Howard Sollenberger Papers, 1925-2007 | Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

By Jordyn Dutko '26

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Collection Overview

Title: Howard Sollenberger Papers, 1925-2007

ID: MSS/MSS-0039

Primary Creator: Sollenberger, Howard E. (1917-1999)

Extent: 0.0

Date Acquired: 10/31/2022

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Howard Sollenberger Papers Collection consists of a variety of materials related to Sollenberger’s career with the United States Foreign Service in China and his family. It features Sollenberger’s photographs and scrapbooks; letters and correspondence; Civilian Public Service Program, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) documents; government reports; speeches and writings; and maps and artifacts from China. It also contains writings, sermons, and memorial materials associated with his father, the Reverend Oliver Clark Sollenberger, and memorial materials for his son, Roger Hafner Sollenberger, who died unexpectedly in Taiwan in 1968.

Collection Historical Note

Howard Edwin Sollenberger was born on April 28, 1917, in North Manchester, Indiana. He was the son of Church of the Brethren Missionaries Oliver Clark Sollenberger and Hazel Coppock Sollenberger, and spent most of his early childhood, through his high school years, in Northern China.

He graduated from the Peking American School in 1935 and returned to the United States to attend Manchester College. However, his college education was interrupted when he returned to China in 1938 to carry out relief work in war-devastated areas of the Shansi Province on behalf of the Brethren Service Committee and the Quakers. He eventually received his B.A. degree from Manchester College in 1941.

After four years in the Civilian Public Service Program in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and South Africa, he joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). He served with UNRRA both in Washinton and China. While in China, he was concurrently a Liaison Officer between UNRRA, the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and the Brethren Service Tractor Unit, as well as Director of the Brethren Service Unit.

In 1947, Sollenberger was appointed Director of the State Department’s Chinese Language and Area School in Peiping, and remained in that post until the evacuation of American personnel in 1950. He returned to the U.S. to join the staff of the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, first as Associate Professor of Chinese Studies, and subsequently as Dean of its School of Language and Area Studies from 1956-1965. In this position, he was responsible for instruction in some 50 foreign languages and their related areas.

From 1966, he served as Associate Director, Acting Director, and Director of the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, with responsibility for all professional training of American Diplomats and Foreign Service Personnel. He retired from government service in 1976 as Director Emeritus of the Foreign Service Institutie, with the rank equivalent to that of an Assistant Secretary of State.

Sollenberger served on various committees and advisory groups. He was a member of the first National Public Advisory Committee on Title VI of the National Defense Education Act. He was one of the founders of the Center for Applied Linguistics of the Modern Language Association, and served on its Advisory Committee. He was an advisor to school systems and several colleges and universities on language and area studies. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the International Affairs Seminars of the American Friends Service Committee, and was one of the initiators of the Peace Corp concept, along with an early advisor on their training.

Sollenberger died on January 19, 1999 at the age of 81 in McLean, Virginia.

Administrative Information

Repository: Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

Acquisition Source: Sollenberger Family

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Photographs and Scrapbooks],
[Series 2: Letters and Correspondence],
[Series 3: Civilian Public Service Program and UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Documents],
[Series 4: Speeches, Writings, and Papers],
[Series 5: Family Materials],
[Series 6: Maps and Artifacts],
[All]

Series 1: Photographs and Scrapbooks

Box 1

Folder 1: Howard E. Sollenberger Photographs
Folder 2: Sollenberger Family Photographs
Folder 3: Howard E. Sollenberger China Photographs
Folder 4: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Photographs
Folder 5: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Photographs
Folder 6: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Negatives
Item 1: Howard E. Sollenberger Shansi Province Photograph Book, 1934-1940

Box 6

Item 1: Howard E. Sollenberger China Scrapbook

Series 2: Letters and Correspondence

Box 2

Folder 1: Howard E. Sollenberger Letters to "Mamma", 3/26/1925-4/28/1925
Folder 2: Howard E. Sollenberger Letters to Family, 1930-1931
Folder 3: Howard E. Sollenberger Letters to Family, 1934-1935
Folder 4: Howard E. Sollenberger Letters to Family, 1935-1937
Folder 5: Howard E. Sollenberger Letters and Journal Entries, 1938-1945
Folder 6: Howard E. Sollenberger Correspondence with Tom Newnham, 8/5/1990
Folder 7: Howard E. Sollenberger Correspondence with Allan E. Levine, 8/27/1997
Folder 8: Margaret Aylward China Diary and Family Correspondence with Howard E. Sollenberger, 1948-1949, undated

Series 3: Civilian Public Service Program and UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Documents

Box 3

Folder 1: Howard E. Sollenberger Puerto Rico Civilian Public Service Program, 1942
Folder 2: Howard E. Sollenberger South Africa Civilian Public Service Program, 1943-1944
Folder 3: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA Reports and Correspondence, 1946
Folder 4: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRAA Reports and Correspondence, 1947
Folder 5: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Reports and Correspondence, 1938-1974
Folder 6: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Reports and Materials, 1947-1974
Folder 7: Howard E. Sollenberger Confidential UNRRA Reports, 1947
Folder 8: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Correspondence, 1984-1998
Folder 9: Eugene Wampler UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit (Tractor Unit) Research, 2007

Box 6

Item 2: Howard E. Sollenberger Articles and Lectures on China and Relief Reports
Item 3: Howard E. Sollenberger Report on the Brethren Service Unit in China Entitled "The China Tractor Boys," by Fran McMurry, 9/10/1969
Item 4: Howard E. Sollenberger History of the UNRRA/Brethren Service Unit

Series 4: Speeches, Writings, and Papers

Box 4

Folder 1: Howard E. Sollenberger Manchester College Transcript, 1944
Folder 2: Howard E. Sollenberger Department of State Report on Vietnam, 1965
Folder 3: Howard E. Sollenberger Article in Department of State Newsletter, 05/1976
Folder 4: Howard E. Sollenberger UNRRA "Hunger Fighters" 73rd Edition, 1976
Folder 5: Howard E. Sollenberger Church of the Brethren "Messenger", 10/2000
Folder 6: Howard E. Sollenberger Accounts From China to be Published, 2002
Folder 7: Howard E. Sollenberger Lecture and Speech Notes
Folder 8: Howard E. Sollenberger "A Close Encounter With the Hungry World", 1979-1980
Folder 9: Howard E. Sollenberger "Experiences in China"
Folder 10: Howard E. Sollenberger "On War and Peace"
Folder 11: Howard E. Sollenberger Biographical and Memorial Materials
Folder 12: Howard E. Sollenberger Miscellaneous Articles and Notes on China
Folder 13: Howard E. Sollenberger Miscellaneous Newspaper Articles, 1938-1947, 1995-1998
Item 1: Howard E. Sollenberger "A Close Encounter With the Hungry World" Cassette Recording

Box 6

Item 5: Howard E. Sollenberger Diary, 1939-1940

Series 5: Family Materials

Box 5

Folder 1: Roger Hafner Sollenberger Memorial Materials, 1968
Folder 2: Reverend Oliver Clark Sollenberger Sermons and Memorial Materials
Folder 3: Reverend Oliver Clark Sollenberger Passports, 1935-1947
Item 1: Reverend Oliver Clark Sollenberger Memorial Cassette Recording, 12/13/1987

Series 6: Maps and Artifacts

Box 6

Folder 1: Chinese Money
Item 6: Chinese Stamp Set
Item 7: Howard E. Sollenberger Southeast Shansi Map
Item 8: Howard E. Sollenberger Ping Ting City Map