William Frederic Badè (January 22, 1871 – March 4, 1936), perhaps best known as the literary executor and biographer of

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...

, was a versatile scholar of wide interests. As an archaeologist, he led the excavation of

Tell en-Nasbeh Tell en-Nasbeh, likely the biblical city of Mizpah, is a 3.2 hectare (8 acre) tell located on a low plateau northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank. History The site lies adjacent to an ancient roadway connecting Jerusalem with the northern h ...

in Palestine, now believed on the basis of his work to be the biblical city of

Mizpah in Benjamin Mitzpah () was a city of the tribe of Benjamin; it is referred to multiple times in the Hebrew Bible. Tell en-Nasbeh is one of three sites often identified with the Mitzpah of Benjamin, and is located about north of Jerusalem. The other suggest ...

. He was also an ordained Moravian minister, a professor of ancient languages, a theologian and bible scholar, a mountaineer, a conservationist and a naturalist. Born and raised in Minnesota, he studied at

Moravian College Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its history to girls' and boys' schools opened in 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius. ...

and its seminary as well as other universities. He served on the faculties of Moravian Theological Seminary and then the

Pacific School of Religion The Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is a Private university, private Protestant seminary in Berkeley, California. It maintains Covenant (religion), covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the ...

. He also served as interim president and subsequently as dean of the Pacific School of Religion and was founding director of the school's Palestine Institute. He was president of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

1919–1922 and edited the ''Sierra Club Bulletin'' for 12 years.

Early life and education

Badè was born in Carver, Minnesota, and grew up a few miles northwest of there on a farm near Waconia, Minnesota, in the rural community associated with

Zoar Moravian Church Zoar Moravian Church (The Zoar Church) is a historic church in Laketown Township, Carver County, Minnesota, Laketown Township, Minnesota, United States, near the city of Waconia, Minnesota. It was built in 1863 by a congregation of immigrants ...

. He was the first of ten surviving children of William Bruns (1831–1902) and Anna Voigt Badè (1850-–1910), immigrants from Germany. His father was a scholar who left

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

for political reasons; on arriving in the United States in 1858 he worked on riverboats and later farmed. Anna Voigt immigrated from

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1868; they married at Carver in 1870. Badè attended public schools but also studied with a private tutor. He grew up speaking English and German and learned Greek and Latin as a boy. He attended

and the associated seminary, earning his way by playing organ and giving music lessons, attaining AB and BD degrees. He was ordained at

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

, in 1894, and went on to

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

to study ancient languages and Arabic, earning a second BD in 1895. After short pastoral appointments at Unionville, Michigan, and

Chaska, Minnesota Chaska ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Carver County, Minnesota, Carver County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 27,810 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. An outer ring suburb of the Twin Cities located southwe ...

, he returned to Moravian College as instructor of Greek and German, earning his PhD from that institution in 1898 with a thesis on the Assyrian flood legends. He studied geology at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

(1901–1902). He also studied in Berlin (1905) and in Paris (1909). In adulthood, he could read 14 languages and converse fluently in seven.

Academic appointments

Badè was appointed professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Literature at Moravian Theological Seminary, serving 1898–1902. He was appointed professor of Old Testament Literature and Semitic Languages, Pacific Theological Seminary (later

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, in 1902, holding that position the rest of his life. Badè was dean of the Federated Summer School of Theology at Berkeley, 1907. He served as interim president of the Pacific School of Religion 1920–1922, subsequently serving as dean 1922–1928 and as director of the school's Palestine Institute (which he founded) from 1926 until his death. As a professor, Badè was among the first in the United States to teach the then-new and controversial ''

Documentary Hypothesis The documentary hypothesis (DH) is one of the models used by biblical scholars to explain the origins and composition of the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible: Book of Genesis, Genesis, Book of Exodus, Exodus, Leviticus, Bo ...

'' concerning the origins and authorship of the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

. In 1915, he published ''The Old Testament in the Light of Today, A Study in Moral Development'', developing themes he had presented eight years earlier in a series of lectures "The Idea of God in the Old Testament" at the Berkeley Summer School of Theology.

