Few individuals among Churches of Christ in the 20th century were as well-known as Carl Ketcherside (1908-1989). He described his journey as that of a piece-maker who became a peacemaker. He was for many a champion for the recovery of a lost unity amid a divided fellowship; for others, his voice represented a dangerous departure from historic restorationism if not biblical teaching. However his legacy is characterized, any interpretation of it rests on available sources: from a voluminous published corpus to archival materials from his own hand. On the one hand, ACU Special Collections holds a robust collection of his published books. Further we have copies or originals of as complete a set of his periodicals as is obtainable. On the other hand, we have numerous letters written by Carl to several of his associates. Never intended for publication, they shed additional light into his ministry and through his life, the wider story of Churches of Christ in his day. Each letter includes an attached transcription, and as a result of the typed transcriptions, the letters are now text searchable. We thank Ian Davidson, Cecil Hook. Hoy Ledbetter, Boyce Mouton, Stan Paregien, and Terry Gardner for making the letters, transcriptions, and annotations available and ensuring their preservation.
During the 2013 ACU Friends of ACU Library luncheon during Summit Mac Ice discussed the archival significance of this correspondence and the role archives play in the preservation and dissemination of our faith story. A video of Mac’s presentation is available at the bottom of this page.
Letters
Below are scans of over 125 letters from Carl to these four associates. Click the name below to access the correspondence (in PDF form) from W. Carl Ketcherside to that individual. Terry J. Gardner meticulously transcribed and annotated many of these letters.
If you have any information about these, or any other letters to or from Carl Ketcherside – please contact Mac Ice.