5/1                Africa Christian Advocate               1964-1966
5/2                Africa Christian Advocate               1967-1969
5/3                Africa Confidential                     1967-1968
5/4                Africa Fact Sheet                       1964, n.d.
5/5                Africa Letter                           1963-1964
5/6                Africa Today                            1959
5/7                African-American Bulletin               1955, 1969
5/8                African News                            1954-1955
5/9                American Friends Service Committee
                      newsletter                           n.d.
5/10               American Universities Field Staff
                      newsletter                           1955
5/11               Christian Century                       1954
5/12               Christian Economics                     1962-1967
5/13               Christianity and Crisis                 1966
5/14               Christianity Today                      1964
5/15               Cultural Events in Africa               1965
5/16               Cultural Events in Africa               1966
5/17               Cultural Events in Africa               1967
5/18               Cultural Events in Africa               1968
6/1                Cultural Events in Africa               1969
6/2                Focus                                   1950-1954
6/3                Foreign Affairs                         1953
6/4                Inhambane Christian Advocate            1909-1920
6/5                Maryknoll                               1954
6/6                [Missionary newsletters]                1953-1968
6/7                Rhodesia Calling                        1964
6/8                Rhodesia Missionary Advocate            1909
6/9                South Africa Missionary Advocate        1922
6/10               South Africa Missionary Advocate        1923
6/11               South Africa Missionary Advocate        1924
6/12               South Africa Missionary Advocate        1938-1939
6/13               South Africa Missionary Advocate        1940-1942
6/14               Southern African Sentinel               1954
6/15               Standard Book Review                    1966
6/16               Toward Freedom                          1953-1954
6/17               WUS [World University Service]
                      in Action                            1966

                Publicity files:
1/5             Bulletins and programs                     1951-1963, 1978
1/6             Clippings - Africa                         1964, n.d.
1/7                Belle Methodist Church                  1963-1964
1/8                Community Methodist Church              1957-1960
1/9                [Extension of Columbia city limits]     1953
1/10               Florida                                 1974-1975
1/11               "From the Bible"                        n.d.
1/12               Fuller and Gillet                       n.d.
1/13               Fuller family                           1952-1955, n.d.
1/14               Missouri School of Religion             1953-1957
1/15               Optimists Club                          1963, n.d.
1/16               Scarritt College                        1964-1965
1/17               Speaking engagements                    1953-1966, n.d.
1/18               Work in Africa                          1938, 1961-1963
1/19               Miscellaneous                           1974
1/20            Conferences, academic speaking engagements 1952-1971
1/21            Newsletter articles                        1953-1964
1/22            Press releases                             1956-1957, n.d.

                Subject files:
7/1             Africa Mandates Commission                 n.d.
7/2-4           Africa Studies Association                 1965-1970
7/5             Africa Studies Association - Newsletter    1967-1968
7/6             Africa Studies Association - Roster of
                   fellows                                 1966-1969
7/7             American-African Affairs Association, Inc. 
                   special studies                         1966-1968
7/8             American Committee to Keep Biafra Alive,
                   Inc. statement and newsletter           1967-1969
7/9             American Society of African Culture (AMSAC)1966
7/10            British Information Services reports       1948-1952
8/1             Department of State Background Notes       1968-1973
8/2             Department of State. Bureau of Intelligence
                   and Research                            1965
8/3             Fisk University Program of African Studies 1943
8/4             [French Information Service]               1953-1954
8/5             Golden case (Rhodesia)                     1962
8/6             [Influence of church in Africa] 1953-1961, n.d.
8/7             Institute for Current World Affairs report 1952-1953
8/8             International African Institute            1947
8/9             Kenya                                      1961, n.d.
8/10            Laymen's Movement for a Christian World    n.d.
8/11            Methodist Church. Board of Missions -
                   Angola                                  1961-1962
8/12            Methodist Church. Board of Missions and
                   Church Extension. Division of Foreign
                   Missions                                1952-1962
8/13            Methodist Church (Africa) Board of
                   Missions - Rhodesia and Southeast
                   Africa                                  1962-1967
8/14            Methodist Church in Africa miscellaneous
                   papers                                  1942-1968
9/1             National Council of the Churches of Christ
                   in the U.S.A. - Africa Committee
                   minutes                                 1952, 1965
9/2             Northwestern University - African Studies
                   Program                                 1952, 1970-1971
9/3-4           Portuguese Freedom Movements [Mozambique]  1963-1969
9/5             Rhodesia newsletters                       1961-1970
9/6             South Africa, Republic of - Information
                   sheet                                   n.d.
9/7             Southwest Africa Volunteer Enterprise,
                   Inc.                                    1964
9/8             Urbanization in Africa                     1952-1954
9/9             United Methodist Church. Board of Global
                   Ministries                              1977
9/10            United Nations Economic Commission for
                   Africa                                  1967
9/11            United States Committee for Refugees       1963-1967
9/12            World Understanding Workshop proceedings -
                   Kitwe, Zambia                           1966 Sept 2-10
9/13            WUS Symposium on South Africa              1966
9/14            Zimbabwe Refugee and Prisoners Fund        1966