Editor and biographer of John Muir

An avid outdoorsman with strong interests in ornithology and botany, Badè first met

through the

, which he joined in 1903. After Muir's death in 1914, Muir's daughters asked Badè to serve as

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...

and prepare Muir's unpublished writings for publication. Badè compiled and edited materials from Muir's journals and other unpublished writings as well as short published pieces, resulting in publication of ''A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf'', ''The Cruise of the Corwin'', and ''Steep Trails''. Bade also wrote the preface for Muir's ''Travels in Alaska'' and edited new versions of Muir's earlier books, leading to an 8-volume set ''The Writings of John Muir'', and the two-volume biography ''Life and Letters of John Muir''. For the ''Life and Letters of John Muir'' Badè collected over 2000 letters from Muir's correspondents. He also worked out Muir's itinerary in Canada from the dates and locations in a collection of Muir's botanical specimens discovered in an attic in Wisconsin.

Archaeological investigation of Tell en-Nasbeh

Tell en-Nasbeh jug drawing and notes B2009112-5

Badè had a long-standing interest in archaeology. He traveled in the Middle East in 1909 and had planned to start fieldwork in Syria in 1914, but World War I and his appointment as Muir's executor intervened. He continued to study archaeology, including the methods employed in desert areas of the American Southwest. In 1925 he went to Palestine to organize an excavation, having corresponded with

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars ...

to identify suitable locations for excavation. Albright considered

, (about 7 miles north of Jerusalem) a possible location of the biblical city of

but favored Nabi Samwil as the most likely. Badè chose to excavate Tell en-Nasbeh which proved to be the correct location. The site was initially identified in part based on a German World War I aerial photograph showing evidence of walls and alteration of vegetation over buildings. Badè brought his characteristic thoroughness and organizational talent to bear, seeking advice from prominent archaeologists including Albright and Clarence S. Fisher. Badè led five seasons of excavation (1926, 1927, 1929, 1932, 1935), meticulously documenting artifacts and mapping the site. Among the artifacts was the onyx seal of Ja'azanaiah, Servant of the King, plausibly identified with a Judean officer of that name mentioned twice in the Bible. Badè funded the excavation in part with royalties from the Muir books and with gifts from friends. The identification of Tell En-Nasbeh with Mizpah is now generally accepted. As of 1988, no other Palestinian site of comparable size had been excavated as thoroughly. In this investigation, Badè employed and refined the Reisner-Fisher method, dividing the site into 10-meter squares and excavating these in strips. All artifacts including potshards were drawn to scale on millimeter-gridded file cards. The excavation was meticulously mapped and the site, operations, and artifacts were extensively photographed. Badè documented his methods in ''A Manual of Excavation in the Near East'', published in 1934. This was the first book dedicated to documenting the work of an excavation and the development of its methodology. It served as a guide for field workers for many years. Badè was the first archaeologist to document and record fingerprints on pottery as a means to track the work of individual potters. Badè died of a stroke 4 March 1936, before the analysis of the excavation was complete. The full reports were completed by his associates and published in 1947. The collection remains in the Badè Museum at the Pacific School of Religion.

Civic and professional activities

While in Pennsylvania, Badè edited ''The Moravian'' for one year. He was a member of the Pennsylvania

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) is an adult education and social movement in the United States that peaked in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Cha ...

faculty in charge of botany. He sang bass and chaired the program committee for the Bethlehem Bach Choir in its early years. Badè served on the board of the Sierra Club from 1907–1936. He worked prominently with Muir and other members on the

Hetch Hetchy Valley Hetch Hetchy is a valley, reservoir, and water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. For thousands of years before ...

campaign, including serving as vice president of the Society for Preservation of National Parks. He edited the ''Sierra Club Bulletin'' 1910–1922 and served as the fourth president of the club, 1919–1922. As part of his work with the Sierra Club he headed the California Associated Societies for the Preservation of Wild Life for many years. He was California state chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium and Northern France 1915–1917, vice president of the

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 26,000 members. The club is housed in the American Mountaineering Center (AMC) in Golden, Colorado. Through its members, the AAC advocates for American climbers d ...

1920–1922, and a trustee of

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

1918–1931. He served on the board of the School of American Research of the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America, North America's oldest learned society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and ...

at Santa Fe 1929–1936, and was president of the Society for Biblical Literature and Exegesis in 1930.

