Scholarship | Mac Ice: A Portfolio of Work

The scholarship I have produced since arriving at ACU in 2013, and since my faculty appointment in 2016, continues the long-term trajectory of my research in the Stone-Campbell movement and Churches of Christ. However, I have grown in significant ways since arriving at ACU that could only have been possible at ACU.

Mac speaking on a panel for the Archivists of Religious Collections Section, Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, Austin, TX, 2019.

My CV demonstrates the kind and quality of publications and information artifacts required in the expanded Criteria for Library Faculty. I have published multiple articles and reviews, a book chapter, a major thematic essay and additional smaller items for publications of national and international impact. All of them have been peer-reviewed and in the cases of the Claude Spencer chapter and the multi-volume encyclopedia American Religious History: Belief and Society Through Time, invited contributions.

My annual reviews describe how I have additional articles and chapters in the process of drafting or revision. In reality, I find it difficult to find the time to write up all of my research ideas. I find the creation and production of scholarship exhilarating and the communal life of the mind on our university campus conducive to the spirit of inquiry and publication. I hope that our department will soon be able to have the archival arrangement and description well enough in hand so I can devote more of my time and energy to knowledge creation. I am convicted that librarians and archivists ought to be active scholars, contributing original research in fields of their choosing. I consider myself fortunate to have the support such as I do to research and publish. As a scholar I have grown in depth, in scope, in breadth, and in quality. I regret, though, that I am unable to pursue this as vigorously as I would like.

My most recent paper is a chapter-length study of a classic missionary gospel song used widely among Churches of Christ. I examined each of our 3,000+ hymnals as part of the preparation of that paper. That kind of deep research, especially into Churches of Christ hymnals, simply could not be conducted elsewhere. I have another project underway that makes extensive use of our hymnal collection. My current doctoral research is grounded in our holdings of J. W. Shepherd’s papers, plus archival content in affiliated collections from B. C. Goodpasture, R. L. Roberts, and Doug Foster. Conducting this kind of research would be impossible in another setting and each of these major papers draws heavily from our holdings.

I have grown as a scholar by availing myself of the opportunities for on-campus interaction and dialogue with my peers through my presentations in the Adams Center and Summit. This has helped me stay in touch with and engage the work of my colleagues, the larger issues of academia, and the ongoing conversations in our churches. I presented papers on the writings of David Lipscomb, S. R. Cassius, and Annie Tuggle at the Adams Center. The sessions blended bibliography, the reception-history of their ideas, and their continuing relevance for today’s church. I was welcomed to present my ideas and was gratified by an audience from across the disciplines. Royce Money intended to be present, but had to cancel. After I sent him the slides of the presentation, he sent this reply.

I have grown by engaging with colleagues at other institutions through conferences, colloquia, and professional meetings. This activity has helped me grow by fostering relationships with other academics and fellow librarians and researchers. One highlight is the 2016 colloquy on the Pedagogy of the Archive which brought archivists and historians from across the Stone-Campbell spectrum. The result was a web-based set of resources I helped develop which showcases unique photographic content through a collaborative framework especially designed to facilitate teaching Stone-Campbell history. The scope of my work resulted from the openness manifest at ACU to charitably engage scholars from other traditions. I have been especially encouraged to engage with colleagues from Society of American Archivists and American Theological Library Association, and have been invited to make presentations to annual meetings of both groups.

Maddie Conatser, Caleb Horne, and Macee Valtr, ‘Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover: An Analysis of Bacterial Presence on the Surface of Historical Books’. 2022 Undergraduate Research Festival. For more, click here: https://blogs.acu.edu/specialcollections/2022/07/15/student-research-team-discovers-ancient-bacteria-in-rare-book-collection/#.YxunHuzML0o

Upon my promotion to Director of Special Collections and Archives, I received unsolicited statements of support from participants in that 2016 Colloquy. Click here to see what Bob Turner and Jim McMillan said and here to read what Shelley Jacobs said.

I have grown by participating in scholarly discourse as a journal editor and reviewer for other journals. To date I have peer reviewed over 35 articles for RQ. This activity keeps me abreast of the latest research and publication in Stone-Campbell scholarship. One of the reviews I am most proud of came by invitation from Western Historical Society to review David Baird’s path-breaking history of the Churches of Christ Oklahoma.

Mac with James Thompson and Doug Foster at the Restoration Quarterly Corporation Board meeting, 2018

I have grown by submitting my work to the scrutiny of my peers, resulting in the publication of reviews, articles, essays, and book chapters. This has helped me gain confidence in submitting work for review by carefully crafting hypotheses, sifting evidence, and forming arguments. I successfully submitted multiple peer-reviewed articles to Restoration Quarterly, Tennessee Baptist History and a book chapter to an anthology about Christian librarianship. In each of these articles I made extensive use of archival resources and in one case drew attention to the evidential value of an historic artifact thus modeling how such materials may be utilized in scholarship and knowledge creation. Additionally, besides a number of book reviews, I submitted multiple articles and essays to a major religious reference encyclopedia.

Click here for an unsolicited statement about my scholarship from Dr. David Edwin Harrell, Jr.

Click here for a letter of support from Dr. Kelly Elliott in which she commends my research and scholarship. I especially appreciate that she identifies how my archival practice acutely impacts other scholars’ work.

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