MINISTRY: You are Ellen White's grandson. How many of your own memories are going into this book?
WHITE: Not very many, because I was only 7 years old when she died. I just remember her as a kind grandmother. She loved children. We'd go to her home, and she'd talk with us. But if we are talking about percentages, less than one-half of one percent would be my memories. About 99 Vz percent or more is based on documented sources, amplified, of course, by my association with my father.
MINISTRY: What do you mean by your association with your father?
WHITE: My father was William White, the third son of James and Ellen White. Before he died in 1937, I worked with him during the last nine years of his life as his secretary in his continuing task of caring for his mother's writings and their use in the church. My knowledge and information from him stems from this association, and from the Friday evenings we sat around the open fireplace and I listened to him tell stories.
MINISTRY: You mentioned documented sources. What kinds of documents are you drawing on in writing the biography?
WHITE: Mainly primary sources in Ellen White's own words. She kept what she called her diary—actually a journal— in which she wrote from day to day. She also carried on a large correspondence, which is on file—letters she wrote to members of the family, as well as to various church workers. I use contemporary published reports, of course, as they appeared in the Review and Herald and other journals of the church, following Ellen White in her work. Then we have my father's correspondence which is a valuable source in view of the fact that he worked closely with his mother for many years. These are the prime sources I am working with.
MINISTRY: What would be your response to someone who might say, "I don't think a member of the White family can be objective in writing this book, even if he tries to be"?
WHITE: Well, I can name some who have already said that! The fact is that I didn't choose to write the biography. The original plan was that F. D. Nichol, editor of the Review and Herald and one who had been closely associated with the Ellen White publications, would write the biography. The Board of Trustees in 1950 took an action asking him to do so. But as he approached the task, he discovered many handwritten documents, diaries, et cetera. He felt he would have to have it all in typewritten form, and we set about to do that. This preparation took several years, and during that time he became involved in the Bible commentary project. When he had finished that, he was worn out and hardly had courage enough to start on the biography. Then he died suddenly.
So the question became "What are we going to do about the biography?" Well, the board took it up, and to my surprise they said, "If F. D. Nichol had written the biography, Arthur White would have had to work with him very closely anyway, because of his 'contact with the office through the years. Now Elder Nichol has gone, and perhaps White ought to write the biography."
I said, "Oh, no, no. For years we've talked that this should not be done. It should not be written by a member of the family. It wouldn't be considered objective."
The board discussed the problem and finally reached the conclusion that it would probably be best if I wrote it.
I told them, "I don't accept that vote. I'll not undertake this until church leaders have considered it carefully and feel that it would be a wise course to follow."
So they took it to the officers of the General Conference, and I am told their discussion touched about the same points that the White trustees had. They decided I should write the biography. Only under those circumstances did I agree to attempt it.
Now, I'll be criticized; I know that. But I will say this: In my writing I have tried to work in a way to relieve myself of just as much opportunity for criticism as possible. I have chosen to let Ellen White herself speak wherever I can. Perhaps a fourth or a third of the complete biography will be quotations. In this way the Ellen White messages and counsel do not go through my "strainer." They come directly from her. I am hoping that this will relieve some criticism that may come.
MINISTRY: Are you saying that your personal relationship with Ellen White has not affected your work?
WHITE: I am not approaching Ellen White as my grandmother. Now, you know me and you know that you very seldom hear me speak of Ellen White as my grandmother. Early in my ministry I had to determine what my relationship would be to Ellen White. And I determined that as far as possible my relationship would be that of any other Seventh-day Adventist. She wasn't mine especially. I'm proud, of course, of the connection, but I would try to approach her in all respects as any well-informed Seventh-day Adventist would approach her. And I'm doing the same in the biography.
MINISTRY: Some are certain to see the biography as a reaction by the church to current internal criticisms of Ellen White and her work. Is there any real basis for seeing the work in that light?
WHITE: No, although I agree with you that some will inevitably view it as such. Actually, the project antedates the current situation by many years.
As I mentioned, F. D. Nichol was asked in 1950 to write it. And I began to work after his death, in 1966 I think it was. I wasn't able to write as much as I had hoped because I was serving as secretary to the White estate, and I finally discovered that I just simply had to step entirely aside from administrative responsibilities if I was going to get the writing done. So the project was conceived and begun years in advance of the present situation. But we do find that history repeats itself. And some of the biography written a number of years ago should be of service in light of these current questions and criticisms.
MINISTRY: Do you find, since Ellen White at times was under fire by critics in her own day, that there are helpful parallels for today as we see critics raising questions?
WHITE: I consider that there are, yes. And where there are, I bring them in.
MINISTRY: In your research, have you come up with any material that would throw light on the charges of literary borrowing? Are you going to discuss that at all in your biography of her, or will it be left out?
WHITE: How could I leave it out! I couldn't. I'm constantly on the lookout for clues to the writing of any particular book, the work on any particular manuscript.
Now, I was really surprised, myself, when I began dealing with the last three or four years of her life, with the close connection she maintained with the bringing out of her books. These later volumes—The Acts of the Apostles, Prophets and Kings, Counsels to Parents and Teachers were largely compiled from previously written material in her files. But when I got to following, day by day, the last months of her life (and I was able to document this because my father was away much of that time, and Clarence Crisler, the chief secretary at the office, was writing to him almost every day about Ellen White's health and the state of the work), I was amazed at the close way in which she was participating in what was being done. The secretaries submitted the materials to her, and as she was able to go through them she brought in constructive suggestions and worked on them. This was an amazement to me.
