Archives

Access During the 2021-2022 Academic Year
Thank you for visiting the School of Theology Archives and Research Collections page. Our access policy for the 2021-2022 academic year is as follows:
Reference Inquiries must be sent to the Archivist and Preservation Librarian via email kjackman@bu.edu or through the Ask The Archivist form.
Appointments are required for access. Please contact Kara Jackman, Archivist and Preservation Librarian via Ask the Archivist or email kjackman@bu.edu to find a date and time.
On the day and time of your appointment, please bring a mask or face covering to wear while you are conducting research in the archives reading room.
On-Campus Hours:
Monday 10:30AM – 4:00PM
Tuesday 10:30AM – 4:00PM
Wednesday CLOSED
Thursday 1:00PM – 7:00PM
Friday 10:30AM – 4:00PM
Saturday CLOSED
Sunday CLOSED
Virtual Reference Inquiries
Inquiries from the public are welcome via email (kjackman@bu.edu) or by using the “Ask The Archivist” form to submit their inquiries. Please allot 2-4 weeks for a response by the Archivist.
If you need access to any of the STH Archives holdings, including but not limited to, New England Annual Conference church records, STH Archives, and other collections, please contact Kara Jackman via the Ask the Archivist form or email (kjackman@bu.edu). Ask for scans of specific folders in our archival collections or chapter(s) from a book in our Research Collections. Search for archival material here, and for research collections through Boston University Libraries Search catalog.
Please be aware that it may take 4-6 weeks to receive a response to your inquiry.
Zoom reference interviews are also available.
Research Collections Access
All books are non-circulating and must remain in library at all times during use. Books can be accessed during the following days and times.
Monday 10:30AM – 4:00PM
Tuesday 10:30AM – 4:00PM
Wednesday CLOSED
Thursday 1:00PM – 7:00PM
Friday 10:30AM – 4:00PM
Saturday CLOSED
Sunday CLOSED
The School of Theology Archives, located within the School of Theology Library, collects, preserves, and provides access to records of enduring, historical value relating to, or created by, the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Boston University School of Theology. The New England Conference Collections contain Local Church Records, Conference Records, conference journals and other publications. The School of Theology Collections contain records of the administrative offices, organizations and institutes. We also hold personal papers and artifact collections donated by prominent New England Methodists and School of Theology faculty members. All together, the archives contains approximately 2,000 linear feet of records. Records exist in a variety of different formats including documents, photographs, audio and moving image recordings, artworks and artifacts. An appointment is required to access the church records and the other archival collections at Boston University School of Theology Library. Before you plan your visit to the School of Theology Archives, please contact the Archivist and Preservation Library via the Ask the Archivist form or via email (kjackman@bu.edu).
Kara Jackman has served in the role of Archivist at the Boston University School of Theology Library since 2005. She attended the University of Pittsburgh, earning her Master of Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archival Studies and Records Management. She attended the College of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts in English and minor in Art History. She enjoys writing, exercise, tennis, and watching her beloved Boston Red Sox.
• Search Archival Holdings
• Ask the Archivist
• Research Inquiries
• Archival Policies
• New England Conference Commission on Archives and History
• Records Donation and Management
• Exhibitions
• Floor Plan, Hours, and Directions
Click on the collapsible box to get a brief overview of some of the more popular collections the Archives hold; for further holdings, explore our archival holdings or collections page.
Morgan Memorial-Goodwill Industries
This important service organization was founded by Rev. Edgar J. Helms (STH, 1895) and has grown to become an international model for social agencies. Annual reports, board minutes, and news clippings from its 100-year history report its activities during the years. Files are arranged chronologically, with a general inventory.
For more information about the Morgan Memorial, Inc. archival collection, click here.
New England Conference Commission on Archives and History
The Commission collection focuses on the history of the United Methodist Church in New England, with Conference Journals, church records, and archived records of conference boards and agencies, along with Methodist-related social and service organization records. Commission materials, especially journals and church records, are listed online. The listing in these pages is complete except for information notes on parish history.
Learn more about the important work done by NECCAH here and search for holdings information.
