Research Collections
Access to Collections
Biblical Collections
Hymnal Collections
Worship Collections
Methodist Collections Missions
Collections
Theology Collections
Personalism Collections
Heritage Collection
School Archives
Art Collections
Biblical Collections
Massachusetts
Bible Society Collection
In 1980, the Library received the collection of the Massachusetts
Bible Society, approximately 4500 items covering 1500 languages
into which the Bible or parts have been translated.
These combined collections contain nearly 75% of the early
Bible editions cited in The Book of a Thousand Tongues.
Cataloging is in-process, funded by a grant from the
Arthur Vining Davis Foundation.
Clyde
Kimball Bible Collection
Rev. Clyde Kimball, a graduate of the School of Religious
Education and the School of Theology, served as a chaplain
in World War II, and was killed at the Battle of the Bulge.
In 1947, his widow donated his Bible collection in memory
of the three School of Theology graduates who died in the
chaplain service: Kimball, George E. Fox, and Raymond L.
Hall. Though he began with New England imprints, Kimball's
collection of nearly 150 Bibles has a number of early European
imprints that form the core of our antiquarian Bible collection.
The collection is not cataloged on-line.
Early
Bible Pages
There is a collection of sample leaves from early and important
Bible editions.
Missionary
Bible Collection
One of the side-effects of our early missionary training
was a collection of Bibles in various languages, previously
in the Reading Room at 72 Mt. Vernon Street. The collection
supplements the Massachusetts Bible Society Collection,
but is not cataloged on-line.
William
E. Barton Collection of Samaritan Materials
Barton was active in the Samaritan community in the early
twentieth century and has a substantial collection of scrolls
and studies of the Samaritans covering 1903-1926.
James
D. Purvis Samaritana Collection
Dr. Purvis wrote his dissertation at Harvard on the Samaritans
and had a life-long interest in researches and studies on
the sect. His collection, covering 1956-2002, includes late
twentieth century worship books as well as extensive files
of published articles on the Samaritans. An exhibit
of selected materials was on display in the Fall of 2001.
Biblical
Collections
In addition to bibles themselves, there is a book collection
on the history, transmission, and interpretation of Biblical
texts. This listing retrieves the bibles as well as the
general book collection.
Dickinson
Marks Collection
This was originally the extensive private library of the
late Rt. Rev. George (?) Carey, Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts.
The Collection was particularly rich in 18th-early 19th
century rare books that represented significant holdings
in biblical theology, polyglot lexicons, dictionaries, and
concordances. The Collection suffered much damage in a fire
in the early 1920's. Mr. Charles Dickinson Marks, a grand-nephew
of Bishop Carey, is a native of Boston and a graduate of
Harvard. He contacted Dr. Raymond Van De Moortell, STH Head
Librarian, in 1998 so that the remaining folio-sized volumes
could be returned to a research-level theological library
in the Boston area. The Collection was donated to the STH
Library in late 1998. The 30 titles are mostly mid-to-late
19th century works, but also contain two fine 15th century
works of polygot lexicons.
Hymnal Collections
Nutter-Metcalf
Hymnal Collections.
We have the extensive collection of the Rev. Charles S.
Nutter, a graduate and well-known hymnologist, supplemented
by the collection of Frank E. Metcalf. A grant from
the Lilly Endowment is allowing for full cataloging and
preservation work on this collection. The Nutter collection
also includes a collection of autorgraph letters, mostly
from his research on contemporary hymnists at the end of
the nineteenth century. A selection of
African-American hymnals were on display in the spring
of 2000.
James
Rogers Hymnal Collection.
At the end of 1999, the library acquired the hymnal collection
of Rev. James Rogers, one of the private largest collections
in the United States. Only a few titles are on-line.
James
Russell Houghton Collection.
A large collection of books and sheet music has been received
but only some has been inventoried at this point. This collection
supplements the archival
collection of papers already processed.
General
Hymnological Collection.
The Library has supplemented the above collections with
additional hymnals.
Charles
S. Nutter Collection
of autograph letters.
Medieval
Hymnal Pages.
The Library also has a collection of leaves from early hand-written
hymnals. An on-line
display of selected materials is available.
Crocker
Durkee book
collection of Methodist hymnals and disciplines
Lester
Hostetler hymnal collection.
Lila
Hill hymnbook collection.
McCormick
Syndor hymn and carol collection.
Worship
Collections
The
Rev. William Heidt Collection
This contains nearly 3000 volumes from the private library
of Rev. William Heidt, O.S.B. Rev. Heidt was the editor
in chief of Liturgical Press in Collegeville, Minnesota
for nearly twenty five years, both prior to and after the
liturgical reform that Vatican II initiated. A Benedictine
monk at St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville,
Fr. Heidt's collection reflects the remarkable liturgical
renewal movement of the second half of the 20th century.
The collection is rich in historical, sacramental, and liturgical
texts. Originally trained in Old Testament Studies at the
Catholic University of America in the 1930's, Fr. Heidt's
collection also contains many works in biblical theology
and spiritual theology. In addition to monographs, there
is a wide-ranging collection of pamphlets.
The collection came to Boston University School of Theology
from Holy Apostles Seminary in Comwell, Connecticut, where
Fr. Heidt spent the last 10 years of his teaching career.
James
Sanders Worship Collection.
The worship collection of Rev. James Sanders was received
in 1974. This ecumenical collection contains worshipbooks
and companion works, histories and studies of liturgy. The
works are cataloged on-line but not separately identified.
Taize
Collection.
