Today in ACU History: January 3, 1949

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Amanda Dietz

The first issue of Horizons is published 10 times each year as a four-page bulletin for students, parents of students, and friends of Abilene Christian College. It becomes a magazine in 1963 and later wins regional and national acclaim from the American College Public Relations Association, Time/Life and Newsweek with Dr. Charlie Marler (’55) as editor.

From Dr. John’s Perpetual Calendar: One Hundred Years of ACU History, One Day at a Time. The calendar was published in honor of ACU’s Centennial by Abilene Christian University by the Office of Creative Services, ACU.

Finding Aid Round Up

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Amanda Dietz

We’ve been busy writing finding aids for recent acquisitions and revising finding aids for sets of papers already in our holdings. You can browse all of our collections on DigitalCommons. See something below that piques your interest or could be useful for your research? Get in touch and let us know what you’re thinking about; we’d love to help!

Edwin Harold “Ed” Enzor, Jr. Papers, 1950-2015, MS#443 [Revised Finding Aid]
This collection includes materials created by Edwin Harold “Ed” Enzor, Jr. including documents, tapes, negatives, and binders.

James Orville Wilburn Papers, 1927-1970, MS#451 [Revised Finding Aid]
James Orville Wilburn was born March 9, 1905 in Grove County, Kansas. He passed away on September 7, 1970 in Lubbock, Texas. He was a preacher in the Church of Christ and participated in multiple debates, including with Russellites and Jehovah’s Witnesses. He married Frances Mae on September 1, 1930. The couple worked in ministry throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, California, and Kansas. These papers include a set of sermon notes, clippings, study notes and ephemera collected by James Orville Wilburn over the course of his ministerial career.

From the James Orville Wilburn Papers, 1927-1970. Center for Restoration Studies MS#451.

Noble Festus Patterson, Jr. Papers, 1938-2013, MS#465 [Revised Finding Aid]
Noble Festus Paterson, Jr. was the editor of the Christian Journal. Terry J. Gardner and Patterson edited Foy E. Wallace, Jr.: Soldier of the Cross. This collection includes Patterson’s correspondence, topical files, church materials (e.g., bulletins, directories, etc.), sermons, photographs, 35mm slides, and cassettes. Notably, the first box includes correspondence about Foy E. Wallace, Jr. following his death, and correspondence and photos concerning Patterson’s edited work on Wallace: Foy E. Wallace, Jr.: Soldier of the Cross.

Ewell Prather Papers, 1767-1978, MS#478 [Revised Finding Aid]
Ewell Prather served as Director of Security at Abilene Christian University. The Ewell Prather Papers includes Prather family genealogical and historical information.

Hermitage Church of Christ (Nashville, TN) Records, 1967-2017, MS#499 [New Finding Aid]
Hermitage Church of Christ (Nashville, TN) was established in 1967 (formerly known as Berryville Church of Christ) and closed in 2018 (renamed New Garden Church). Two cubic foot boxes of directories, ministry information, correspondence, financial statements, audio materials on cassette, and photographs and audio materials on CDs and DVDs.

From the Hermitage Church of Christ (Nashville, TN) Records, 1967-2017. Center for Restoration Studies MS#499.

Stay tuned for more installments of Finding Aid Round Ups!

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

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Mac Ice

In November our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 707 items to Special Collections holdings. Almost 550 items fed into the main print collection (which we call REST), plus about 120 into REST A/V while the remainder filled in gaps in our Taylor Hymnal Collection, ACU Authors and ACU Archive 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. The tract project continues, especially this month, with hundreds of new entries. We will have a fine set of tracts, all cataloged, when this project is complete.

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.

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