John W. Behnken Family Papers

The John W. Behnken Family Collection contains primarily materials created and collected by John W. Behnken. There are also items that belonged to his father, George W. Behnken, and to his wife Hilda. The collection has been arranged into seven series: Profile, Correspondence, Sermons/Addresses, Subject Files, Photographs, Family, and Music.

The Profile series consists of materials that give a brief overview of Behnken’s professional and personal life, such as anniversary and birthday celebrations, school notes and biographical information. In 1973 Mary Mittelstaedt wrote a paper titled “John William Behnken: Head vs. Heart,” which is just one example of the additions that have been made to the collection through the years. There are also news clippings about Behnken dating from the 1910s through the 1960s. The miscellaneous documents folder contains such information as sample poll tax receipts, a 1923 automobile document and insurance papers. The funeral folder includes his death certificate, news clippings on Behnken’s funeral, copies of memorial service programs and memorial addresses by friends and synodical officials.

The pocket diaries begin with his election as president of the Synod until the end of his life, 1935-1968. Some of these diaries hold little more than appointment information, while others contain his notes on meetings with individuals or concerning certain topics. There are also enclosures such as clippings, photos and business cards, which have been kept with the diaries.

The Correspondence series is arranged into four subseries: Family, Calls, Alphabetical, and Dr. D. Hermann Sasse. The Family subseries contains primarily general letters written by Behnken to all eight of his children. They begin “Dear Children” and date from 1943 to 1968. These letters appear consistently through the years with many dating from his travels abroad in the 1950s, during Hilda’s illness, and after his retirement. There is also a small number of “round robin” letters that Behnken’s siblings used to keep in touch with one another. The Calls subseries contains correspondence regarding the calls that Behnken received from 1922 to 1929. His Trinity congregation declined some of these calls. Two calls of note that he declined were to the presidency of St. John’s College and as executive secretary of the International Walther League. Appearing in addition to the calls are opinions and advice from friends and colleagues regarding the prospects of these opportunities.

The Alphabetical subseries is divided into two groups: alphabetical files and individuals. The alphabetical files consist of one or two letters arranged in alphabetical order within each folder from various individuals on a variety of topics. The individual folders are arranged in alphabetical order while the letters within each folder are arranged chronologically. Behnken used these when he had a substantial amount of correspondence with or about one person.

From 1945 to 1967, Behnken corresponded with Dr. D. Hermann Sasse, a Lutheran theologian in Germany. Located in the Sasse subseries is their correspondence on a variety of topics related to the Lutheran church and to the Missouri Synod’s role in world Lutheranism. Following the correspondence, and sometimes appearing with it as enclosures, are copies of Sasse’s essays that he sent to Behnken. The Sasse materials are arranged in chronological order. For more information on Dr. Sasse, please consult the Sasse Papers.

The Sermons/Addresses series consists of John W. Behnken’s sermons and addresses. The folders in this series are arranged alphabetically by topic or by type of address with the sermons arranged chronologically within each folder. Behnken kept his festival sermons separate from the rest of his sermons, and that order has been maintained. He also separated his funeral, wedding, special occasions, jubilee and radio sermons. Behnken delivered a series of sermons on various topics (Ten Commandments, e.g.) and these have been separated and arranged in alphabetical order under the heading, Series.

The general sermons (f.106-141), 1905-1967, are arranged in chronological order. One folder of the miscellaneous undated sermons is arranged in church year order. Most of this section comprises his sermons from Trinity Lutheran Church in Houston, 1907-1935. Many sermons/addresses dating from 1935 to 1967 are not labeled by type or by topic and therefore have been placed in this subseries. Behnken delivered some of these sermons at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Chicago from 1937 to circa 1951. This was the period of time during which the Behnkens resided in Oak Park, Illinois. He also delivered other general sermons dating from 1952 to 1962 at St. Peter Lutheran Church, St. Louis, after the Behnkens relocated there from Oak Park.

The Subject Files series is arranged alphabetically by topic. Most of the materials found here date after Behnken retired as synodical president in 1962. Some correspondence, informational news clippings, ephemeral items and essays on topics like Lutheran union, the LCMS Foundation and doctrinal affairs comprise the files. Manuscripts for his autobiography, This I Recall, and for a proposed work titled “Notations on the Book of Acts” are also located here. There is also correspondence and ephemera regarding Behnken’s travels in the 1940s and 1950s. One folder of photos from the Lutheran Laymen’s League Holy Land Tour of 1953 is located in this series and consists primarily of four tourist photo packets purchased there. There is also one folder of Holy Land photos in the Photographs series (f.294).

The Photographs series contains over 500 photos of Behnken and his family. It is divided into four subseries: Family, Professional, Travel, and Other Sources. The Family, Professional and Travel folders and the photos within are arranged chronologically. The Other Sources folders are arranged alphabetically while the photos within the folders are arranged chronologically. Many of the photos were not dated, so an approximate date was assigned whenever possible.

The Family photos include images of George Behnken, the Wunderlich family, the Behnken-Birkmann family, Gertrude Geisler (J.W. Behnken’s first wife), Hilda Anna (Grassmuck) Behnken and her family, J. W. Behnken portraits and many photos of J. W. Behnken’s eight children. In addition, there are many photos of the Behnken children as adults throughout the Professional subseries that were taken at special synodical events and celebrations. In the photos one may notice that J. W. Behnken struck the same pose over the years. As a seminary student in 1905 he lost sight in his right eye during a game of handball. In 1932 the eyeball was replaced with an artificial one.

The Travel subseries chronicles J. W. Behnken’s trips abroad. Of special interest are the photos and picture postcards from Germany in 1945 and 1948 that show the devastation and rebuilding effort after the Second World War. The people and places are identified in most of the photos from South America, Japan and India. There is one folder of photos from the 1953 Holy Land Tour in this series, and there is also one in the Subject Files series (f.263).

The Professional subseries is the largest component of the Photographs series. Located here are photos of J. W. Behnken with classes as pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Houston and at special synodical events, such as conventions and anniversary celebrations. Most of these are 8×10, black-and-white photographs. Efforts have been made to reduce duplicates throughout the Photographs series but most of the weeding happened in this subseries. Some of the people/places are identified, and some are dated, but many are not. These photos are filed as undated items.

The Other Sources folders contain photos identified as coming from a source other than J. W. Behnken or a member of his family: The Lutheran Witness, Der Lutheraner, and the Lutheran Laymen’s League. It is very likely that many of the photos in the Professional subseries came from these sources, but there is no identification on the prints to determine from which source they came. The photos in this subseries are identified as belonging to the groups and often reveal in which issue of the publications they appeared. The Family series contains school notebooks and sermons written by George W. Behnken. Also located here are two folders containing items that belonged to Hilda (Grassmuck) Behnken. A scrapbook titled “My Graduation” holds notes, autographs and photos of Hilda’s classmates from Houston High School. Stored in the mementos folder is the Behnken-Grassmuck wedding invitation, a wedding keepsake booklet, a letter, various certificates and a funeral program.

The Music series consists of song books and sheet music. It is arranged alphabetically by topic. It is unclear to which member of the Behnken family this music belonged.

There is an audio recording of an interview of Dr. Behnken conducted by Dr. August R. Suelflow in November 1965. This recording is included in the Concordia Historical Institute. Oral History Collection (M-0014).