Called to Serve: A History of Missions at Bushnell University brought students into the archives to investigate how generations of alumni understood Christian service across cultures. Stephen Andes guided the student curatorial team as it transformed photographs, letters, journals, films, recordings, and material objects into an immersive public history exhibit. Reclaimed pallets, benches, gridwalls, string maps, and listening stations gave each story a distinct visual language. The installation followed E. R. Moon and Hattie Mitchell in the Congo, the Doty family among Kenya’s Maasai people, missionaries in East Asia, and student musical groups such as the Waylighters and Pilgrimage. Alongside accounts of faith and dedication, students addressed the entangled histories of missions, colonialism, and cultural encounter. The result invited visitors to ask how service changes across time, what responsibilities accompany cross-cultural work, and how Bushnell’s institutional memory might support more humble, empathetic forms of engagement today, well beyond the university.
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From the archive: an editorial summary with a link to the original. The full work remains with its publisher.