Daniel L. (1882-1969) and Edith B. (1889-1977) Mumpower, Papers, 1913-1964 (C3900)

.8 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

Correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous papers of Methodist missionaries to the Belgian Congo. The Mumpower family along with two other couples were the first white missionaries to the Otetela village of Wembo-Nyama in the central region of the Belgian Congo, now Zaire.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Mumpower Papers were donated to the University of Missouri by the Mumpowers's son Daniel L. Mumpower on 24 July 1992 (Accession No. 5200). Additions to the collection were made on 10 November 1992 and 27 January 2010 (Accession No. 5237).

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Daniel L. Mumpower was born in 1882 in Fayette, Missouri. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, in 1912 with a medical degree. In 1911 he married Edith Borth from Doniphan, Missouri. A daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born in 1913.

The Mumpowers, along with two other couples, were sponsored by the Methodist Episcopal Church South in setting up a Methodist mission in the Otetela village of Wembo-Nyama in the central region of the Congo, now Zaire. The ground work for the mission was started in 1910 when the general conference of the church commissioned Bishop Walter R. Lambuth and Dr. John Wesley Gilbert to explore the section in the upper Congo basin occupied by the Otetela tribe with the purpose of founding a mission.

Chief Wembo-Nyama granted the missionaries a "concession" of land outside the village. In February 1914 Bishop Lambuth returned with the Mumpowers, the Rev. and Mrs. C.C. Bush, and Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Stockwell, the industrial arts teachers.

Before coming to the Congo the missionaries had sailed to Europe to purchase supplies and to learn French, the official language of the Belgian Congo.

Dr. Mumpower's chief duties were medical and administrative, although he also led prayer meetings and taught in the mission school. He often went with the Rev. Bush on "itinerations" through the surrounding area. Mrs. Mumpower was trained as a nurse, taught in the school, was the mission's photographer, and cared for the Mumpower's infant daughter Mary Elizabeth who was called Betty by the Otetela. The Mumpowers also worked on writing down and developing a grammar of the Otetela language.

By the end of 1914 houses and storerooms had been built for the missionaries as well as a church, carpentry shop, and hospital. In 1917 a son Daniel L., Jr. was born. The Mumpowers remained in the Congo until 1918 when they returned to the United States. They returned to the Congo in 1920 and remained there until 1922 when they returned home because of Mrs. Mumpower's health.

Dr. Mumpower worked for a number of years for the Board of Missions and the Epworth League of the Methodist Church and later started his medical practice in Nashville. He died in 1969. Mrs. Mumpower died in 1977.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Mumpower Papers consist of correspondence, photographs, a diary, newsclippings and articles, and other miscellaneous items pertaining to the Mumpowers's work as missionaries in the Congo. The papers, spanning the years from 1913 to 1964, with the bulk dating from 1913 to 1922, are arranged into three series:

Except for two or three letters, the Correspondence was written by Edith Mumpower to her family in Doniphan, Missouri. The letters describe the trip to Europe, living in England and Belgium, the trip to Africa, traveling overland to the mission, building the mission buildings, the other missionaries, and the Otetela. But the main purpose of the letters seemed to be to assure her family that she, Dr. Mumpower, and especially Mary Elizabeth were well. Her family's major concerns seem to be the effects of the climate and of living in a primitive land on the health of a child. The remaining letters are from D.L. Mumpower to his father-in-law dealing with financial arrangements and general news.

The Photographs are from two photograph albums which have been taken apart for conservation purposes. The photographs have been attached to photocopies of the original album pages which identified the contents of the photographs. Edith Mumpower took the photographs and developed them. The photographs depict mission life, the Congo land and people, and missionary family life.

The Miscellaneous material includes articles and clippings about missionary work in the Congo as well as items written by the Mumpowers. D.L. Mumpower's articles deal with medical subjects, include an annual report of the mission's work, and an article addressed to young people. Edith Mumpower's articles were written for young people or dealt with more "social" subjects such as women's roles in African society.

The series also includes two books written by other missionaries at Wembo-Nyama, a cookbook written by Edith Mumpower that uses African foods in American recipes, a hymnbook in the Otetela language, a map of central Africa and the Mumpowers's Belgian passport.

A diary for 1914 kept by D.L. Mumpower is in this series. Mumpower kept the diary from January through early July and then for a short time in August and September. The diary covers "itinerations" taken by the missionaries; describes the logistics of transporting people and goods from the coast to the mission, a distance of several hundred miles; deals with working with native workers in the building of the mission; and mentions medical cases that he saw. The diary gives a sense of the day to day operation of the mission and the relationship between the missionaries and the Otetela.

FOLDER LIST

Correspondence Series

f. 1Index to letters from Africa
f. 21913 February-August
f. 31913 September
f. 41913 October
f. 51913 November
f. 61913 December
f. 71914 January-February
f. 81914 March-July
f. 91914 August-November
f. 101915
f. 111916
f. 121917-1918
f. 131920 July-August
f. 141920 September-December
f. 151921-1922

Photographs Series

f. 16Photo Album, 1913-1922, v. 1
f. 17Photo Album, 1913-1922, v. 1
f. 18Photo Album, 1913-1922, v. 1
f. 19Photo Album, 1913-1922, v. 1
f. 20Photo Album, 1913-1922, v. 2

Miscellaneous Series

f. 21Articles and newsclippings about missionary work, 1914-1964, n.d.
f. 22Articles and newsclippings by D.L. Mumpower, 1914-1920
f. 23Articles and newsclippings by E.B. Mumpower, 1914-1923, n.d.
f. 24Book, In Wembo-Nyama's Land, Thomas E. Reeve, 1921. Introduction by D.L. Mumpower.
f. 25Book, Seeing Africa, Ansel Lynn, ca. 1958
f. 25aBook, Light in Darkness, Mary Dabney, 1971
f. 26Cookbook, 1917
f. 27Diary, D.L. Mumpower, 1914
f. 28Hymn Book, Okando We Esambo, 1914
f. 29Map, 1920 Passport, 1922

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at The State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.