]> ms.69 Ernest Bueding Collection (l929-87) of Albert Schweitzer Letters Ms. 69 Cynthia H. Requardt Special Collections, The Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 USA Phone: (410) 516-8323

Machine-readable finding aid encoded by David Reynolds Finding aid written in English Ernest Bueding Collection (l929-87) of Albert Schweitzer Letters Ms. 69 Special CollectionsThe Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University January l988 Contact Information Special Collections The Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University 3400 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 (410) 516-8323 Processed by: Cynthia H. Requardt Date completed: January l988 Encoded by: David Reynolds

Descriptive Summary Ms. 69 Ernest Bueding Collection of Albert Schweitzer Letters l929-87 Bueding, Ernest, 1910-1986 Johns Hopkins University. Special Collections l document box; l folio box (.75 linear feet) English The materials in this collection were collected to document the friendship between Dr. Albert Schweitzer and Dr. Ernest Bueding. The collection consists of original manuscript letters of Albert Schweitzer, correspondence of Dr. Bueding concerning Schweitzer's work, printed material about Schweitzer, and original and copy photographs of Schweitzer. Administrative Information Provenance

The letters were donated in part by Ernest Bueding in l98l and added to by his widow in l988.

The letters written by Albert Schweitzer, the copy of Schweitzer's A L'Oree de la Foret Vierge, and the copy photographs were donated by Dr. Ernest Bueding in l98l. Mrs. Bueding donated Dr. Bueding's correspondence with the drug companies, one photograph and the printed material in l988.

Use Restrictions

Access to the papers is unrestricted.

Permission to publish material from this collection must be requested in writing from the Manuscripts Librarian, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Md. 21218.

Preferred Citation

Ernest Bueding Collection of Albert Schweitzer Letters Ms. 69 Special Collections Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University

Biographical Note

Albert Schweitzer (l875-l965) was an Alsatian musician, philosopher, physician, missionary, and author. For over fifty years until his death Schweitzer operated a medical mission at Lambarene in what was then French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon). Ernest Bueding was a parasite biochemist and pharmacologist who shared Schwitzer's interest in medicine and music.

Bueding first met Schweitzer when he was a young student in Paris in the early l930s working part-time at the Pasteur Institute. At that time Schweitzer was hospitalized in the Institute impatiently awaiting the results of tests of a vaccine for yellow fever--tests in which Schweitzer insisted that he himself be the guinea pig before he would allow the vaccine to be used on his patients at Lambarene. Ernest Bueding, as the youngest member of the staff, was delegated to be the person who should help Dr. Schweitzer pass the time. The young Bueding was delighted at the suggestion of meeting Schweitzer whom he revered, not so much for his work as a doctor, which was relatively unknown at the time, but as a musician and author of a definitive book on J.S. Bach. After Bueding, himself an accomplished musician, asked Dr. Schweitzer to sign a copy of his book on Bach, there developed a friendship which was to last until Albert Schweitzer's death.

By the mid-l940s Bueding had completed his training as a parasite biochemist and pharmacologist, and he renewed his interest in Schweitzer's medical work especially his work with leprosy. Bueding helped procure drugs for Schweitzer to use at his mission. The two corresponded until l957, but Dr. Bueding retained his interest in Schweitzer's work by collecting material about Schweitzer until Bueding's death in l986.

Description of Series/Container List Series l: Correspondence Series l: Correspondence, 1945-57 1 box

Arranged alphabetically

Bueding began corresponding with Schweitzer in l945 when he began helping to further Schweitzer's work. Schweitzer wrote to Bueding of the drugs which would aid his work, and Bueding contacted drug companies. He hoped to persuade the companies to donate the needed drugs. If not, the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in New York would purchase the drugs and have them shipped to Lambarene. The correspondence includes carbon copies of Bueding's requests to drug companies and their replies. A list of the companies in in the Container List. There is also correspondence with the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and the American Mission for Lepers. While most of these letters deal with procuring supplies, there is some discussion of Schweitzer's trip to the United States in l949.

Albert Schweitzer's letters to Bueding are in response to this work by Bueding. The letters are in German and French. Translations of the German letters are in the collection. In the letters Schweitzer described his work and the effects of the drugs Bueding sent. The letters also give a vivid picture of the hard time Schweitzer had carving out and maintaining a medical mission in the harsh jungle climate.

Box Contents 1 Abbott Laboratories (l949) 1 Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (l946 Everett Skillings) (l948-50 Emory Ross) 1 American Mission to Lepers (l946-47) 1 Ciba Pharmaceutical Products (l945-46 Ernest Oppenheimer) 1 Cleveland Plain Dealer (l949) 1 Harshaw Chemical Company (l946) 1 Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. (l945-46) 1 Industrial Sales Corporation (l946) 1 Lederle Laboratories (l949) 1 Lilly (Eli) and Company (l949) 1 Merck and Company (l949) 1 Parke, Davis and Company (l945, l950) 1 Schweitzer, Albert (photocopies of originals; translations of German letters) 1 Searle (G.D.) and Company (l949) 1 Squibb (l946) 1 Winthrop Chemical Company (l946-49) 1 Wyeth Institute of Applied Biochemistry (l946, l950 Joseph Seifter) 2 Schweitzer, Albert (l945-57 originals) 2 Schweitzer, Albert. A L'Oree de la Foret Vierge (l929) Series 2: Printed Material Series 2: Printed Material, l947-87 1/2 box

This series consists of printed material collected by Dr. Bueding about Schweitzer. There is material on several Schweitzer organizations such as the Albert Schweitzer House in Gunsbach and the Albert Schweitzer Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Included also is a copy of Schweitzer's A L'Oree de la Foret Vierge (l929) which was inscribed by Schweitzer to Bueding's aunt and uncle Salomon and Rose Reinach.

Box Contents 1 Albert Schweitzer Center 1 Albert Schweitzer Fellowship 1 Albert Schweitzer House, Gunsbach 1 Cahiers Albert Schweitzer 1 articles about Schweitzer 1 newspaper clippings 2 Schweitzer, Albert. A L'Oree de la Foret Vierge (1929) Series 3: Photographs Series 3: Photographs, l940s-55 7 items

This series includes five copy photographs of Schweitzer. Several were taken by the Buedings during a visit to Gunsbach in [l955 ?] One photograph is of a young Schweitzer at his organ and is inscribed to Bueding. The originals are owned by Mrs. Ernest Bueding. There is one original photograph of Schweitzer and patients taken at Lambarene. It was taken by Erica Anderson. There is also a copy of a drawing of the mission at Lambarene inscribed to Dr. Bueding.

Box Contents 1 Schweitzer and patients, Lambarene 1 Schweitzer at organ 1 Schweitzer on the river [l946?] 1 Schweitzer at Gunsbach [l955?] 2 items 1 Schweitzer and Ernest Bueding at Gunsbach [l955] 1 drawing of Lambarene