American Baptist Leaders Join Historical Society in Dedicating New Home

Atlanta, GA -- The American Baptist Historical Society celebrated its Grand Re-Opening and Dedication with representatives from its major American Baptist partners.

A video of the event has been posted on ABHS's website. Watch the Opening Celebration via on-demand video streaming. Photos of the events will also be posted in the near future.

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American Baptist Churches's General Secretary Roy Medley, National Ministries' Executive Director Aidsand F.Wright-Riggins III, International Ministries' Board Vice President Ruth Clark, The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board Regional Representative Z. Allen Abbott and local church historian the Rev. Lester C. Garner, from Calvary Baptist Church, Norristown, PA, joined ABHS President Trinette McCray, Vice President Wesley Roberts, Executive Director Deborah Van Broekhoven and Mercer University's President William Underwood and Vice President Richard Swindle, in cutting the ribbon, symbolically opening a new era in the Historical Society's own history.

The Historical Society's new home on the Atlanta campus of Mercer University is the fifth home for the collections since the Society was founded in 1853. The move consolidated the Archives Center, which was located at Valley Forge, PA, and held the archives of the mission societies of ABC USA as well as the Baptist World Alliance, with the Society's merged collections with the Samuel Colgate Historical Baptist Library in Rochester, NY.

"Now all the collections in our care are on one floor and under one roof!" said ABHS Executive Director Deborah Van Broekhoven.

"This move furthers the Board of Managers' goal to make the collections more accessible," said President Trinette McCray. "No longer will researchers have to decide which facility to go to, or incur the expense of traveling to both. No longer will staff be separated by facilities 300 miles apart. Atlanta is perfect because it is one flight from almost any city in the country."

"Earth Shakers and World Movers"

The Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr., senior pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, CA, gave the keynote address at the celebration luncheon, sponored in part by National Ministries. Author of numerous books, including Speak Until Justice Wakes (Judson Press), Dr. Smith called Baptists to remember those who have made a difference in church and society over the centuries.

"American Baptists are about women and men who used power from the periphery…to strike a blow to kill slavery. Let us remember the many unnamed, unknown, unsung, white American Baptist missionaries who braved even the stigma of death from heartless persons to establish in the South some major colleges that educated some of the Black 'earth shakers and world movers' of American history.

"Let us...pay tribute not only to early itinerate home missionaries, like John Mason Peck, who helped move the denomination westward. Let us rediscover Benjamin and Adam Morales, early pioneers of American Baptist Spanish-speaking church growth and...theological education." Continuing his list, Dr. Smith paid tribute and called American Baptists to remember also history-makers as Orlando E. Costas, Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Loida I. Martell-Ortero, Drs. Henry and Ella Mitchell, Dr. Jitsuo Morikawa, Dr. James Chuck, Dr. Eldon Ernst, Drs. Cora and John Sparrowk, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Howard Thurman and Dr. James Evans.

History in Abundance

After tours of the new facility, including the basketball court-sized compact shelving unit, provided by partners Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, when ABHS was in Rochester, and moved and rebuilt by Mercer University, a panel discussion of historians from across the country shared stories of Baptist history from their research and life experience, continuing the discussion of why Baptist history matters.

 Special presentations included "Preservation Matters" a PowerPoint tour of ABHS media needs by summer intern Heidi Holmstrom, and a dramatic portrayal by actor Carol Anderson, recalling the words of Emily Chubbuck Judson, Baptist missionary to Burma in the early 1800s.

Said the Rev. Dr. Albert P.Brinson, Atlanta native, co-chairman of ABHS's History Matters capital campaign, and retired national ABC staff member, "This is a special moment. That now, here in Atlanta, we celebrate the open house of the largest center for Baptist history. And we are a part of this Baptist history. So Atlanta celebrates.

"Atlanta is a great city for bringing people together. We're hoping and asking God to bless this new home for the American Baptist Historical Society, and make it a great thing."

Panel participants included:  

The Rev. Dr. Everett Goodwin Panel Moderator, pastor of the Scarsdale Community Baptist Church (NY) and the author of numerous books, including Down By the Riverside: A Brief History of Baptist Faith, and Baptists in the Balance: The Tension Between Freedom and Responsibility. He has led tours to significant sites for church and Baptist history and served as an officer for ABHS.

The Rev. Dr. Adam Bond, Assistant Professor of Historical Studies at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology in Richmond, VA. His dissertation from Marquette University analyzes the life and theology of Samuel DeWitt Proctor. He is an ordained ABC minister  and has served on the regional staff for ABC of Wisconsin.

Dr. William H. Brackney, Millard R. Cherry Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Ethics at Acadia Divinity School, Wolfeville, Nova Scotia, Canada.  He is the author of numerous books on Baptist history, with his latest title Baptists and Higher Education currently in production at Mercer University Press. He began his career as the Executive Director of the American Baptist Historical Society, after which he taught and administered religion programs at Eastern Seminary, MacMaster Divinity School, and Baylor University.

The Rev. Dr. Albert P. Brinson, History Matters Campaign co-chair, retired recently as ABC Associate General Secretary. Brinson was licensed and ordained at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church by co-pastors Martin Luther King Sr. and Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Brinson has authored numerous pieces on stewardship education and remains a popular speaker and preacher.

Dr. Anthea Butler, Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Rochester and author of numerous articles and the book, Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making A Sanctified World (2007).  She is currently a visiting research fellow at Harvard Divinity School and is working on a biography of the Women's American Baptist Home Mission Society first missionary, Joanna P. Moore.

Dr. Loris Coletta, History Matters campaign co-chair, was honored in 2003 by American Baptist Churches USA with the Sparrowk Award, given for her years of leadership and community service. Previously she served for eight years on ABC's General Board, working in the areas of education, ecumenism, and statements of concern.  She currently chairs the development committee for ABHS.

William D. Underwood, president of Mercer University. Prior to joining Mercer, President Underwood held the  prestigious Leon Jaworski Chair at the Baylor School of Law. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the American Bar Foundation. He has published extensively and presented a number of papers on how faith relates to higher education.

Dr. Deborah Bingham Van Broekhoven, Executive Director of the American Baptist Historical Society.  Previously she taught history at Ohio Wesleyan University, Barrington College, and Grand Rapids Baptist College. She has authored articles on American religion and social change, as well as a book, The Devotion of These Women: Rhode Island in the Antislavery Network.

Founded in 1853, the American Baptist Historical Society holds the largest and most diverse collection of Baptist materials in the world. Focused on Baptists in the United States, the collections include the personal papers of prominent Baptists, minutes from Baptist associations from the early 1700s to the present representing many different Baptist denominations, archives of the mission societies of the American Baptist Churches, USA, Danish Baptists and Free Will Baptists, the archives of the Baptist World Alliance, local church records, missionary and church artifacts, and newspapers and magazines representing the worldwide Baptist press.

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