Guide to the Rolla Edwards Hoffman Papers
Open for research.
To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.
Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.
Rolla E. Hoffman served as a medical missionary for the PCUSA in Iran for 42 years. Dr. Hoffman was born in Leipsic, Ohio in 1887. He graduated from Berea College in 1908, spent the first year of medical school at American Medical Missionary College and received his M.D. from Western Reserve University in 1913. He was appointed by the Board of Foreign Mission to the East Persia Mission in 1914 and arrived in Tehran in 1915. In 1919 Dr. Hoffman married Helen Easton, a nurse working in Persia. Hoffman practiced in Tehran 1915-1916, 1932-1933 and 1940-1942. He was in charge of the American Hospital in Meshed from 1916-1947 and the Christian Hospital in Resht from 1948-1957. Following the death of his wife Helen in 1949, Hoffman married veteran medical missionary Dr. Adelaide Kibbe Frame, the widow of Dr. John Davidson Frame. Hoffman retired in 1957.
The papers consist of correspondence, reports, newsletters, a book manuscript and photograph albums of Rolla Hoffman's years in Iran. The correspondence is primarily written to family members and to mission supporters. There are also station reports to the Board and The Assuit Hospital News. The photographs depict both medical mission work and general Iranian people and culture.
SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 1915-1949
SERIES II: STATION REPORTS AND NEWSLETTERS, 1918-1949
SERIES III: BOOK MANUSCRIPT, UNDATED
SERIES IV: PHOTOGRAPH ALBUMS, CIRCA 1915-1947
To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.
Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.
For additional materials related to this collection see:
Record Group 90, Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations. Secretaries' Files: Syria Mission
Record Group 111, Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of National Missions Records
Researchers should also be advised that the University of Oregon also holds a collection of Rolla Hoffman papers. An inventory of the collection is found in folder 1 of this record group. Researchers should also consult the card catalog.
Collection processed and finding aid prepared 1988:
Kristin L. Gleeson, Associate Archivist
Dale Plummer, Archives Technician
| Box | Folder | Description | Alternative Formats |
| 1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 231 | |
| SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 1915-1949 | |||
| 1 | 2 | 1915-1919 | |
| 1 | 3 | 1918 | |
| 1 | 4 | 1920-1929 | |
| 1 | 5 | 1930-1949 | |
| SERIES II: STATION REPORTS AND NEWSLETTERS, 1918-1949 | |||
| 1 | 6 | 1918-1949 (Assuit Hospital News, circa 1936) | |
| SERIES III: BOOK MANUSCRIPT, UNDATED | |||
| 1 | 7 | Pioneering in Meshed, undated | Digital |
| SERIES IV: PHOTOGRAPH ALBUMS, CIRCA 1915-1947 | |||
| 2 | Photo Album #1 (loose pages), 1915-1922 | ||
| 3 | Photo Album #2 (loose pages), 1915-1922 | Digital | |
| 4 | Photo Album #3 (loose pages), 1923-1947 | Digital |