LibGuides: Religious Material in the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University: Christianity

Faith. (Ad*Access Digital Collection.)

Rare Print Highlights

The Rubenstein's extensive print collections are represented in the library catalog. Some highlights of originals and facsimile editions:

Visual Materials

Advertising Council Records, 1935-1999 and undated
See the Religion in American Life material, 1966-1986 in boxes 34-36.

See also the visual materials listed under Judaism and incorporated in the lists of resources in the Other Religions section.

Camilo José Vergara Photographs, 1977-2009
Collection of color prints from Vergara's 2009 National Building Museum exhibit Storefront Churches, with photographs of urban churches, pasters, and murals from cities around the United States.
Cedric N. Chatterley Photographs, 1983-2008 and undated
Documentary photographer based in South Dakota. Relevant series explore ecstatic religious experience; Holy Land USA, a religious roadside attraction in Waterbury, Connecticut; and the lives of Cambodian immigrants to North Carolina.
Full Frame Archive Film Collection, 1998-2012
Use the search box to find descriptions of films whose description includes keywords like religion or church. Click the i icon to see a list of specific titles.
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These have to do with religion:
The Gospel According to Mr. Allen
The Color of Love
Shape of the Moon
For the Bible Tells Me So
The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun
At the Death House Door
Unmistaken Child
Caretaker for the Lord

These are not about religion, per se, but are about conflicts along religions lines:
Fotoamator
Good Times
Flag Wars?
Iraq in Fragments (one segment)
Uganda Rising
Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech
12th and Delaware
Gary Monroe Photographs, 1980-1998
Documentary photographer, writer, and lecturer based in Florida. Photographs document Haitian refugees in Florida, including their religious services.
George Arthur Roberts Family Papers, 1884-[1970s] and undated (bulk 1907-[1950s])
Includes images in a variety of formats, primarily from the first half of the 20th century, related to these Methodist missionaries.
Images of Mainline Protestant Children and Families in the U.S.
This digital collection includes some images drawn from Rubenstein material, among other libraries.
Inabelle Graves Coleman Papers, 1942-1981 (bulk 1952-1957)
Includes more than 300 photographs documenting her life as a female Baptist missionary in Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan.
Indivisible: Stories of American Community Project Records, 1988-2002 and undated
See the series of photographs by Eli Reed, portraying community volunteers and their friends in Eau Claire, South Carolina.
James H. Karales Photographs, 1953-2005 and undated
American photojournalist who worked for Look magazine. His Vietnam series includes soldiers' religious services.
John H. Penn Family photograph albums, ca. 1947-1961
African-American family living in various places in the southern U.S. Collection comprises Penn family photograph albums documenting African-American life in the South during the period of segregation. Includes church activities.
John Lakin Brasher Papers, 1857-1983 and undated
See Box 67 for photographs related to the religious career of this Holiness minister.
Louanne Watley Photographs, 2002-2010
Photographs depict communities of Catholic nuns in Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia, and images of their religious life in those communities.
Mel Rosenthal Photographs and Papers, 1975-2004
Documentary photographer based in New York City. Also director of photographic programs at SUNY-Empire State. Arab Americans, American by Choice series has images of Christian services, Muslim services, Jewish services.
Paul Kwilecki Photographs and Papers, 1960-2008 and undated
Documentary photographer from Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia. Relevant series include marriage in the ordinary's office, cemeteries, religion, and Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church Revival.
Tom Rankin Photographs, 1980-2008
Tom Rankin is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, folklorist, professor of art and documentary studies, and Director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Durham, NC. Collection consists of black and white prints from Rankin's work documenting the American South, particularly religious sites, rituals, and communities in Mississippi Delta region.

Music

Search for Hymnals through the catalog, using subject headings such as:

Alternatively, use keyword searches to identify relevant items and check the subject headings used to describe them in order to find additional similar items.

Sheet music may be listed individually through the catalog, and/or in Historic American Sheet Music, American Song Sheets, or Classical String Quartets.