New England United Methodist Historical Society
All materials dealing with the Methodist church in New England, including conference journals and records, church records, records of organizations and social groups, books and papers, were transferred to the New England Conference Commission on Archives and History. Included are manuscript letters and memoirs collected by the Historical Society and books by or about New England Methodism. General histories of the Methodist Episcopal Church recording the evangelization of New England, and national-level publications, such as General Conference materials, the Book of Discipline, and the General Minutes were also transferred to the Commission. All other published materials dealing with Methodism or other topics were transferred to Boston University School of Theology Library, including the Society’s collection of 18th and 19th century publications by or about John and Charles Wesley.
For more information about the New England United Methodist Historical Society, search for it in our archival holdings database here.
Early Printed Bible Pages
The School of Theology Archives is home to a collection of sample leaves from early and important Bible editions. Find information about our holdings here.
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 Samaritan Collection
The Barton Collection contains materials accumulated during a quarter century (1903-1926) of personal contact with the Samaritans, including correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and scrolls. Primary material consists of nineteen scrolls, including two Pentateuchal scrolls of early twentieth century vintage, the original and unpublished Arabic texts of Priest Jacob on the history and thought of the sect, five small modern codices of parts of the Samaritan Pentateuch, two Samaritan prayer books, an Arabic treatise by Priest Isaac on Jacob’s Well, and untranslated autobiography of Jacob in Arabic, two copies of the Samaritan Book of Joshua in Arabic, one of which has a commentary in Samaritan Hebrew, and a copy of Abu’l Fath. The photographs include forty-three prints of the Abisa scroll from a 1919 filming, discredited at the time, but verified as authentic after re-photographing by Perez Castro in the 1950s, and other photographs or glass slides of the Samaritans. Personal letters reveal his contacts with the Samaritans and dealers through whom he obtained the scrolls and other materials. Also contains about 150 letters by or about the American Samaritan Committee.
For more information about the William E. Barton Samaritan Collection, click here.
James D. Purvis Samaritana Collection
The Purvis collection contains both primary and secondary materials on the Samaritans. The primary materials consist of fifty volumes of Samaritan texts, including thirty-five hand-copied volumes, mostly collected in the early 1960s, for the most part anthologies of liturgical materials–service books for daily and Sabbath prayers, songs and prayer for the liturgical year, and songs for special occasions–as well as copies of biblical texts and theological writings, with texts in Samaritan Aramaic and Hebrew (in Samaritan characters), and less frequently in Arabic (sometimes in a mixture of Arabic and Samaritan characters). Included are four antiquarian volumes, and a substantial run (1981-82, 1984, 1986, 1996-1999, with some issues from 1991-1992) of Aleph-Beth: The Samaritan News. Secondary materials include twenty-eight monographs in English, Hebrew or German, including bibliographies, mostly published in the 1960s to 1990s, and eighty off-prints or photocopies of articles on the Samaritans, primarily in English with a few in German, mostly from the 1950s to 1990s.
Click here to read more about the Purvis Collection.
Dr. Scherf Taize Collection, 1924-1974
The Dr. Theresa Scherf research collection on Taize has extensive photocopy resources on early writings of Brother Roger and founding philosophy behind the Taize Movement.
Dr. Theresa Scherf collected these photocopies and translations of source materials while writing her dissertation, “Monasticism as Church: The Taizé Rule in the Light of Western Monastic Tradition” (Ph.D. Marquette University, 1988)
To learn more about the holdings in our Dr. Scherf Taize Collection, visit our archival database here.
Anna Howard Shaw Center Collection
The Anna Howard Shaw Center at Boston University School of Theology promotes structures and practices that empower women and honor diversity. The Center is named after the Reverend Doctor Anna Howard Shaw, a Methodist minister, medical doctor, and suffragist. Ten years after its founding in 1978, the Shaw Center was designated as the women’s center for the Northeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. The collection includes transcripts from an oral history program on clergywomen. It also includes the center’s old subject files filled with articles on a variety of women’s related topics. Copies of the Anna Howard Shaw Center newsletter and Sojourner are also part of this collection.
For more detailed information about our holdings in the Anna Howard Shaw Center Collection, visit our archival database.
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