Gladwyn Murray Childs (29 December 1896 – July 1975) was an American minister, missionary and anthropologist.
He was born in Endeavor, Wisconsin on 29 December 1896. He received his bachelor's degree from Pomona College, a BD and MA from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York,[1] where he knew William Sloane Coffin. He obtained a PhD in anthropology from Columbia University.
Childs was a striking man, being 6' 4" tall. Together with his wife, Margaret, he worked as a missionary from 1925 to the early 1960s for the United Church Board for World Ministries and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign MissionsinAngola. He was the principal of a mission school, the Currie Institute in Dondi.[2] Childs spoke both Umbundu and Portuguese at the school, which was run by the Church of Christ.[1]
After retirement, he worked for the World Council of ChurchesinLisbon, but sought to return to Angola to work on a prehistoric project. Childs also worked with his uncle, Merlin Ennis, a researcher of folk tales, on Umbundu folktales;[3] Ennis went on to publish Umbundu: folk tales from Angola in 1962.[4][5]
He married Margaret (born Marguerite) Pfaffli (5 November 1902 – January 1986) in her home town of Lausanne, Switzerland on 14 February 1925. Margaret was a biologist who studied and wrote about medicinal plants in Angola.[2] The couple had three daughters.[1]
Their daughter, Elaine Childs-Gowell (died 2006) was a therapist, anthropologist and author.[6][7]
His papers are held at the University of Washington Library in Seattle.[9]
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