The Theresa Scherf research collection on Taize has extensive
photocopy resources on early writings of Brother Roger and
founding philosopy behind the Taize Movement.
General
Worship Collection.
The Sanders Collection has be supplemented by our own collection
of Common Lectionary and other contemporary materials.
Carmelite
Spirituality Collection.
A recent emphasis on spirituality is reflected in continuing
acquisition of devotional and spiritual resource materials,
including recent acquisitions from the Carmelites.
Killian
book collection on Spirituality.
Spirituality
and Biography Collections.
Spirituality
Collection.
Methodist
Collections
General
Methodist Collection.
Being the first seminary established for the Methodist Episcopal
Church in the United States, the Library has an extensive
collection of Methodist matierals, covering General Conferences,
Annual Conferences, Disciplines, hymnals, journals, histories
and biographies.
John
and Charles Wesley Collection.
A collection of nearly 400 eighteen-century Wesley publications
is built upon the gift of William Henry Meredith. In addition,
there is a large selection of nineteenth-century editions
and biographies, a recent gift of the New England United
Methodist Historical Society.
The
Wesley Collection.
The library collection contains many nineteenth and twentieth
century editions of Wesley works, plus biographies and commentaries.
New
England Conference Commission on Archives and History.
The on-site availability of the New England Conference Commission
on Archives and History collection adds greater depth to
the study of Methodist in the New England Region. The collection
includes manuscript histories and memoirs, as well as extensive
records of the New ENgland Conference and its predecessors.
Microform
Collection of Methodist Materials.
Missions
Collections
General
Missions Collection.
From the middle of the nineteenth century, the School
of Theology has educated missionaries. The library reflects
one hundred and fifty years of world-wide missions interest.
The collection supports advanced graduate research in missiology
and comparative theology. The missions collection focuses
on the history of Christian missions, and contains a sizeable
collection of early missionary writings and histories. There
are numerous missionary journals, diaries, and biographies.
Missions
on Microform.
We have a growing collection of missionary archives in microform
from the Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican and Reformed
traditions.
Jesuit
Missions.
The collection has been broadened by recent acquisitions
in Catholic missions focusing on the missionary efforts
of various religious orders.
The strength of the collection lies in its
sizeable nineteenth century interests, periodicals relating
to world-wide Christianity, and the work of women in missions.
In addition, the collection reflects the long-standing tradition
of ecumenical work, represented by documents of the World
Council of Churches. The African Studies Library provides
additional support in the study of African missions.
Theology and Philosophy
Collections
The
Jesuitica Collection
The nearly 7,000 volumes in this research collection were
acquired by the School of Theology Library in 1999.
The collections came from various sources, but principally
reflect library materials deaccessioned from the Jesuit
University in Rochester, New York; the Loyola Seminary Library
(now defunct) in Shrub Oak, New York; Xavier High School,
New York, New York; and St. Andrew-on-the Hudson,
Poughkeepsie, New York. The Collections contain mostly
19th and early 20th century books that cover topics
such as Jesuit history, missions, spiritual life, biography,
and governance. There is a smattering of 18th works.
The Collections are particularly rich in documentating primary
sources for Catholic missions, especially those of the Jesuit
order, and sundry other religious orders of both men and
women. The language diversity reflected in the Collections
are also peculiarly rich. While the majority of works
in the Collections are in English, nearly 30% of the materials
are in French. Materials in German, Italian,and Spanish
are nearly 11%, 10%, and 9% respectively. There
is a substantive run of titles from the monographic series
Orientalia christiana, and Orientalia christiana analecta
issued from the Pontifical Institute for Oriental Studies
in Rome.
Canon
Law Collection.
Dorothy
S. Packer books on the Reformation.
Peggy
Sibley collection of nineteenth-century
sunday school tracts.
Personalism
Collections
The heritage of the School presents a history
of the Personalist philsophy in the writings of the Boston
Personalists, including:
Collections consist of published materials, as well as
some manuscript, correspondence, and biographical materials.
Fundamentalism Collections
C.
Allyn Russell Fundamentalism Collection
This contains over one hundred titles collected by Dr. Russell
during his life-long study of Fundamentalism and its major
preachers.
J.
Allen Broyles Collection on the John Birch Society
This contains primary source materials on
the John Birch Society, including the Blue Book, the White
Book, and the Bulletin.
Other Research Collections
The
Heritage Collection
The Boston University School of Theology was founded in
1839 as a project of the Boston Wesleyan Association.
Beginning with the appointment of Rev. John Dempster in
1842, books were collected for the project, at first housed
at the Newbury (VT) Biblical Institute under the directorship
of Rev. Osman Baker, and later moved to Concord, N.H., with
the incorporation of the Methodist General Biblical Institute
in 1848. The Institute moved to Boston in 1868 to
become the founding school of Boston University. Still
preserved are several hundred books from the pre-Boston
days. An on-line
display of some materials is available.
The
School of Theology Archives.
In addition to collecting books and journals for
current research, the School of Theology Library collects
and preserves important materials relative to the history
of the school, the faculty, and local organizations with
some relationship to the school, among them Morgan Memorial-Goodwill
Industries.
The Art Collections
Percy Woodward Collection.
In 1951, University Trustee Percy Woodward donated his large
collection of art, mostly Asiatic with some Egyptian and
Meso-American, to the University, most of it finding
a home in the School of Theology Library. This collection
of statuary and artifacts from non-Christian religions mostly
in Tibet and China show the diversity of human religious
iconography.
Scarborough Coin
Collection. The Scarborough Coin Collection contains
items from the ancient Middle East and Roman Empire.
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