Historical note

Karl Robert Brueckner was born and educated in Dresden, Germany, where he trained as an architect. After completing his training in Germany, he went to America where he joined the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. As a member of the Board, Brueckner came to South Africa, arriving on Christmas Day in 1911, and worked at Adams College as a tutor. After the outbreak of the 1st World War in 1914 he was interned at Fort Napier, and worked on a farm at Hermannsburg for a year.

In 1915 Dorothea Elizabeth Kielland arrived in South Africa, also as a member of the American Board and was posted to Inanda Seminary as a Domestic Science teacher. In 1919 Brueckner and Dorothea Kielland were married. They returned to the USA in 1924 and Brueckner obtained his MA degree from Columbia. In 1935 he was awarded his Ph.D. 

Karl Robert Brueckner was at Adams College for forty years: as a teacher; as Director of Industrial Department; as advisor to the manual and crafts work in the primary and high schools; as architect and construction supervisor for school buildings; as Vice-Principal for fourteen years, 1934-1948; and as acting Principal. He also served as consultant for church and school buildings in other areas of the mission, and supervised more than seventy day schools in Durban. Brueckner was a gifted musician, linguist, artist, photographer and a dedicated churchman.

Dorothea Brueckner died in 1961 and Karl Robert Brueckner died in Johannesburg on 3 September 1965 at the age of 83.

Karl Robert Brueckner papers

The Karl Robert Brueckner papers are housed at the Campbell Collections, University of KwaZulu-Natal.  The photographs comprise pictures of Adams College (including pupils and buildings), Adams Mission Station, Missionaries, Inanda Seminary, Zulu traditional life, scenery and architectural plans. The photographs cover the early twentieth century.