HONG KONG (BP)–The Archive on the History of Christianity in China established two years ago by Hong Kong Baptist University is seeking materials to fill out its collection and increase its usefulness to scholars who come to do research on the topic.
The archive is seeking books, letters, journals, other manuscripts, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, mission records, records of other selected Christian organizations and any other materials which relate to the history of Christianity in China, said its director, Burton Starr, professor of history at the university.
The archive will receive materials in both Chinese and English, Starr said.
While books are needed — especially hard-to-find missionary and pastors’ biographies published in limited editions and thus not necessarily expensive but difficult to locate — it would be best to contact the archive first to see if the book is needed so that the expense of postage will not be wasted.
The address is Archive on the History of Christianity in China, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong; telephone, (852) 2339-5937; fax, (852) 2339-5589; e-mail: [email protected].
Hong Kong Baptist University was founded in 1956 with help from the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. Today, the university has 6,000 full-time students and 35,000 part-time students and is the only accredited Christian university in the Peoples Republic of China.
“We are most anxious to obtain and preserve original manuscript materials,” Starr reiterated. “This category of materials would include correspondence, diaries and any other papers of pastors, Bible women, missionaries, Christian editors and other people who may have played a role in the history of Christianity in China. We are also seeking church records, mission records and records of selected Christian organizations.”
The university’s North American representative is Wesley M. “Pat” Pattillo, a former vice president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Samford University, who lives in Birmingham, Ala.
