Kaye Price-Hawkins (’72) and Joe Hawkins (’75) of Abilene have made a gift to the ACU Brown Library that establishes the Warder and Lottie Novak Special Collections Endowment. This endowment will be used to fund costs associated with acquiring, processing, and archiving special collections within the Brown Library, specifically those housed within the library’s Center for Restoration Studies (CRS).
Warder and Lottie Novak spent their lives in ministry to Churches of Christ. Warder served as a minister for more than 55 years in Kansas, Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia and was honored by ACU in 1992 for his years of service and work. Lottie was a teacher, conference speaker, and writer for the Gospel Advocate for 27 years. This gift permanently memorializes this gifted couple, Kaye Price-Hawkins’s parents, whose papers are also housed in the Center for Restoration Studies.
“The Novaks planted seeds across their years in ministry,” said Mac Ice, ACU Director of Special Collections and Archives. “They planted, others watered, but God always gives the growth. In a very real way archives also plant seeds. The Novak Papers yield insights into Churches of Christ, and this endowment will help us acquire other materials which will bring their own insight and understanding of our past. The research possibilities are rich. We cannot yet envision what good fruit God will bring out of our efforts.”
“This gift will allow the ACU Library to maintain and build upon its place as the preeminent archive of Stone-Campbell Movement history related to Churches of Christ,“ said James Wiser, ACU Dean of Library Services and Educational Technology. “Joe and Kaye are so kind to honor Warder and Lottie in this manner, and their gift is already helping us acquire archival collections that will be used by researchers for many, many years to come. We can’t do the work we do without the generous support of friends like Joe and Kaye.”
The Warder and Lottie Novak Special Collections Endowment is one of several restricted collections endowments held by the ACU Brown Library for supporting the acquisition of materials in a specific subject area. For more information about establishing a named collection endowment in the ACU Brown Library, please contact Molly Scherer, Library Communications and Development Officer, at mollie.scherer@acu.edu.