                Writings by Fuller:
10/1            Africa - Ethnographic                      n.d.
10/2            Africa - Historical                        n.d.
10/3            Aging-Dying - Death                        n.d.
10/4            Aging-Dying - Aging among southern Africa
                   Bandu                                   n.d.
                [Articles and papers]:
10/5               [Articles]                              ca. 1950s, n.d.
10/6               [Botswana]                              ca. 1967
10/7               Botswana: one of Africa's newest
                      nations                              ca. 1960s
10/8               Mission                                 n.d.
10/9               [Mission]                               n.d.
10/10              [Miscellaneous]                         n.d.
10/11              [Poverty]                               n.d.
10/12              [Upper Room]                            n.d.
10/13           [Biblical] - Saul and Paul                 n.d.
11/1            Biographical - [Don Gonçalo da Silveira]   n.d.
11/2            Biographical - [Andre Fernandes]           n.d.
11/3            Biographical - Biographical shorts         n.d.
11/4            Children's stories                         n.d.
11/5            Children's stories                         n.d.
11/6            Children's stories - Spotty and
                   Children's [?]                          n.d.
11/7            Dissertation: Some conditioning factors
                   in the Development of the Bantu
                   religion                                1938
                Drama:
11/8               A backwoods Christmas                   n.d.
11/9               Behind the beginning of Methodism       ca. 1980s
11/10              The Christ of the cross                 ca. 1980s
12/1               The expected one                        1979
12/2               Flashback for Barnabas                  n.d.
12/3               The last words of Jesus                 n.d.
12/4               This free land of ours                  1983
12/5               [Miscellaneous short pieces]            n.d.
                Fiction-Shorts:
12/6               An African witch's son                  n.d.
12/7               Devil's point jinx                      n.d.
12/8               The racket they couldn't beat           n.d.
12/9               Short story ideas                       n.d.
12/10           Fiction - Juvenile                         n.d.
12/11           Fiction - Short - Mysteries                n.d.
                Historical novels and shorts - Religious: 
12/12              The destroyer [Esther]                  n.d.
12/13              The kingdom and the glory               n.d.
12/14              Mark                                    n.d.
12/15              To see or not to see                    n.d.
12/16           [Letters to the editor]                    ca. 1980s
                [Manuscripts - unpublished]:
13/1-14            Offering abundant life                  1988
14/1                  Final manuscript [Duplicate]         1988
14/2               God's word through Daniel to all ages   1986
14/3               Tell me the stories of Jesus            1987
14/4-9             Unidentified manuscript re: Africa      n.d.
12/17           Novels - Secular - Precision Murder        1946
12/18           Novels - Precision Murder script 16        n.d.
15/1-3          Personality identity                       1982, n.d.
                Poems-songs:
15/4               Poems                                   n.d.
15/5               Songs                                   n.d.
15/6               [Fragments and miscellaneous]           n.d.
15/7               Songs by others                         n.d.
                Religion-sc study:
15/8               [Religion in culture]                   n.d.
15/9               Ancestors, spirits and mundane affairs
                      in China                             n.d.
15/10              An anthropological view of religion and
                      the projective                       n.d.
15/11              Religion as ethnic and non-ethnic       n.d.
15/12              Religious or projective behavior in the 
                      functional aspects of culture        n.d.
15/13              An overview of religion as projective
                      behavior integral with cultural
                      forms, functions and meanings        n.d.
15/14              The osmosis of Christianity and culture n.d.
15/15              [Anthropology and religion]             n.d.
15/16              [Short essays]                          n.d.
15/17              [Miscellaneous]                         n.d.
                Sermon material:
15/18               [Loose items]                          1961, 1964, n.d.
15/19               Sermon material, poems, etc.           n.d.
16/1                Sermon subjects                        n.d.
16/2                Sermons: General                       n.d.
16/3                Sermons: Missionary                    1950s, n.d.
16/4                Worship                                1957-1963, n.d.
                Sermons:
16/5                                                       n.d.
16/6               Complete                                ca. 1970s - 1980s
16/7               Ideas                                   n.d.
16/8               [Parson's Corner]                       1980-1982, n.d.
16/9               Short shorts - [A Communion meditation] n.d.
                [Short essays]:
16/10              Alternatives to mammon?                 ca. 1980s
16/11              Dealing with the defamation of Jesus    1988
16/12              Early Methodism - American heritage     ca. 1980s
16/13              John and other new testament writings   ca. 1988
16/14              Mission                                 n.d.
16/15              My cats have been persons               ca. 1980s
16/16              The old class meeting                   1984
16/17              What does the Bible say?                ca. 1988
16/18              Worship                                 n.d.
16/19              [Miscellaneous]                         n.d.
17/1            Miscellaneous shorts [1]                   n.d.
17/2            Miscellaneous shorts [2]                   n.d.
17/3            Miscellaneous shorts [3]                   n.d.
17/4            Miscellaneous shorts - ABC's of life       n.d.
                Theological:
17/5               [Evolution]                             1966, n.d.
17/6               Matthew and the lordship of Christ      n.d.
17/7               A third testament                       n.d.
17/8               [Miscellaneous]                         n.d.
17/9            [Miscellaneous]                            1968
17/10           [Miscellaneous]                            n.d.
17/11           [Miscellaneous] - [incomplete]             n.d.
17/12           [Miscellaneous writings in spiral bound
                   notebook]                               n.d.
24              Bibliography file by subject               n.d.

