Author Archives: Mac Ice

Be on the lookout: Henry Halley’s Bible Handbook – Update!

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[Back in February 2020 I (Mac) blogged about Henry Halley’s little Bible handbook.  Since then we received a few copies and I have edited this post to reflect our current holdings.  If you have a copy you would like to donate, please contact me.  We need a nice full shelf of these handbooks.]

Our goal is to build a comprehensive research-level collection that can support a very wide array of research needs in Restoration history and thought.  To that end we aim for fullness in our collections.  And that means we are always on the lookout to fill gaps in the collection.  And that means we are always looking for partners who value this mission.  Many donors over many years built a fine collection.  As we look to further enrich it, we can only do so through the kindness and generosity of partners and who donate materials, ensuring their long-term preservation and availability for research.

One scholar from our past, Henry Halley, had a far-reaching impact on evangelical Bible students through the many editions of his simple Pocket Bible Hand Book.  Halley studied at College of the Bible in Lexington, Kentucky under John William McGarvey and Isaiah Boone Grubbs.  Upon graduation he began a career of preaching and teaching.  His Bible teaching often took the form of intensive seminars in which the Bible was read, studied, and memorized.  Halley’s first edition of his Bible Hand Book consisted of the notes, comments, and supporting material he used in these Bible readings.  Over time he adapted and expanded his work, always with an eye toward making the content of the English Bible more accessible to any who wished to study it.

Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Edition, 1965

Biography of Henry Halley, from the dust jacket of Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Edition, 1965

We have editions from:

1946 – 17th edition
1951
1954 – 19th edition
1955 – 20th and a Spanish language edition from 1955
1957 – 21st edition
1959 – 22nd edition
1962 – 23rd edition
1963 – 23rd edition
1965 – 24th edition
1969

By 1980 it reached its 24th edition (and that edition by 1980 reached its 38th printing).  The first edition was a 16-page booklet, and later editions filled out nearly 1000 pages.  This is an astounding publishing record, and we think our collection should more adequately represent the breadth of Halley’s work.  We especially seek early volumes, and the Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, and Greek translations.

Description of Halley’s Bible Handbook, back cover of the New Revised Edition, 1965

Title Page, Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Edition, 1965

Foreword, Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Edition, 1965

Foreword, Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Edition, 1965

Printing History, Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Edition, 1965

Printing History, Halley’s Bible Handbook, New Revised Edition, 1965

Can you help fill in these gaps?  Do you have a copy of one of these many editions we lack, and would you send it to us for the benefit of students and researchers?  Let’s partner together to build a comprehensive research-level collection.  Contact Mac Ice at mac.ice@acu.edu or 325-674-2144.

On the Shelf: New items added to Center for Restoration Studies collections, June 2021

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In June our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 493 items to the Center for Restoration Studies collections and one new item to the Taylor Hymnal Collection.  Ten of the new catalog records are for just-processed manuscripts collections.  Some of the additions are newly published, others are new-to-us, and still others represent a second copy or a new-to-us edition or printing.  You’ll notice this is another month of significant additions.  For the past few months our student workers and I worked through a backlog of gift books.  At about the same time Technical Services had some additional availability after closing out a few projects of their own.  And, with the academic and fiscal year winding down, book purchasing for the circulating collection paused.  All that means some additional time became available to tackle our backlog of donated books.  Even with 2000+ items now shelved since April, we still have a full queue that will last us through the summer.  The short version is the quality and scope of the collection will grow in some significant areas over the summer.  Book-buying for circulating collection will ramp up again and we will soon be busy downstairs with classes, so this high-volume of processing through print materials will slow down some as we head into the fall semester. But, what a spring and summer it has been! We remain grateful for the many donors whose generosity is building the collection in significant ways.

Abilene Christian College. Prickly Pear, Yearbook of Abilene Christian College, 1952, yearbook, 1952; Abilene, Texas. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.

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.

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

On the Shelf: New items added to Center for Restoration Studies collections, May 2021

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In May our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 892 items to the rare books, University Archives, and Center for Restoration Studies collections.  Most supplemented the books, periodicals (bound and unbound), and A/V subsets within the Restoration collection.  The University Archive grew by a few, but ACU Authors and Taylor Hymnal collections received many new items, with 90 and 108 additions respectively.  Some of the additions are newly published, others are new-to-us, and still others represent a second copy or a new-to-us edition or printing.  You’ll notice this is another month of significant additions.  For the past few months our student workers and I worked through a backlog of gift books.  At about the same time Technical Services had some additional availability after closing out a few projects of their own.  And, with the academic and fiscal year winding down, book purchasing for the circulating collection paused.  All that means some additional time became available to tackle our backlog.  Even with 1600+ items now shelved since April, we still have a full queue that will last us through the summer.  The short version is the quality and scope of the collection will grow in some significant areas over the summer.

Abilene Christian College. Prickly Pear, Yearbook of Abilene Christian College, 1952, yearbook, 1952; Abilene, Texas. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.

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.

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