Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia Table of Contents - Preface/Acknowledgements - Abbreviations Lists of Entries: District of Columbia - Maryland - Virginia

Columbia Union College Theofield G. Weis Library

Access Policies

Closed during college holidays and semester breaks. Shorter hours in summer.

Reference Policy:

Telephone and mail questions specific to the Seventh-day Adventist Church are answered.

Borrowing Privileges:

Borrowing privileges are for students, faculty, and staff only.

Networks/Consortia:

OCLC; materials added to the collection since 1978 are listed here.

Background Note:

Established in 1904 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a coeducational institution known as the Washington Training Institute. Its purpose was to train young men and women in the liberal arts.

In 1907, when the name was changed to Washington Foreign Mission Seminary, the more limited objective of special training for missionaries replaced the original concept of a liberal arts college. Again in 1914, the college resumed the status of a liberal arts college and took the name Washington Missionary College.

In 1933, the lower biennium organized as Columbia Junior College and received accreditation. It ceased to exist as a separate college in 1942, when Washington Missionary College was given accreditation as a four-year, degree-granting institution by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

In March 1961, the college constituency voted to change the name to Columbia Union College.

Description of Collections

Books and monographs:

14,500 volumes, with inclusive dates of publication from the 1600s to the present. The subject emphasis is primarily Seventh-day Adventist material.

A card catalog covers the collection from 1904 to the present.

Periodicals and newspapers:

Approximately 139 subscriptions and a number of back runs. Inclusive dates are 1850 to the present. A large number of Seventh-day Adventist journals are represented, many of which represent localities from around the world. Biblical studies and archaeology are also represented.

Finding aids include: Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index, 1971-present; Seventh-day Adventist Retrospective Periodical Index, which partially indexes Seventh-day Adventist periodicals from about 1905 to 1960.

Archives, manuscripts, correspondence, and oral histories:

See microform section of this entry.

Microforms:

The Millerites and Early Adventists, a collection of rare books and manuscripts on 60 reels of microfilm. It includes 1,000 early books and pamphlets, 111 volumes plus some scattered issues of rare periodicals, and more than 1,000 letters from William Miller, Joshua Himes and other early Adventist leaders. Almost all of the primary materials are nineteenth century publications.

Vertical files:

12 vertical file drawers containing items from 1900 to the present on the topics relating to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Columbia Union College.

The collection is arranged alphabetically by topic.

Databases, CD-ROMS, and other machine-readable resources:

Two CD-Rom collections: The Published Writings of Ellen G. White includes every known book, article, and pamphlet written by Ellen White during her 70-year ministry, as well as the many thousands of pages that have been put into print from her manuscripts unpublished at the time of her death in 1915. Also included is the six-volume Ellen G. White biography, Ellen White in Europe, 1885-1887. The other CD-ROM is Words of the Pioneers, a collection of early Seventh-day Adventist writings including J.N. Andrews, Joseph Bates, Daniel T. Bourdeau, Merritt E. Cornell, O.R.L. Crosier, Charles Fitch, J.N. Loughborough, William Miller, Sylvester Bliss, Thomas M. Preble, Uriah Smith, George Storrs, Joseph Harvey Waggoner, James S. White, Alonzo T. Jones, and E.J. Waggoner.

Subject Headings

Bibliography

Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index. Loma Linda, CA: Loma Linda University Libraries. 1971- .

Seventh-day Adventist Retrospective Periodical Index (microform): Periodicals Indexes. Takoma Park, MD: Columbia Union College. 1977.