John H. W. Stuckenberg

Born in Germany, John H. W. Stuckenberg came to America as a boy. He graduated from Wittenberg College (Ohio) and served as an Army chaplain in the 145th Pennsylvania volunteers during the Civil War. He held several pastorates before returning to his alma mater as a professor of theology.

Stuckenberg and Gettysburg College

Stuckenberg traveled in Germany and the United States studying, giving lectures and writing, but it was Gettysburg College (then Pennsylvania College) that he found it most compatible with his theological ideas. He encouraged the creation of the "Gettysburg Philosophical Society" aimed at studying his Introduction to Philosophy. In 1899 the College presented him with an honorary degree.

Stuckenberg was a man of many intellectual interests. Fortunately for Gettysburg College, one of those was maps. He bequeathed to the College his amazing collection that includes three 17th century atlases and over 500 map sheets from the 16th-19th centuries. He also gave a Goethe album, over 3,000 books, and a desk, secretaire, personal items and maps that once belonged to founder of modern geography, Alexander Von Humboldt.

After his death, his wife Mary (Gingrich) moved to Gettysburg where she founded the College’s Women’s League. She also endowed a lectureship in her husband’s memory.

The John H. W. Stuckenberg portrait

This portriat of John H. W. Stuckenberg is an oil on canvas, ca. 1900. The artist is unknown. The portrait was a gift of the Stuckenberg estate.

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Curated by Musselman Library