Family

In 1906, Badè married Evelyn Marianne (Mary) Ratcliff (b. 1879), a clergyman's daughter and a 1901 mathematics and physics graduate of the University of California, whom he had met on a Sierra Club outing. She died the following year. They had one daughter, Evelyn Mary (1907–2000) who in 1931 married Sidney L. Gulick Jr. (1902–1988). He was a son of Japan scholar and peace activist Sidney Gulick and later served as professor of English and Dean of Arts and Sciences at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

. In 1917 Badè married another Sierra Club member, Elizabeth Le Breton Marston (1884–1987), daughter of George Marston of San Diego, whom he had met in the course of his war-relief work. Part of their honeymoon was spent retracing John Muir's "Thousand-mile Walk", and some of his Alaska travels. They had two children, Elizabeth Le Breton (Betsy, 1922–2008) and William George (1924–2012). Betsy, who in 1968 married Korea scholar Wilbur D. Bacon (1926–1971), was for many years residence director of International House, Berkeley. William, who in 1952 married Eleanor Barry, became professor of mathematics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Honors

* DD,

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

, 1922Colby, Yale * LittD,

, 1925 * DD,

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

, 1934 * The Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion is named for him.Badè Museum

Selected works by William Frederic Badè as author, editor, or organizer

* The Writings of John Muir (series editor), Houghton Mifflin Co
Series introduction by Badè
* John Muir and William Frederic Bad�
''A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf''
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916. * John Muir and William Frederic Bad�
''The Cruise of the Corwin''
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1917. * John Muir and William Frederic Bad�
Trails''
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918. * William Frederic Bad�
Preface to ''Travels in Alaska''
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1915. * William Frederic Badè ''The Life and Letters of John Muir'' Houghton Mifflin Co., 1924
Text and illustrations on the Sierra Club website
---- * William F. Badè ''The Kuenen-Wellhausen Theory: Authorship of the Pentateuch examined''; Thesis, Moravian College, 1892 * William Frederic Bad�
"Moravian College and Theological Seminary"
in ''Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'', 1900, pp. 651–654. * William Frederic Badè "Old testament scholarship in modern Bible teaching
''Inaugural Addresses on the Occasion of the Induction of William Frederic Badè, John Wright Buckham and T. Cowden Laughlin Into the Faculty of Pacific Theological Seminary, Berkeley, California, January 23, 1905.''
* William Frederic Bad�
"Italian Modernism, Social and Religious"
''Harvard Theological Review'' 4(2)147–174, 1911 * William F. Bad�
"The Canonization of the Old Testament"
''The Biblical World'' 37, pp. 151–162, 1911 * William Frederic Bad�
''The Old Testament in the light of to-day : a study in moral development''
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1915 * William Frederic Badè "The excavations at Tell en-Nasbeh" ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'' 26, 1–7, 1927 * William F. Badè "The Seal Of Jaazaniah"; ''Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 50'', 89–90, 1933 * William Frederic Bad�
''A manual of excavation in the Near East; methods of digging and recording of the Tell en-Nasbeh expedition in Palestine''
University of California Press, 1934 * Chester Charlton McCown ''Tell en-Naṣbeh : excavated under the direction of the late William Frederic Badè;
Archaeological and historical results
'; Palestine Institute of Pacific School of Religion 1947 * Joseph Carson Wampler ''Tell en-Naṣbeh: excavated under the direction of the late William Frederic Badè
II, The pottery.
'; Palestine Institute of Pacific School of Religion 1947– ---- * William Frederic Bad�
"Bach Redevivus"
''The Independent 52'', pp. 1788–1780, July 26, 1900. * William F. Bad�
"Federate Theology"
''Sunset'' 19, August 1907, pp. 399–400. Bade's description of the aims and scope of the Federated Summer School of Theology, 1907 * William F. Badè, Short pieces in th
''Sierra Club Bulletin''
by volume and page; available on Archive.org
"On the Trail with the Sierra Club"
5, 50
"The Water-Ouzel at Home"
5, 102
"The Tuolumne Canyon"
5, 287
"An Ascent of the Matterhorn"
6, 75
"Some Birds of the High Sierra"
8, 158
"The Mountain Bluebird and the Wood Pewee"
8, 260
"To Higher Sierras"
10, 38 ::"Haleakala and Kilauea", 11, 231 ::"An Outdoor Litany", 11, 270 * William Frederic Bad�
"Hetch Hetchy Valley and the Tuolumne Canyon"
''The Independent'' 64, pp. 1079–1084, May 14, 1908. * William Frederic Bad�
"Summering in the Sierra"
''The Independent'' 70, pp. 1363–1366, June 22, 1911. * William Frederic Bad�
"The higher functions of a mountain club"
''The Mountaineer'' 5, pp. 9–13, 1912 * William Frederic Bad�
"John Muir in Yosemite"
''Natural History'' 20, pp. 132–141, 1920 * William Frederic Bad
"Further Comment on the Proposed Roosevelt-Sequoia National Park and the Barbour Bill"
''Ecology'' 4(2) 1923, pp. 217–219 (fee, subscription, or free but limited enrollment required for JSTOR access) * William F. Bade "Fingerprints on Pottery Aid in Tracing Past." Science News Letter. 1934, 261–262

