1954 - SCHWEITZER SIGNS A MEDICAL MAP OF LAMBARÉNÉ

THE MOTHER TERESA OF AFRICA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY HAS AUTOGRAPHED AND NOTATED A MAP OF THE FAMOUS LAMBARÉNÉ HOSPITAL AND LEPER COLONY

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Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

Map Detail

Biographical Note on Albert Schweitzer

French physician, musician, philosopher and humanitarian, Albert Schweitzer was born on January 14, 1875 in Kaysersburg, a town near Strasbourg in Alsace, Germany (now France). Schweitzer has been called the greatest Christian of his time. He based his personal philosophy on a "reverence for life" and on a deep commitment to serve humanity through thought and action. At the age of 21 he made a decision to live for art and science and then devote his life to serving humanity. For nine years he dedicated himself to the study science, music, and theology. Before he was 30 he was a respected writer on theology, an accomplished organist, and an authority on the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1904 Schweitzer was inspired to become a medical missionary after reading an evangelical paper regarding the needs of medical missions. True to his vow, he then began to study medicine in 1905 at the University of Strasbourg, and, after qualifying in 1913, set out with his newly married wife to set up a hospital to fight leprosy and sleeping sickness in French Equatorial Africa. He founded the famous hospital and leper colony known as Lambaréné for poor natives and lepers in French Equatorial Africa (now the Republique du Gabon). He remained there for the rest of his life, apart from fund-raising visits and occasional lectures in Europe, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. Schweitzer used his $33,000 Nobel Prize to expand the hospital and to build a leper colony. In 1955 Queen Elizabeth II awarded Schweitzer the "Order of Merit," Britain's highest civilian honor.

As a testament to his effort and devotion, he wrote in a letter in French, dated January 29, 1933: "Please don't think too badly of me. Hundreds of letters have lain unanswered because I have not the energy to keep up with my correspondence. Please forgive my silence. I feel as if I am drowning in weariness and work. When I can, I will write you one or two pages on the problems of leading a truly Christian life in this day and age. My energies are insufficient for all that I should be doing."

Document Specifications: A 10" high x 12" wide map, dated April 1954, in German, of the layout of the Lambaréné Leper Colony, identifying 34 locations as they were situated in 1954. Has been backed to a blue paste board at the corners none affecting signature although some wrinkling around adhesion points and three minor fold creases. Signed by Schweitzer with an additional handwritten inscription in German.

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