Preface/Acknowledgements Preface The purpose of this guide is to provide information about religion-related
collections in selected libraries and archives in Maryland, Virginia,
and the District of Columbia. While some of this information is
available in published library guides and directories, there is
no single work providing detailed information on religious studies
collections. It is our hope that Religion Collections in Libraries
and Archives will provide this service. The focus of this guide
is primary source material in the area of religion as well as large
or unique published collections of interest to the serious scholar
or researcher of religion. The guide includes mainly libraries and
archives affiliated with academic institutions or religious denominations,
private institutions with strong religion resources, and state and
federal repositories. Prinicipal considerations for inclusion in
the guide were importance or uniqueness of collections, as well
as availability and accessibility to researchers. The information in Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives
was derived from a survey of area libraries, supplemented by research
in the Library of Congress' extensive collection of bibliographies,
library directories, and library finding aids, in print and electronic.
Each repository was asked to provide information by filling in an
entry template. As entries were drafted, we consulted with staff
as appropriate; once completed, entries were sent to the repository
for final approval. While not all the institutions contacted elected
to participate in the survey, the response rate was over 95%; 102
repositories in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia
are described in this guide. Not all categories of information from
the original template are represented in every entry; the detail
of each entry was left largely to the discretion of the survey respondents.
The subject headings are an amalgam of Library of Congress subject
headings, American Theological Library Association (ATLA) Thesaurus
terms, and suggestions from the survey respondents.
Acknowledgments First and foremost, we would like to thank all the librarians,
archivists, volunteers, and other staff who generously took the
time from their
busy work schedules to respond to our survey. This guide would
not have been possible without their cooperation and support. We
would
also like to thank the management of the Humanities and Social
Sciences (HSS) Division of the Library of Congress-- Dr. Stephen
James, Chief,
and Victoria Hill, Assistant Chief--for granting us the time and
resources
to complete this project. Marguerite Bloxom and Virginia Wood,
HSS publications coordinators, provided us with valuable advice
and editorial
assistance. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to
our HSS colleagues--Cassy Ammen, Pablo Calván, Sheridan
Harvey, David Kresh, and Phoebe Peacock--who proofread the entries
and offered
helpful
suggestions for improvement. Final responsibility for the accuracy
and utility of this guide rests, of course, with the authors. We
welcome
any comments or suggestions from our readers; these may be submitted
to us through our comments
form.
Cheryl Adams & Art Emerson |