                Writings by others:
17/13           Clifford, G. M. Copied from the Igala
                   Chiefdom                                n.d.
17/14           Collins, Patricia.  Early Batwana
                   history. . . an account given by elders
                   of the tribe in 1906                    1971
17/15-16        Helgesson, Alf.  The Tshwa response to 
                   Christianity                            1971
18/1            Marcus, Harold G. A Historian's view of
                   Bantu origins                           n.d.
18/2            Mills, Joan-Marie. The Origin and social
                   development of witchcraft and
                   divinatory processes in African
                   societies                               1969
25              Murdock, George P. African cultural
                   summaries.  Unpublished manuscript,
                   pp 1-1150 [card file]                   1958    
26              Murdock, George P. pp 1151-2339 [          1958
18/3-5          Nelson, Kathryn W. Child rearing patterns
                   in a Lulua village of South Central
                   Congo                                   1968
18/6-7          Schirling, Robert C. Cross cultural
                   perspectives                            1969
18/8            Simmons, Donald. The Effects of
                   Christianity on an African society      n.d.
19/1            Africa: analysis of a continent            n.d.
19/2            African Studies Association papers
                   delivered at November meeting           1967
19/3            American missionaries in Africa            n.d.
19/4            Anthropology in the armed services         1958
19/5            South Africa MA thesis                     n.d.
19/6            525 Colonial Africa: Good papers on
                   general backgrounds                     n.d.
19/7            Course and history of Southern Africa
                   papers                                  1968
19/8-9          Student term papers                        1966-1968
19/10-11        Symposium: African Refugee Problem papers  1967
20/1            [Tsonga Bible and Tswana Bible]            1967
20/2            [Miscellaneous papers]                     1936-1970

                Writings by unknown author:
20/3            Manuscript re: Gwambe missionaries         n.d.
20/4            Unidentified fragments                     n.d.

                Miscellaneous:
1/1             Biographical information - vita            ca. 1950s-1980s
1/2             Correspondence                             1952-1988
1/3             Miscellaneous                              1937-1977
Oversize        Oil painting on canvas: "Facsimile of
folder             ancient Cave Painting in South
                   Rhodesia", by C.E. Fuller               n.d.


Last Modified: 04/01/2005