Collection 477 Papers of Stanley R. Kline

Collection

Identifier: CN 477

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Oral history interviews with Stanley R. Kline and extensive photo albums, relating to Kline’s missionary service in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo) with Africa Inland Mission (AIM) from 1940 to 1977. Topics covered in interview include: his family background in Philadelphia, conversion, Percy Crawford's influence, evangelism in Philadelphia, rescue mission work, call to missions, his wife Carmel Anthony, his evangelism and educational work in the Congo between 1940 and 1977, the transition from mission to national authority in the Africa Inland Church, work among pygmies, his work as treasurer for the Belgian Congo field, African church leaders, evacuations from Zaire in 1960 and 1964, short-term vs. career missionaries issue, Belgian administration of the Congo, spiritual hardships of missionary work, memories of colleagues retirement in 1982. Photo albums provide a visual record of almost all African Inland Mission workers of the twentieth century.

Dates

Created: 1930-1999

Biographical Information

Full Name: Stanley Roy Kline

Birth Date: October 20, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Death Date: April 8, 1999

Family:

Parents: Hary Rusk Kline and Wilhemina Katharine (Fisher) Kline

Siblings: Ruth Estelle (Kline) Lorenz

Marital Status: Married Carmel Anthony in 1940 in the Belgian Congo

Children: Two children, Gary Kline and Coralee (Kline ) Hirst

Conversion: Saved June 11, 1932, at a street evangelistic meeting

Education:

1933-1937 Philadelphia School of the Bible

Career:

early 1930s Worked at medical publishing house

mid 1930s Involved as a volunteer in youth program of Percy Crawford in Philadelphia

1939 Joined Africa Inland Mission

1940-1945 Served at Aba and Aungba, Belgian Congo, involved in out station work and boy's school

1945-1946 Furlough to United States

1947-1953 Served at Maitulu Ruwenzori, Belgian Congo

1953-1954 Furlough in United States

1954-1957 Worked among the Wanandi, Babuba and pygmy peoples at Oicha, Belgian Congo

1957-1959 Treasurer for the Belgian Congo field, with office at Rethy

1960-1961 Served in Aba, Belgian Congo

1961-1976 Treasurer for the Belgian Congo field, with office at Rethy

1961-1964 Served in Rethy, Belgian Congo

1964 Evacuated with other missionaries to Kenya through Uganda during the conflict in the Congo

1964 Briefly assigned to Eldoret, Kenya

1965 Worked at YMCA in Kisumu, Kenya, for the first half of the year

1965-1966 Furlough to the United States

1966-1976 Served in Rethy, Zaire

1977-1980 Assisted in starting the AIM's work in the Seychelles Islands

1980 Returned to the United States

1980-1982 AIM's representative in the Middle Atlantic States of the United States

1982 Retired with his wife to AIM's media Retirement center in Florida

Extent

3.44 Cubic Feet (Audio Tapes, Photo Albums, Photograph)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement of Materials

Series: Audio tapes

Arrangement: Chronological in the order in which they were recorded

Date range: Tapes were all recorded January 1993; topics cover the period of 1911-1982

Volume: 7 reels of tape, .14 cubic feet

Geographic coverage: Philadelphia, Congo, Kenya, Seychelles Islands

Type of documents: Oral history interviews

Notes: Stanley Kline was interviewed by Paul Ericksen on January 18-20, 1993, at Africa Inland Mission's retirement center (also known as Media) in Clermont, Florida. The events described in the interview cover the time period 1911-1982.

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Series: Photo albums

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date range: Actual documents are from ca. 1930s to 1999, but the mission careers of the people described cover the 1890s to the 1990s

Volume: 22 folders

Geographic coverage: Central African Republic, Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

Type of documents: Photos, magazine or newspaper clippings or Xeroxes of clippings, brief biographic notes

Notes: Stanley Kline, apparently in retirement, kept a visual record of what appears to be all or almost all of the AIM staff from at least the 1930s on, from all the various sending fields, not just the United States. Also included a few African AIC leaders and home staff as well. Pasted onto loose notebook pages in several loose-leaf notebooks are clippings, photographs, programs, typed and handwritten notes and similar material for each missionary. Husbands and wives are together, but if a child of missionaries grew up to become an AIM missionary, they would have their own page. Most of the clippings came from Inland Africa or other AIM publications. Sometimes there is just one or two pictures of a missionary, while in other case there are several pages of pictures, brief texts, and notes apparently by Kline on the AIM worker's biography. This is an extremely valuable record of AIM missionaries.

Accruals and Additions

The materials in this collection were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives by Stanley and Carmel Kline in 1993 and 1999.

Accession 93-9, 93-98, 99-70

March 21, 2000

Robert Shuster

R. Williams