In January our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 888 items to Special Collections holdings.  We added about a dozen titles to the ACU Authors Collection, another dozen hymnals to the Taylor Hymnal Collection.  The major focus was on working through a backlog of monographs and tracts for the REST Collection.  Most of the monographs were much-needed second copies while nearly all of this month’s tracts are totally new to us.

Photograph of two young women sitting on the roof of a building in chairs reading and studying. Handwritten note in the bottom margin reads, “Very studious.” This was likely taken on the old campus of Abilene Christian College in downtown Abilene.  Ca. 1910-1920s. From Jesse P. Sewell Photograph Collection. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth597580/

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.

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

In December our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 663 items to Special Collections holdings. Of these, about a dozen fed the Taylor Hymnal Collection, while just over 30 fed into the ACU Authors collection.  The remainder are tracts, booklets, and monographs mostly from Lincoln Christian College and Seminary.

Photograph of four men sitting on their briefcases in grass, each wearing suits, matching hats, and looking at books. A house can be seen in the background.  Ca.1920s.  From Jesse P. Sewell Photograph Collection: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth597076/

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.

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

In November our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 1028 items to Special Collections holdings. There were quite a few new items this month for both ACU Authors and ACU Archives collections.  A few more unbound periodical titles, but over 100 new-to-us hymnals for the Taylor Hymnal Collection. The remainder were much-needed monographs and tracts for the REST collection both new-to-us and second copies.  This great influx of tracts, booklets, and pamphlets is the result of focused effort to get an enormous backlog of these under control.  It takes serious, focused attention to do this kind of work properly and correctly.  We are grateful for Dr. Monty Lynn, Professor of Management, Emeritus, who has taken on this project in a special way. Monty’s patient attention to detail, and determination to bring us current, means that thousands of these items are now accounted for and available for research.  The lists the the past two months will also reflect the beginning of a major focused effort to work on the donation from Lincoln Christian College and Seminary.  These tracts are the first fruits of that work, along with the hymnals this month.  We anticipate much more work on the hymnals in the coming months as the end of the tract backlog nears.

Photograph of four men sitting on their briefcases in grass, each wearing suits, matching hats, and looking at books. A house can be seen in the background.  Ca.1920s.  From Jesse P. Sewell Photograph Collection: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth597076/

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.

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