Notable Manuscript Collections

A Negro Camp Meeting
Manuscript reminiscence entitled "A Negro Camp-Meeting." The anonymous white author visited an outdoor religious meeting of African Americans in Maryland around 1900. Includes descriptions of participants' clothing and physical appearance; their modes of religious expression; and the words to verses of spirituals.
Andrew Arthur Papers, 1904-1951
Individual items relating to Arthur's family and farm and volumes of financial records and membership lists of St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church, 4 vols., and minute books of a lodge and benevolence society, 2 vols.
Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South Records, 1940-1997 and undated (bulk 1993-1997)
Consult a Rubenstein staff member about searching for interviews with ministers or including reflections on the role of the church in African American communities of the Jim Crow South.
Carlyle Marney Papers, 1899-1979
The principal focus of the collection is Marney's professional career as a Baptist clergyman.
Church Fan Collection, circa 1900s-1950s
Diane Weddington Papers, 1960s-2000s
Topics represented in these papers of a religion journalist include the gay and lesbian community in San Francisco, the ordination of women and gay clergy, the women's rights movement, domestic violence and child abuse, and other miscellaneous subjects.
Elizabeth Johnson Harris Memoir, ca. 1922
Born in Augusta, Ga., of parents who had been slaves. Includes reflections on the importance of religion and the church in her life. Full text available at http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/harris/
Ettie Crystal Riddell Papers, 1886-1968
Document not only Riddell's personal life as the wife of a minister and her involvement in the Disciples of Christ ministry, but also the evolving role of women in American religious communities.
Fairbank Family Papers, 1837-1971
Consist almost exclusively of correspondence written between members of the missionary Fairbank family and their religious associates.
Frederick Herzog Papers, 1947-1995
Frederick Herzog (1925-1995), former faculty member at the Duke Divinity School, was well known for his work on civil rights and liberation theology. The collection provides rich documentary evidence on the historical connections between religion, the Civil Rights Movement, and human rights.
George Way Harley Papers, 1911-1975
Relate principally to the life and work of George W. and Winifred J. Harley at the mission they founded and supervised at Ganta, Liberia
Inabelle Graves Coleman Papers, 1942-1981 (bulk 1952-1957)
Contain letters and more than 300 photographs documenting her life as a female Baptist missionary in Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan.
James T. Cleland papers, 1928-1975
personal and professional papers relating to the life and work of James Tough Cleland, preacher, Dean of the Duke University Chapel (1955-1973), and Professor of Preaching in the Divinity School (1945-1968).
John K. Smith Papers, 1867-1924
Correspondence and legal and financial papers of several generations of a rural black family in Washington County, Va., concerning personal and family matters, men working away from home, county taxes, black societies, religious activities, insurance and other topics.
John Lakin Brasher Papers, 1857-1983 and undated
Church-related and personal correspondence and other materials of this Holiness minister.
Mary McCornack Thompson Diaries, 1887-1962
Diaries and letters related to American Presbyterian missionary Thompson's travels and teaching in South Africa and Rhodesia.
Mrs. Franklin of Petersburg, Va., Diary, 1899-1907
Handwritten diary containing an African-American woman's religious and philosophical reflections, inspirational clippings, and lists of books she read along with her opinions of them. Also contains references to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and the Central State Hospital for the Colored Insane.
Neill L. Brown Papers, 1792-1867; (bulk 1811-1867
Papers of a Presbyterian minister who lived in North Carolina and Tennessee. Includes a paper, apparently written by a slave to Brown, reproaching him for turning his back on the blacks and preaching only to the whites.
North Carolina Council of Churches Records, 1935-2001 (bulk 1969-1994)
Primarily office files, including commission and committee meeting minutes, reports, correspondence, financial records, printed material, and other items. The collection includes a scrapbook for the United Church Women, 460 black-and-white and 66 color photographs, 43 color slides, and 60 black-and-white and 142 color negatives.
Peruvian Collection, 1583-1892
This collection contains a variety of manuscripts, largely from the colonial era. A very interesting piece related to religion is the 1700 Expediente concerning witchcraft and idolatry in Peru.
Paul Ramsey Papers, 1934-1984 and undated
Correspondence and other materials relate to the career of this prominent theologian and teacher.
Peter Storey papers, 1950-2006
South African Methodist Church leader and anti-apartheid activist. The collection documents Peter Storey's leadership and active involvement in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, the South African Council of Churches, the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Gun Free South Africa, and other religious and anti-apartheid groups. Major subjects include Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, urban ministry, crisis intervention, and political violence and elections in South Africa.
Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South Records, 1939-2011
Materials in a variety of formats illustrate the Resource Center's justice work in the South.
Ruth W. Morgan Papers, 1972-2004
African-American native of Granville Co., N.C. Includes one folder of church-related seminar materials, from the "Women's Conference '99," containing Christian marriage and life skills advice; a conference program from the church-related "Women's Conference 2001" held at the Oxford Public Works Complex in Oxford, NC (2001 September 15); and a speaker biography and church bulletin documenting the "Women's Day" Service at Whetstone Baptist Church (2001 May 13 Sunday), Oxford, NC.
Stanley Hauerwas Papers, 1962-2008 and undated
Christian ethicist, the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics in the Duke Divinity School and professor in the Duke School of Law.
Stirewalt Family Papers, 1830s-1993
Papers document the Stirewalt Family's personal lives and involvement in the Lutheran Church as ministers, educators and missionaries.
Winfield Henry Mixon Papers, 1895-1932
Mixon was an official of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Selma (Dallas County), Alabama. The collection includes 6 diary volumes.