Two new scholarly journals launching soon

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Mac Ice

Students of Restoration Movement thought and history will want to be aware of two new academic journals.

Teleios is a join-venture by scholars from the International Churches of Christ (ICOC), the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, and Churches of Christ. Teleios is multi-disciplinary and multi-media, accepting articles, fiction, poems, and photographs.

Journal of Discipliana revives Discipliana and will be published by Disciples of Christ Historical Society. It will “explore issues relevant to all aspects of thought and religious life and practice within the historical or contemporary Stone-Campbell Movement.” Image may contain: 6 people

On the Shelf: New items added to Center for Restoration Studies collections, November 2020

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Mac Ice

In November our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 135 items to the Center for Restoration Studies, University Archives, and Rare Books collections. Among them are many books and periodical issues (both bound volumes and several more boxes of unbound issues), and a few university publications, and several hymnals. The unbound, single issue periodicals continue to be a special focus of cooperation between Special Collections and Technical Services.

A significant addition to the collection last month was a fine group of yearbooks from Abilene Christian Schools (formerly known as the Campus School or Demonstration School). These yearbooks spanned from the middle 1940s to the early 1970s and with one or two exceptions were all new-to-us. This group comes on the heels of similar acquisitions from Oklahoma Christian University and Rochester University. They are a welcome addition to our collection and we are always looking for other catalogs and yearbooks from sister schools across the Restoration Movement. If you can help us build out this set of materials, contact Mac Ice at mac.ice@acu.edu.

Many items added in November are not only new to us, the work performed on them reflects original cataloging, which is a tremendous contribution to knowledge about information resources from and about the Stone-Campbell Movement.

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.

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

Vertical Files Finding Aids updated

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Mac Ice

Updated finding aids for three sets of Vertical Files have been updated and are now available for browsing or download.

Over the past year hundreds of new items have come into the collection, necessitating a substantial updating of three lists: Church Leaders Biographical Files, Congregational Files, and Organizational Files. New materials about 59 individuals brings the bio file count to 1379; items from 129 congregations brings that total to 1089; and new files for 53 organizations brings that total to 378.

ACU Library staff created this set of files in the 1980s to collect and preserve materials from and about ministers, missionaries, congregations and a wide array of organizations, entities, businesses, non-profits, and missionary, educational, and benevolent institutions affiliated with Churches of Christ, Christian Churches and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The file set includes clippings, articles, promotional materials, newsletters, photographs and ephemera. These three sets complement two additional sets of vertical files (for Subjects and for World Churches) all housed as part of the collections of Center for Restoration Studies. All five sets are open to researchers.

We solicit donations for these file sets. Ephemera of all kinds, promotional brochures, annual reports, photographs all contribute to our knowledge of the past. Contact Mac Ice at mac.ice@acu.edu for details on how you can preserve these materials. We add new materials regularly and welcome your partnership in preserving them.