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Horn, Siegfried Herbert Nathan, 1908-1993

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: March 17, 1908 to November 28, 1993

Biographical

Siegfried Herbert Nathan Horn was born to Albin and Klara Horn in Werzen, Germany, on March 17, 1908. He was interested in flying, (his father was a famous pilot), civil engineering, and medicine, but his mother influenced him to go to the seminary in Friedensau to became a minister. Following this time, and after a brief study at Stanborough Park, England, he began ministerial duties in Holland in 1930. In 1933 he went as a missionary to the Dutch East Indies serving in various positions there until the outbreak of World War II. He married Jeanne H. Rothfusz while serving as a missionary in the Dutch East Indies. During World War II he was taken by the Dutch and later the British and interned in prison camps in Indonesia and India.

Following the war Horn returned to school this time at Walla Walla College earning a B.A. degree in 1947. Then the next year he earned an M. A. from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. He studied at John Hopkins University with Professor William A. Albright for a short while, then studied at the University of Chicago where he earned a Ph.D. in Egyptology in 1951.

In 1951 Siegfried joined the faculty of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary where he remained the remainder of his career. While professor of Archaeology and History of Antiquity he published many articles and several books on archaeology and the Bible, and served as the founding editor of the Andrews University Seminary Studies in 1963. Probably his greatest publishing achievement was his large contribution by way of introductory articles and commentary on Genesis, Exodus, Ezra, and Nehemiah in the Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary and the Bible Dictionary.

In the early 1960s he began to participate in the excavation of the Tell Balatah, ancient Shechem. In 1968 he was the first Adventist to direct an archaeological expedition when he and his team worked at Tell Hesban, Jordan. He returned to Hesban as director of the dig in 1971, and 1973. He turned the directorship over to his former student, Lawrence Geraty, for 1974 and 1976 while still serving as senior advisor and project registrar.

In 1970 he founded the Archaeological Museum at Andrews University which was later named after him . After serving at Andrews University for many years, including Dean of the Seminary beginning in 1973, he retired to California in 1976. He continued to teach in overseas extension schools and give lectures and tours until 1992. His lifetime bibliography includes nearly 800 articles and several books in German, Dutch, and English. He donated his vast archaeological library to the Horn Archaeological Museum Library.

His first wife, Jeanne, died in 1970. He married a second Jeanne, Jeanne Kirkwood, who died in 1988. Two years following the death of his second Jeanne he made a miraculous recovery after a serious fall and surgery. He married Elizabeth Leppers in October 1991. He was able to lecture at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Hesban dig combined with his 85th birthday celebration in March, 1993. He passed away on November 28, 1993 in Deer Park, California.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Siegfried H. Horn Collection

 Collection
Identifier:  Collection 78
Content Description This collection provides a wide ranging view of this remarkable man and his accomplishments. There are many personal items including his extensive diaries. Along with the diaries there are recordings Horn made where he narrates his life. The cassette tapes have been updated to new media for preservation purposes. This collection also contains a good number of letters from 1929 to 1976, and 1993. There are some documents of Horn’s and of his three wives, some personal artifacts, a significant...
Dates: Majority of material found within 1928 - 1993

Siegfried H. Horn Collection

 Accession
Identifier: Collection 78
Dates: Majority of material found within 1928 - 1993