Notes

References

Sources

* Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology.
William Frederic Badè (1871–1936)
* Bade, Elizabeth Marston, interviewed by Eleanor Bade "Recollections of William F. Bade and the Early Sierra Club.
Sierra Club Oral History Series
"Sierra Club Women I and II", Bancroft Library. * ''Berkeley Daily Gazette''
"Leave for East" August 24, 1931 p. 4
(Evelyn Bade marriage) * Brannigan, Keith, Yiannis Papadatos and Douglas Wyn
"Fingerprints on Early Minoan Pottery: A Pilot Study"
''Annual of the British School at Athens 97'', (2002), pp. 49–53 * Census records, Minnesota State Census 1875 and US Census 1900, William Bade and Anna Bade, and Minnesota marriage records, a
FamilySearch.org
* Colby, William E.
William Frederic Badè Tribute
* College of Arms (Great Britain). ''Visitation of England and Wales'
v3 p. 140
(Evelyn Ratcliff birth date) * Hamersly, L.R
''Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries'' pp. 73–74
1909 * Lockley, Fred
"Digging up buried cities"
''Overland Monthly'' June 1931, pp. 7–8, 30 * ''New York Post''. "Dr. William Bade, Archaeologist, succumbs at 65", p. 10, March 5, 1936 * San Diego State University Library
Guide to the Sidney L. Gulick Papers
Biographical Information section. (Gulick dates and career) * ''San Diego Union-Tribune'
"William George Bade Obituary"
September 16, 2012 * ''San Francisco Chronicle'
"Elizabeth Bade Bacon Death Notice"
July 6, 2008 * Schwartze, William Nathaniel
''History of the Moravian College and Theological Seminary''
Times Publishing Company, Printers, 1909 p. 318 * Sierra Club
William Frederic Badè (1871–1936)
* ''Sierra Club Bulletin'' 6(4) January 1908 Notes and Correspondence p. 27
Evelyn Ratcliff Bade death notice

Social Security Death Index at Ancestry.com
query Evelyn M Gulick dob 1907; query Elizabeth Bade dob 1884 dod 1987; query Wilbur D Bacon dob 1926
Society of Biblical Literature - List of Presidents
* Sutcliffe, George, compiler
"Bade, William Frederic"
''Who's Who in Berkeley 1917'' pp. 10–11 * ''The Pacific'
"The New Professors for Pacific Theological Seminary"
v 52, July 31, 1902 pp. 7–8 * University of California
''University Chronicle, 4'', p. 237.
(Evelyn Ratcliff) * Walters, Raymon
''The Bethlehem Bach choir; an historical and interpretative sketch''
Houghton Mifflin, 1918 * Yale University
''Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary record of graduates of Yale University deceased during the year 1935–1936.'' 15 October 1936
pp. 232–233. * Zorn. Jeffrey (a)
"A Legacy of Publication: William Frederic Badè and Tell en-Nasbeh"
''Biblical Archaeology Review'', July/August 1987 pp. 68–69. * Zorn, Jeffrey (b)
"William Frederic Badè"
''Biblical Archaeologist'' March 1988 pp. 28–35

External links

* *
Video based on original, hand-colored slides of the excavation at Tell en-Nasbeh

Photographs from the Tell en-Nasbeh excavation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bade, William F. People from Carver County, Minnesota Writers from Berkeley, California American archaeologists American environmentalists American biblical scholars R American male biographers Moravian University alumni Moravian writers Clergy of the Moravian Church Yale Divinity School alumni Old Testament scholars American people of German descent Writers from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Sierra Club presidents 1871 births 1936 deaths American expatriates in the Ottoman Empire American expatriates in Mandatory Palestine Lehigh University alumni