On the Shelf: New items added to Center for Restoration Studies collections, August 2023

In August our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 83 items to Special Collections holdings.  The tract cataloging project continues with a few of the new items coming into that collection. This month saw several additions of language editions of books by Max Lucado.  There will be many more new language editions coming into the collection, soon, giving us as an authoritative collection of Max’s books as can be found anywhere.  This month also saw progress in our unbound periodical project.  We are very near completion of the backlog on that project, which has been several years in the making. Between tracts, bound periodicals, A/V materials, and monographs, the REST collection grew by almost 75 items.  We added one new hymnal to the Taylor hymnal collection and the remainder went into other collections.

We receive donations almost weekly, and the collection will continue to grow, and I (Mac) will continue to keep you informed about its growth.  I have not called attention to this post in a while, so it is perhaps timely to do so now.  A collection such as what we attempt to curate here did not, and cannot, grow apart from hundreds of donors who share with us a concern for the value of this heritage and the materials we produced.  This post describes in greater detail what we are always looking for.  Thank you for your interest and generous support.

Library, Abilene Christian College, 1917. The library was in the Administration Building on the old downtown campus. The Prickly Pear Yearbook for 1917 is available at: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39970/m1/44/

Our goal is to build a comprehensive research-level collection of print materials by, for, and about the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement.  But beyond assembly and preservation, a collection should be discoverable by those who need the information.  Collecting and preserving is only part of our task; those objects must be described and made available.  Thanks to the close and careful work of our colleagues upstairs, who describe our holdings, these materials are now discoverable. By discoverable I mean a patron can utilize our online catalog (such as by searching by author, or title, or subject) to find these materials.

83 new items…cataloged, shelved, and ready for research:  Continue reading

Challenges: The Restoration Movement in Texas film now available online on DigitalCommons and Vimeo

In 1986 Herald of Truth and Abilene Christian University collaborated on a video retelling 150 years of Restoration history in Texas.  It features R. L. Roberts, Bill Humble, Richard Hughes, Ethelyn Mitchall, John Stevens and William Teague. Beginning in the 1830s, and filmed on location at historic sites, this film summarizes the people, places, events, and issues that defined the Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in the Lone Star state.

The film is now available online for free streaming and download on Vimeo and on DigitalCommons.

Challenges – The Restoration Movement in Texas from ACU Library on Vimeo.

Tillit Sidney Teddlie Centennial Singing, June 2, 1985, Prestoncrest Church of Christ, Dallas, Texas

In June 1985, Tilllit S. Teddlie celebrated his 100th birthday.  Friends honored him with an afternoon of song.  This video describes Teddlie’s work as a hymnist, songwriter, publisher, and song leader among Churches of Christ.  It was filmed at Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas, June 2, 1985.

Tillit Sidney Teddlie was a singing school teacher, composer, publisher, and minister of the Church of Christ. Teddlie was educated in Southern Development Normal in Waco, Texas, a school for advanced instruction in theory and harmony. He also attended what is now North Texas State University. He composed his first song in 1906. During his lifetime, Teddlie taught singing schools for 61 years, composed 130 songs, published 14 song books, and served as a full-time minister, including the Johnson Street Church of Christ (1945–1951), Central Church of Christ in Greenville, Texas, and Churches of Christ in Ennis, Sulphur Springs, Lone Oak and Quinlan. For two years he sang only with Foy E. Wallace, Jr. while traveling across the country for gospel meetings.

Additionally, we hold a small collection of his song lyrics and sermon notes, which are Manuscripts #29, and our Austin Taylor Hymnal Collection holds copies of Teddlie’s hymnals.

Enjoy the film!