I'm working now on her Australia years and I'm watching for references to her work on The Desire of Ages. She mentions very frequently her desire to work on the life of Christ, and how she hasn't been able to, and how questions are being brought to her concerning the manuscript for the life of Christ, et cetera. The findings thus far give very little support to some of the assertions that have been made about her dependency on others and her use of the writings of others. We will find, I think, that her prime use of commentaries dealing with the life of Christ took place in the 1870s, when she was writing volumes 2 and 3 of The Spirit of Prophecy, dealing with the work of Christ and the apostles.
In Australia she was amplifying this material. She would be given visions, and then she would present what was shown her in letters or in talks, and these would be taken down stenographically and put in the hands of Marian Davis, who was helping with The Desire of Ages. Marian Davis was reaching out for every scrap of material that would broaden and add to and enrich the book. But I have to say that there's a wide, wide gap between what I find in my study and some of the very strange stories that are being told by some in regard to Ellen White's sources.
MINISTRY: When the biography is complete, would you say that the image of Ellen White that will emerge will tend to place her on a pedestal—something more than human? Or are you bringing out some of the experiences—perhaps even negative ones—that will show the reader her humanity? Are you putting in the "warts"?
WHITE: A great deal of that kind of thing will be included as it exists. Ellen White wasn't one who made great mistakes in disobeying God, but she did make some errors in judgment and action. Whenever there is an opportunity to bring such things in, I'm bringing them in.
MINISTRY: What about the research necessary for writing such an extensive work? You don't do all that yourself, do you? Don't others help with research?
WHITE: I have to have help, of course. There are in the E. G. White manuscript and letter files about 60,000 pages of material. There are in the W. C. White letter books some 30,000 letters written by my father. When I got well into this task, I saw that it would be absolutely impossible within my lifetime to encompass all the sources, gather the data, and get on with the work in a practical way. So I asked for a research assistant, and Ron Graybill, with whom I'd become acquainted, was selected to work with me in research. He gave largely of his time for several years to that, but he was soon drawn into other work. He has made an important contribution, assembling materials and organizing them. Then, too, I've had good secretarial help.
But back of all that was the work that was started in 1950 or shortly after when we had asked F. D. Nichol to write a biography of Ellen White and when we went about getting the handwritten documents copied and the sources organized. Bessie Mount, a woman of keen discernment and long experience, built a file of biographical cards that are of very great value.
MINISTRY: I understand that you have just finished one volume—number 5. But what's the whole plan, the overall view of this biography?
WHITE: First of all, I had to decide on a method by which I could handle events with some degree of even treatment. We're dealing with seventy years of Ellen White's active life, and it's not my purpose to write a day by day chronicle, but to portray her as she was known, so that the reader may see her in her relationship to the development of the church and its operation—the interplay between Ellen White and church leaders. That's on one side. On the other side is Ellen White as a person, a mother in the home with her family about her and a neighbor in the community. We observe her in her speaking and travels, and in her relationships with people.
I divided her life into six eras, giving a decade or a little more to each. They are quite clearly defined—The Early Years and The Expanding Years, which would carry us down to the late 1870s; The Lonely Years, through the 1880s, The Australian Years, the 1890s, and The Elmshaven Years, in two volumes, from 1900 to 1915.
Then, having done that, I had to decide what I would bring in, because I would have about fifty pages of manuscripts for each year. So I have selected from each year three or four main incidents that illustrate her work and provide material of interest to the reader. That has been the basis on which I have worked.
MINISTRY: A biography is the life story of an individual, the daily things that happen, experiences. But how much will be in this of the doctrinal or theological aspects of Ellen White's life and work?
WHITE: You can't tell the story of Ellen White's life without telling the issues with which she was involved. So when it comes to the crisis with pantheism in the early 1900s, we lay out the story in great detail. And when it comes to dealing with the questions of the "daily" or of the "shut door," issues that once loomed large in the church, or the events surrounding the 1888 General Conference session, these will be dealt with, using the supporting materials from her life in presenting the story. I hope that in so doing we will have created in the minds of the reader a true picture of Ellen White's mission and work. So these things will be treated.
MINISTRY: The first volume of this series to appear is not volume 1, but volume 5. Why is that?
WHITE: In other words, why in the world did I start at the last end of the story first? Well, it's really quite simple. A rather detailed treatment of Ellen White's early life is already in published form. Life Sketches, Spiritual Gifts, volume 2, the first part of the Testimonies, volume 1, and other books set this early period forth in some detail. We have very, very little of her later life. So that was the reason I thought I'd like to start where her life hadn't been so well treated.
Also, when we called Ron Graybill to assist in research, I thought it would be more interesting if he could talk with people who knew Ellen White and deal with issues that were more current. So we decided to start with the time when she came back to the United States from Australia. It was a natural break, and we did that without giving consideration to the order of the publication of the books. So we're starting to publish the series with volume 5, which deals with The Early Elmshaven Years: 1900-1905. Volume 6, The Later Elmshaven Years: 1905-1915, will follow. I'm working now on The Australian Years, which are the 1890s. Then I'll write The Lonely Years, the 1880s. Then I'll go back to the very beginning and write volumes 1 and 2.
MINISTRY: At 5 percent, standard royalties on writing, will not this series of books make you a millionaire?
WHITE: That would be something! No, it's an office job. I'm writing as an employee of the Ellen G. White Estate, and whatever royalty income there is from the sale of the books will be the property of the General Conference, as is the royalty on her own books. So it will mean nothing to me in the way of personal enrichment. But what a privilege it has been to look more closely into the life and work of Ellen White than ever before and to put it into words so that others can know her in a more personal way.
