Newbold Seventh-day Adventist Archive

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB N/A Newbold Seventh-day Adventist Archive
Held at: Newbold College Library
Domain: archival
Title: Newbold Seventh-day Adventist Archive
Date(s) of contents: c 1900 -
Level of description: Collection
Extent and medium: c 6 metres of archival material, including photographs and lantern slides.

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s): Seventh-day Adventist Church

Administrative/Biographical history: The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church has its origins in the 1840s in Maine, USA, inspired by the millenarianist teachings of William Miller (1782-1849), along with the interpretations of the prophetess Ellen Gould Harmon White (1827-1915). It was established formally in 1863. From the start, the SDA movement had a strong missionary aspect, prompted by White's vision of a "stream of light to encompass the globe". Her own work in Europe and Australia helped to inspire Adventist missionary endeavour, so that the SDA Church rapidly became established worldwide. This aspect, along with the reorganization of the Church's administrative structure in 1901-1903, effectively turned the SDA General Conference into a churchwide missionary society. The SDA Church's missionary work has traditionally had an educational and medical emphasis.

British origins of the SDA date back to 1878, when an organized community was established in Southampton by W Ings. From 1906 up to the end of World War Two, British SDA missionaries were active particularly in East Africa (for example, Kenya and Tanzania)and West Africa. They pioneered publishing in at least two African languages, Kisi and Luo.

Custodial history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: The collection, dating from c 1900 is not yet catalogued. It includes predominantly financial records, as well as correspondence, relating to Seventh-day Adventist missionary activity mostly in Africa, as well as Egypt and the Lebanon. Also included are some photographs and lantern slides.

System of arrangement: As deposited; not yet arranged or catalogued.

ACCESS AND USE

Language: English.

Conditions governing access:

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids: Not yet catalogued.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:
The Ellen G White Centre Europe at Newbold College contains copies of all letters and manuscripts of Ellen G White and her 4,600 published articles. It also contains other resources on the history and development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, including periodicals, correspondence and photographs, and The missionary worker on CDROM.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church Headquarters in Watford also hold some missionary records.

Andrews University in Michigan, USA, includes the James White Library and an Adventist Heritage Center, which include material on Seventh-day Adventist missions worldwide.

Loma Linda University in California, USA, includes the Del E Webb Memorial Library and a Department of Archives and Special Collections, which hold Seventh-day Adventist material, particularly relating to medical missionary work.

The British Library holds copies of Adventist periodicals such as The missionary worker and The British Advent messenger.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Compiled by Caroline Brick on behalf of the Mundus Project, using information supplied by Ms Jonquil Hole, Assistant Librarian at Newbold College, Dr Brian Phillips (Welsh Mission President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), and Pastor Jack Mahon (Adventist scholar), and with reference to:
Concise dictionary of the Christian world mission, ed. by Stephen Neill, Gerald H. Anderson and John Goodwin (London: Lutterworth Press, 1971).
The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church, ed. by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).
Biographical dictionary of Christian missions, ed. by Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1998).

Date(s) of descriptions: November 2002.

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Accounting

Christians

Finance

Financial administration

Financial statements

Missionaries

Missionary work

Photographic slides

Photographs

Protestants

Religious activities

Religious groups

Religious organizations

Visual materials

Personal names

Corporate names

Seventh-day Adventist Church

Places

Africa

Asia

Egypt

Lebanon

Middle East

North Africa