Skip to main content

Edman, V. Raymond (Victor Raymond), 1900-1967.

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1900 - 1967

Biographical Statement

Victor Raymond Edman was born in 1900 to Swedish immigrant parents and one of six children. He left home in 1918 to join the army and served for one year, spending much of that time in Allied-occupied Germany. After returning home, he attended college and became a missionary to the Quichua Indians in Ecuador from 1923 to 1928. During this time he married Edith Olson, whom he had met in the United States. He came to Wheaton College in 1936 as an associate professor of history and became the college’s fourth president in 1940, a position he held until he became chancellor in 1965.

During his term as president, the College expanded its financial endowments, its enrollment, and its campus. Fourteen major buildings were erected during his twenty-five year presidency. Buildings included Centennial Gymnasium, Memorial Student Center, Old Dining Hall, Smith Hall, Breyer Science Building, McAlister Conservatory, Health Center, Nicholas Library and Edman Chapel, named by the Trustees in his honor. During this time the College also acquired land for the Black Hills Science Station in South Dakota and HoneyRock Camp in Wisconsin.

Over the years Dr. Edman had a number of serious health problems: typhoid fever (from which he nearly died while in Ecuador), cataracts, gallstones, and ever-increasing heart attacks. One of these attacks, which finally proved fatal, occurred on September 22, 1967, while he delivered a chapel message entitled, “In the Presence of the King.”

Dr. Edman had been a very active public speaker with engagements in Africa, Europe, the Far and Near East, South America, and, of course, all over the United States. He authored nineteen books and numerous articles, most of them devotional in nature. Many were translated into several foreign languages. His correspondence often gave personal counsel and advice and reached thousands. He was a personal friend of Billy Graham and often worked with him on his crusades.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Collection 169 Oral History Interviews with Harold P. Adolph

 Collection
Identifier: CN 169
Scope and Contents Oral History Interview with Harold Paul Adolph, in which he discusses his boyhood in China as the son of missionaries with China Inland Mission, conditions in China, his education at Wheaton College, medical education at the University of Pennsylvania, decision to become a missionary, and his ministry in Ethiopia as a medical missionary in African with Sudan Interior Mission; American missions in Ethiopia; family life on the mission field, and work with the Christian Medical Society. The...
Dates: Created: 1981

Collection 225 Records of the Baptista Film Mission

 Collection
Identifier: CN 225
Scope and Contents Correspondence, diaries, newsletters, scripts, catalogs, films, and other material related to the work of the Baptista Film Mission. This collection contains much information on the beginnings of the Protestant evangelical Christian film industry. Included are films featured are evangelical and fundamentalist figures like V. Raymond Edman, Billy Graham, Henry A. Ironside, Bob Jones Jr., Paul Rader, Oswald J. Smith, and Walter Wilson and nondenominational organizations. Subjects documented...
Dates: Created: 1908-1977; Majority of material found in 1939-1963

Collection 317 Oral History Interview with Ian H. and Ruth E. Cook

 Collection
Identifier: CN 317
Scope and Contents Oral history interviews with Ian Harper Cooke and Ruth Eileen (Witmer) Cook, in which Ian describes his childhood and education in South Africa, college education at Wheaton College, training for missionary work, medical missions work in South Africa with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), the Zulus, apartheid, and the national church; and Ruth describes her childhood, conversion, and intention to become a missionary nurse, education at West Suburban Hospital and Wheaton College,...
Dates: Created: 1985

Filtered By

  • Subject: Evangelicalism. X
  • Subject: Animism. X

Additional filters:

Subject
Belief and doubt. 2
Children of missionaries. 2
Children. 2
Church and state. 2
Culture shock. 2
∨ more
Missionaries -- Training of. 2
Missionaries -- Appointment, call, and election. 2
Missionaries. 2
Missions, Medical. 2
Missions. 2
Tribes. 2
Amharic language. 1
Animism -- Central African Republic. 1
Animism -- Ethiopia. 1
Animism -- Nigeria. 1
Animism -- South Africa. 1
Apartheid. 1
Audio-visual materials -- United States. 1
Audio-visual materials. 1
Belief and doubt -- Sermons. 1
Bible -- Publication and distribution. 1
Bible -- Sermons. 1
Bible. 1
Boarding schools -- South Africa. 1
Boarding schools. 1
Catholic Church -- Missions. 1
Catholic Church -- Protestant churches. 1
Catholic Church. 1
Catholic Church. -- Missions -- South Africa. 1
Catholic Church. -- South Africa. 1
Children -- Religious life. 1
Children -- United States 1
Children -- United States -- Conversion to Christianity. 1
Children -- United States -- Religious life. 1
China -- History -- 1937-1945. 1
China -- History -- Civil War, 1945-1949. 1
China -- History. 1
Chinese -- Missions. 1
Chinese language. 1
Chinese. 1
Christian drama, American. 1
Christian education -- United States. 1
Christian education. 1
Christianity and culture. 1
Christianity and other religions. 1
Church and social problems. 1
Church and state -- Ethiopia. 1
Church and state -- Vietnam. 1
Church work with women. 1
Communism -- China. 1
Communism -- Ethiopia. 1
Communism. 1
Conversion -- Sermons. 1
Discrimination -- South Africa. 1
Discrimination. 1
Education 1
Education -- South Africa. 1
Education, Higher 1
Education, Higher -- United States. 1
Eschatology -- Sermons. 1
Eschatology. 1
Ethiopia 1
Ethiopia -- History 1
Ethiopia -- History -- Revolution, 1974. 1
Ethiopia -- Religion. 1
Evangelicalism -- Relations -- Judaism. 1
Evangelicalism -- South Africa. 1
Evangelicalism -- United States. 1
Evangelistic invitations. 1
Evangelistic sermons. 1
Evangelistic work -- Central African Republic. 1
Evangelistic work -- China. 1
Evangelistic work -- Ethiopia. 1
Evangelistic work -- Japan. 1
Evangelistic work -- Korea. 1
Evangelistic work -- Mexico. 1
Evangelistic work -- Nigeria. 1
Evangelistic work -- Philosophy. 1
Evangelistic work -- South Africa. 1
Evangelistic work -- United States. 1
Evangelistic work -- Vietnam. 1
Faith -- Sermons. 1
Faith. 1
Family. 1
Ferrin, Howard William -- Sermons. 1
France 1
France -- Colonies 1
France -- Colonies -- Asia. 1
Fundamentalism. 1
Girls 1
Girls -- United States 1
Girls -- United States -- Religious life. 1
Graham, Billy -- 1918-2018 -- Sermons 1
Great Commission (Bible) 1
Great Commission (Bible) -- Sermons. 1
Hispanic Americans -- Religious life. 1
∧ less