Box 2

Scope and Contents Increasing problems within mission personnel as strict standards of dress and doctrine were instituted. There was talk of war in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Somalia and expanding war between colonial powers. The Hoyts and Fords continued to divide the staff and locals by their Second Coming theology, creationism, and attitudes, and the Africans continued to complain about them. The Micheners submitted their resignations in December, requesting to be released when their tour was over. They...

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Bryan’s letter of January 5 described his and Edith’s hikes on the peaks of Kilimanjaro. He noted that plant collectors from Kew Gardens in England were collecting plants for identification. Edith and Bryan delayed their submitting their resignations until after the Friends Mission Board meeting at which time it would be decided if Friends should continue the mission. Italy invaded Ethiopia, and moral among the different missions continued to decline.

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Bryan expressed unhappiness that the U.S. in peace time was spending more money than any other nation on the military. Having been loaned to help at an adjacent hospital, on his return the Board reassigned him to serve as supervisor of the boys primary school, in charge of the educational department. Friends were holding large monthly revival meetings, by report, over 1,000 attending.

Scope and Contents Dr. Michener was holding duties at the school and filling in at the hospital as needed. Their son Robin was sent to boarding school for a better education. Their second son, Bryan Paul, was born in September. Bryan urged his mother to come to live with them in East Africa. They received the news that Kansas Yearly Meeting had resigned from the Five Years Meeting, putting the African Friends Board of Missions in an awkward position since over half of its workers were members of a yearly...

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A letter from Merle L. Davis, American Friends Mission Board, May 15, 1945, reports that Bryan Michener’s request to be considered for work in Africa was tabled at the board meeting. In 1960, the Micheners asked represent Missouri Valley Friends Conference at the Friends World Conference meeting in Kenya. Arrangements were explored but they were unable to go.

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Includes correspondence to the Mission Board, 1939, primarily about financial matters. The Micheners settled in Wichita, Kansas, and Bryan Michener went on lecture tour on behalf of the American Friends Board of Missions (Richmond, Indiana) to meetings in Indiana and Illinois.

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Personal correspondence received, most to Edith, from former students, teachers in Kenya

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The family went on vacation in January. They visited an American woman, Mrs. Morgan, born Thomason from a Philadelphia Quaker family, whose husband, an ex-British army officer, worked the gold fields while she managed the coffee plantation. In planning their six week voyage home on a freighter, they intended to visit the Cyril Harveys and Whitsons in Media, Pennsylvania, as well as friends in New York. Their final group letter was written from the Indian Ocean in July.

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Includes some later notes. Loose handwritten note: "These pages are before and after Super Master Notebooks. Many are originals."

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Correspondence with Merle Davis, Administrative Secretary of American Friends Board of Missions (Five Years Meeting), primarily about salaries. With five children to educate, Bryan Michener was unable to continue service in the African missions.