By C. Richard Bierce

Alexander Campbell’s importance to the origins of the Stone-Campbell heritage are a given. Still, it is important to recapitulate the value and significance of the ensemble of tangible artifacts which reside at both Historic Bethany and Disciples of Christ Historical Society.

In order for us to establish a "relationship" with any historical figure, it is necessary to employ a variety of means to connect on several levels, be they intellectual, spiritual, or emotional, in an effort to respect and understand more deeply the individual’s accomplishments. When dealing with an individual such as Alexander Campbell who was charismatic, prolific in thought, theory, speech, writing and practice, and who has left a legacy of an active movement like the Three Streams we know today, we are blessed with many tools to use in knowing his mind and his achievements.

By building this understanding we are better able to place him in the pantheon among our national heroes. But, the process does not necessarily humanize him and bring him to a scale more equal to our own – a level where we can know him as a person.

It is this humanizing process, acquiring a sense of knowing the man by seeing where and how he lived, where he worked, by seeing the landscapes he enjoyed, by touching some of the same things and occupying the same spaces, all the while acquiring a heightened sense of the spiritual guidance and inspiration he felt, and then experiencing the very places he went to act upon those divine calls, these are the reasons that we preserve, exhibit, and interpret these unique and precious artifacts. We seek understanding and communion with the founder of our faith heritage, so that we may renew our commitment to continue the work he began. In my opinion, this is the fundamental significance, the essential integrity represented and embodied in the tangible, the touchable aspects of Campbell. This significance transcends the merely material cultural history which is commonly ascribed to collections.

The essential function of any exhibited collection, or for that matter historic residence, is to educate with artifacts and to provide the visitor with a clear sense of the significance of the person honored there. This has been referred to as the " ‘terminal thought," the one thing that we want visitors to retain as they return to their normal lives. As noted, much of this process of reaching understanding and maybe communion with the founder can be accomplished incrementally in the various exhibition and interpretive venues. Some of these teaching moments might be spiritual in their cumulative effect as the connection with the historic figure, in my example Campbell, is made and reinforced.

The connection, then, leads to a transforming experience where we reach from our own world into that past world of the person honored, and take the inspirations which he felt and add them to our own, so that we can move forward confident that it is the same faith that wells up in our hearts as it did in those who came before us.

C. Richard Bierce is a historical architect and preservation consultant and serves on the Board of Trustees of Disciples of Christ Historical Society.