Jeanne Cobb Honored

At its annual meeting on November 7, 2008, the Board of Trustees of Disciples of Christ Historical Society honored Mrs. Jeanne Cobb for twenty years of service as the Archivist of Bethany College.

Mrs. Cobb served as Archivist and organizer of the Campbell collection for the West Virginia college from 1988-2008, and retired over the summer. Bethany College is an undergraduate institution affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Dr. Duane Cummins, former president of Bethany and staff historian for the Historical Society said that Mrs. Cobb “loved an archive more than any archivist or librarian I have ever known.” She believed, Cummins continued, that “the creation of an archive was the most lasting legacy a person could bequeath.”

And Dr. Douglas Foster, noted historian of Abilene Christian University, added that “Jeanne is a remarkable individual who has done tremendous service for the Stone-Campbell heritage.”

Mrs. Cobb was joined for the event by her son, Rev. David Cobb, minister of First Christian Church (DOC), Lynchburg, VA.

Conversation with Sharon Watkins

President Glenn Thomas Carson recently sat down with General Minister and President Sharon Watkins for an in-depth interview.  Segments of the interview are available here on the website.  You will hear Dr. Watkins discuss her family life, her personal faith, her sense of calling, and her vision for the Church.

New Exhibit Hall

An exciting addition to our new Oscar Haynes Exhibit Hall is a flat-screen for playing DVD's.  One of the first to be produced is a brieft biography of Preston Taylor, who is prominently featured in the current exhibit.  If you are unable to visit us in Nashville, we have made the video available here on our website.

Moments In Disciples History
By Glenn Carson

Moments in Disciples History, the monthly vignettes the Historical Society has provided to Disciples News Service throughout 2008, have been very popular.  Readers report a variety of uses for the pieces, from inclusion in newsletters to sermon illustrations. For our bicentennial year in 2009, we will continue to provide these little essays, which appear once per month.  If you would like to join the email list to receive them, subscribe at www.disciples.org.

"This place is our memory..."
By Mac Ice

A church will be closing its doors in the next few months.  While their visible ministry in that community will cease, their witness will continue to live for generations.  They will donate to our archives those large old ledger books, membership rosters, photographs and papers of all kinds chronicling the special events of a century of ministry.  When their pastor called us to discuss the specifics of the donation, he mentioned how he plans to include our ministry in an upcoming children's sermon. Using a model of our building, he will tell the children how "this place is our memory."  

How poignant!  Our ministry at the Society in a very real way will continue the ministry of that church when their doors close for the last time.  What is over in one sense for them has, in another sense, only begun for us.  Their faithful deeds will not be forgotten because we will ensure their history will be preserved and their story will be available for future generations.  To them, and to all who both provide those marvelous primary materials which make up our memories and sustain our memory-keeping ministry, we say thank you.  We are pleased to keep the memories.

Green Forms and a Warm Welcome
By Mac Ice

If you've researched at the Society lately you have filled out a "Green Form" in our Reading Room.  This simple paperwork takes only a few moments to complete and provides us with the basic information needed to get you started in your research process.  We welcomed dozens of researchers in 2008.  Some stayed only a few minutes, others were here for days at a time.  Some were graduate students doing fresh, ground-breaking work.  Others were genealogists discovering realtives for the first time.  Others were working on books, articles, monographs and essays.  Still others were undertaking congregational history.  

What my folder of Green Forms tells me is that 2008 has been busy and fruitful year full of almost every type of research inquiry we can imagine.  As the year closes and a new year begins, I wonder who we will meet, what we will learn and who we will welcome to our Reading Room.  Perhaps you will visit us this next year?  We have a warm welcome waiting for you.  Let us know how we can assist.

Great Communion

2009 is almost here.  Next year we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Thomas Campbell's "Declaration and Address."  Please visit our special website www.GreatCommunion.org to learn how to organize the celebration in your community.

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