The Gospel writer Luke explained his motivation for writing: “so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.” (Luke 1.4) This reflects the motivation for ABHS’s work: that Baptist ministry and mission may be presented truthfully.
Thanks to generous members and donors, ABHS accomplished numerous special projects last year. Your support in 2024 helped:
- hold community scanning days to create an online archive of documents related to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. There are 19,290 pages/photos in the collection, of which 12,863 come from ABHS collections;
- celebrate 54 congregations’ milestones with Anniversary Certificates;
- host 6 tour groups, some from the Atlanta area, others from as far away as upstate New York;
- welcome over 75 visitors and 27 researchers on-site for 41 research days, and fulfill more than 38 Research-by-Mail requests;
- continue a collaboration with Ancestry.com, with over 334,168 pages digitized. The first set of these, ABFMS missionary sailing cards and biographical files, is accessible on the Ancestry.com website;
- upload 341,301 (!) files to our digital preservation platform. You can browse these files (photos, documents, and audio recordings) online at https://abhs.access.preservica.com/;
- digitize 53 reels of microfilm and upload a total of 103 reels of microfilm to the digital preservation platform;
- inventory all Native American artifacts in the collections and submit a listing of ceremonial objects or items that potentially have cultural significance to the federal NAGPRA office.
Preserving records of historic events, providing access to materials that document people’s lives and churches’ ministries — this is the primary ministry of ABHS. With your help, we continue a Gospel ministry of truth-telling.
Funds to carry out this work come from institutional partners and individuals. We are grateful to Mercer University and President Bill Underwood for hosting ABHS on their Atlanta campus. We appreciate financial support from American Baptist Churches USA, International Ministries, American Baptist Home Mission Societies, the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board, and American Baptist Women’s Ministries, all of whose records of ministry we preserve and manage.
Thank you, members of and donors to ABHS, for your financial contributions! Together we are able to preserve, share, and celebrate a living legacy of centuries of American Baptist mission and ministry.
Torbet Prize Call for Papers
The American Baptist Historical Society announces a Call for Papers for the Torbet Prize. Each year ABHS seeks essays on Baptist history from authors who have not already published a major scholarly work. The Research and Publication Committee of the ABHS Board of Manager serves as judges, and the winning essay is eligible for publication in an upcoming issue of the American Baptist Quarterly and its author awarded $500. The deadline for submission is September 1. Here are downloadable details.
Send entry, contact information, and a brief bio including a list of prior publications to: ABHSoffice@ABHSarchives.org
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION:
- Author has not already published a major scholarly work;
- Submissions make a unique contribution to the field of Baptist history and/or theology;
- Professional and academic writing standards are met, especially re: attributions and citations;
- Citations, format, and style must follow the Chicago Manual of Style;
- Maximum length: 25 double-spaced pages (excluding notes);
- Submission must be in final draft form, free from errors and ready for publication.
Robert George Torbet (1912-1995) was an American Baptist historian and educator, born in Spokane, WA and later a graduate of Wheaton College, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the University of Pennsylvania. He taught church history at Eastern Seminary (1944-1952), served as director of educational services for the American Baptist Board of Education and Publication (1952-1958), as dean and church history professor at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (1958-1967), and as Associate General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations of the American Baptist Churches, USA (1967-1977). His significant contributions to Baptist research and publication led the American Baptist Historical Society to establish a prize in his honor to encourage development of young scholars in the field of Baptist history studies.
