The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Baptist Theological Faculties Union Records 1914-1924
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Baptist Theological Faculties Union. Records |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1914-1924 |
| Size: | 0.5 linear feet (1 box) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | The Baptist Theological Faculties Union Records consist of one bound volume of correspondence ca. 1914-1924 between members of the Union and its secretary during that period, Gerald Birney Smith of the University of Chicago. |
No restrictions.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Baptist Theological Faculties Union. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
The Baptist Theological Faculties Union was organized in 1903 at Rochester Theological Seminary, Rochester, N.Y. as a professional society of Baptist seminary faculty in the United States and Canada. Meetings were held annually from 1903 until 1910 (the minutes of these meetings have been published.) In subsequent years meetings were scheduled sporadically. The TFU gave seminary presidents and professors the opportunity to discuss matters of concern to their denomination and to professional ministerial education. The University of Chicago Divinity School participated in the Union from its founding; President Harper was particularly active as long as his health permitted.
This collection consists of one bound volume of correspondence ca. 1914-1924 between members of the Union and its secretary during that period, Gerald Birney Smith of the University of Chicago. Much of the correspondence is concerned with the planning for, and subsequent reports on, the 1918 meeting held in Boston on the topic "Changes in the Outlook of the Seminaries Occasioned by the Closing of the War [World War I]." Also included is a report by J.M.P. Smith on "Education for Religious Leadership in the Period of Social Reconstruction" and various matters connected with the Committee on the Needs of Non-College Men, i.e., the special problems of seminarians who did not have an undergraduate education. Some thought was also given to terminating the Union in 1924 (whether this was in fact done, is not clear from this collection] and the problems of disposing of the remainder of the treasury brought forth a proposal to use the funds to prepare a pamphlet for high school students on ministerial training programs available at each of the member institutions.
Information on the Baptist Theological Faculties Union ca. 1904-1908 will be found in the Divinity School Papers. The researcher may also wish to consult the papers of University of Chicago Divinity School faculty members.
| Box 1 | Bound Volume of Correspondence, 1914-1924 |