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BAPTIST COLLECTION
Introduction
Founded as a Baptist institution, Kalamazoo College has received
support and encouragement from members of the denomination
throughout much of its history. The Baptist collection is
comprised of materials relating to the history of Baptists
in Michigan and the Midwest, and to the early relationship
between the College and the Baptist Church. Among the materials
in this collection are:
- Published materials, including annual reports, from
the early years of the Northern and American Baptist conventions;
- Items issued by organizations associated with the Northern
and American Baptist Conventions;
- Annual reports, most prior to 1945, from the Michigan
Baptist Convention and its constituent groups;
- A Calendar of the Baptist Collection of Kalamazoo
College, published in 1940, which is an annotated
guide listing documents in the collection.
See also the Archives policy on Reference
by Mail or Email.
History and Scope of the Collection
The Kalamazoo College Archives Baptist collection began with
materials used by Mary Trowbridge for her book History
of Baptists in Michigan (1909). These materials were deposited
with the College and added to as time passed. The collection
is now largely annual reports of administrative organizations
within the American Baptist Society and the Michigan Baptist
Convention. One of the most useful of these is the annual
reports of the Michigan Baptist State Convention, which the
Archives has for the years 1859 - 1966.
In addition to published annual reports is a collection of
early letters and documents relating to the Baptist Church
in Michigan and the early years of the College. The guide
to this part of the collection, A Calendar of the Baptist
Collection of Kalamazoo College, published in 1940 by
the Michigan Historical Records Survey, gives an annotated
description of all the documents then included in the collection.
Unfortunately, some of these documents are now lost. The Calendar,
however, often provides important information without reading
the actual letter. Some of the existing letters in the collection
are in fragile and faded condition. If copies are being made
for a researcher, they should be cautioned that some of them
may not be legible.
The Baptist Collection is assigned the RG #2 and is shelved
in the Research Room. The collection is of historical importance,
but is no longer added to regularly.
The papers of two important nineteen century Michigan Baptist
leaders, while not physically with the rest of the Baptist
materials, are an important intellectual part of the collection.
The sermons of E.J. Fish, a Baptist minister, and three time
president of the Michigan Baptist Convention, and for many
years a trustee of Kalamazoo College, are shelved under 77/16
Annex. And the papers of T.Z.R. Jones, Baptist missionary
in Michigan from 1835 to 1876 and financial agent for both
the Michigan Baptist State Convention and Kalamazoo College
are shelved in 77/14 Annex. There are sermons, College and
Convention correspondence, personal correspondence, ledgers
and record books under this RG#.
The Kalamazoo College Archives is listed in various directories
as a repository for Baptist records. The material housed in
the Archives is not genealogical in nature (very few records
from individual churches, etc.) and researchers should be
informed of that fact. One exception to that is obituaries
of prominent Baptist clergy, which were sometimes published
in the minutes of the Michigan Baptist Convention.
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