ACU Archives will be closed Friday August 2 through Tuesday August 6, 2019. We will reopen Wednesday August 7 at 9am.
Archives and Special Collections closed August 2-6, 2019
Reply
Category Archives: News
University online digital repository unveils native streaming
After several months of beta testing we are pleased to announce that our online digital repository now supports native streaming for audio and video files. This development significantly enhances the user experience by allowing users to preview media files in a web-browser prior to download. Users will still be able to download each file, but this development makes listening much easier, much faster, and the overall user experience much better.
Interior of Sewell Auditorium, 1939 Bible Lectureship, from the Jesse Sewell Photograph Collection. The earliest Lectureship recordings were of sermons and classes delivered in this room, used for plenary Lectureship events from 1929 to 1967.
To pilot this upgrade, our partners at BePress implemented streaming for the West Islip (New York) Church of Christ Collection. This small set of magnetic tape audio reels preserves primary source material pertaining to the Exodus Movement, a unique church-planting concept employed among Churches of Christ in the 1960s. After a successful implementation for the West Islip files, we enabled streaming capabilities for the remainder of our audio, video, and historic films:
Herald of Truth film: 1 video file from 1960, a television broadcast featuring the Union Avenue Church of Christ, Memphis, Tennessee
Summit video: 6 video files of plenary Summit speeches
Lectures on Preaching: 12 audio files of Landon Saunders at the 21st Annual Lectures on Preaching held in 1971
Vernon Boyd audio: 18 audio files of rich and historically significant oral histories pertaining to African-American Churches of Christ
Leroy Garrett audio: 26 audio files of recordings of Leroy Garrett’s teaching and lecturing
LeMoine Lewis audio: 246 audio files of Dr. LeMoine Lewis’ lectures on church history
Herald of Truth audio: 534 audio files of historic Herald of Truth radio broadcasts, 1950-1994, featuring speakers such as Batsell Barrett Baxter, James D. Willeford, E. R. Harper, Harold Hazelip, John Allen Chalk, Humphrey Foutz, James Walter Nichols, George Bailey, Landon Saunders, and many more.
Summit and Bible Lectureship audio: 5395 audio files of every known recording from the annual Bible lectureships
Foldered & Finished: James Walton Shepherd Papers
The James Walton Shepherd Papers (1827-2003) are processed and ready for researchers. The finding aid for the papers and digitized selections are now available on DigitalCommons@ACU.
Page one of letter from James A. Harding to James Walton Shepherd dated 5 June 1895, Box 1, Folder Harding, James A., James Walton Shepherd Papers, 1827-2002. Center for Restoration Studies MS #230. Abilene Christian University Special Collections and Archives, Brown Library. Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX.
James Walton Shepherd was born near Lexington, Kentucky, on August 18, 1861. He was converted under the teaching of James A. Harding and attended the College of the Bible (Lexington, Kentucky) where he studied under J. W. McGarvey, I. B. Grubbs, and Robert Graham. Shepherd preached in the U.S. and engaged in mission work in Australia and New Zealand (c. 1888-1892). He later served as the librarian at Nashville Bible School, office manager of the Gospel Advocate, and editor of the Christian Leader. He published multiple books, and edited five volumes of David Lipscomb’s notes on the New Testament. He died at age 86 on July 27, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan.
First page of letter from John Moody McCaleb to V M Metcalfe dated 31 January 1896, Box 1, Folder McCaleb, John Moody, James Walton Shepherd Papers, 1827-2002. Center for Restoration Studies MS #230. Abilene Christian University Special Collections and Archives, Brown Library. Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX.
This collection includes correspondence to and from Shepherd, and personal journals he kept for several years. Two of these journals (1889 and 1891) describe Shepherd’s time as a missionary in Australia and New Zealand. There are also notes from his time as a student at the College of the Bible and biographical information. The collection also includes correspondence between Mary (Shepherd’s daughter) and Claude French, and correspondence to and from Mary concerning her father in his older age. The two letters featured here, and several more, are now available for browsing and download at DigitalCommons@ACU.