A Preservation Assessment for Collections of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society

FAIN: PG-51360-11

Disciples of Christ Historical Society (Nashville, TN 37212)
Sara Jean Harwell (Project Director: May 2010 to March 2013)

A general preservation assessment and the purchase of storage furniture for oversized documents and prints. The Society houses the world's largest collection of materials documenting the Stone-Campbell religious tradition, including 37,000 books and pamphlets; 3,000 serial titles; 12,000 linear feet of archival records and personal papers; historical records for 22,000 congregations; 35,000 biographical files; and 5,000 audiovisual recordings. The materials document missionary work in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America; the Disciples of Christ's involvement with the civil rights movement; and the personal papers of several church leaders, scholars, and missionaries.

If Disciples of Christ Historical Society receives a Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant from NEH, it will support two activities. The first will be an overall preservation assessment of the collections housed within the Society's Thomas W. Phillips Memorial Archives by a professional preservation consultant. This activity will assess the physical collections and their current storage conditions as well as the environmental conditions of the physical space within which the collections are housed. This assessment will be used to prepare short term and long term recommendations for preservation, housing, and environmental conditions. It will be conducted by Jessica Leming of LYRASIS. The second activity that the grant will support is the purchase of 1 steel horizontal 10-drawer flat file cabinet and oversize folders for the proper storage of oversize documents. The goal is to ensure that collections are housed and preserved properly for the present and the future.