Disciples of Christ Historical Society is the official archives for congregations of the
Stone-Campbell Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1 ...
, also known as the Restoration Movement. The Society is incorporated as a general ministry of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
and serves all three branches (called "streams") of the Movement: the
Churches of Christ
The Churches of Christ, also commonly known as the Church of Christ, is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations located around the world. Typically, their distinguishing beliefs are that of the necessity of baptism for salvation ...
,
Christian churches and churches of Christ
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone–Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no form ...
, and the Disciples.
The Stone-Campbell Movement began on the Appalachian frontier in the early 1800s and is named for the men recognized as its founders and early leaders,
Barton Warren Stone (1772–1844) and
Alexander Campbell (1788–1866).
History
Disciples of Christ Historical Society was founded in 1941 and, from 1952 to 2015, was located in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, where the Society was housed in the
Thomas W. Phillips Memorial Archives, built in 1958 and placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 2006. The building is remarkable for its late Gothic Revival limestone façade and numerous stained glass windows.
In 2016, DCHS moved to a new office/meeting space in
Bethany, West Virginia
Bethany is a town in southern Brooke County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 756 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. It is best known as the home of Bethany College, a private libe ...
. The modern archival facility is adjacent to the grounds of
Bethany College and the historic Campbell mansion. The location hails back to the importance spiritual ancestors, Alexander & Thomas Campbell, placed on education. Relocation of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society to Bethany offers opportunities for student-workers, the use of Historic Bethany and classroom-laboratory partnerships in church history and library science
Holdings
The Society holds the historic records of approximately 23,000 congregations, 40,000 bibliographic files, as well as personal papers of 35,000 members of the denomination. The archives also house over 300,000 historic photographs. Among its more unusual holdings is a necklace made of leopard’s teeth from the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), brought to the United States by Disciples missionary Royal J. Dye.
In 2006, the Society partnered with the Christian Board of Publications to underwrite the publication of the first-ever global history of the Stone-Campbell tradition.
In 2008, the Society opened a public exhibit hall to highlight and interpret its collections.
In 2011, the Society established a collection of local church cookbooks in a new effort to depict local church history.
References
External links
Disciples of Christ Historical Society{{Restoration Movement
Restoration Movement
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)