Special Collections
Among the special resources housed in either the Heritage Room or the Branch Office are copies of the papers of several prominent Adventists. A partial description of these special collections is given. In all special collections comprise over 2,000 linear feet of material.
William Miller Papers
(1782-1849)
The collection contains extensive holdings on William Miller and the movement he founded in the 1840's. Items include books, tracts and pamphlets, journals, correspondence and other memorabilia. Holdings consist of:
1. Photocopies of William Miller's and Joshua V. Himes' incoming and outgoing correspondence for the years 1814-1855. These letters, nearly 800 in all, are from the Jenks Memorial Collection, Aurora College, Illinois. The majority of the collection consists of incoming letters.
2. Many Millerite books and pamphlets, a file of the Midnight Cry; three volumes of the Sign of the Times from Boston and New York; the Western Midnight Cry for December 1843 to June 1844, and photocopies of The Day-Star (February 18, 1845--July 1, 1847). Certain other Millerite related periodicals are available in original form.
3. University Microfilms International microfilm collection of Millerite and early Adventist publications. The collection includes more than 1,000 early books and pamphlets and over 100 volumes of rare periodicals. This collection has an author/title index, subject index and reel number index.
John Harvey Kellogg Papers
(1852-1943)
Records include photocopies of correspondence and personal papers from August 1895 to May 1929. Files are particularly complete for the years 1902-1908, which were a crucial period in Kellogg's relationship with the church. Items include a number of letters between Kellogg and George I. Butler, Stephen N. Haskell, William C. White, and several folders of correspondence between Kellogg and Percy T. Magan (1901-1943). There are also some letters between Kellogg and Edward A. Sutherland (1903-1943). Linear length: 1 1/2 feet.
A scrapbook of newspaper articles on the burning of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the disfellowshiping of Kellogg are also included. Materials of related interest include those files in the Loma Linda Document File on Kellogg and the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Edward A. Sutherland Papers
(1865-1955)
The Sutherland papers are particularly complete for the years 1904-1946, when he was involved in the work in Tennessee. Sutherland co-founded Madison College, became its first president, and later served as the medical superintendent of the sanitarium and hospital there.
Items include a wide variety of materials: incoming and outgoing correspondence, clippings, speeches, writings, sermon notes, photographs, and other memorabilia from 1904-1956. Linear length: 20 feet.
Jerry and Shirley Pettis Papers
The collection consists of the papers of former Congresswoman Shirley Pettis and the late Congressman Jerry Pettis (1916-1975), who was the first Seventh-day Adventist to serve in the United States Congress. The Pettises served in the House of Representatives for over ten years.
Items include nearly 150 archival boxes of official and personal papers of both representatives, numerous correspondence files, House committee and bill related materials, photographs, plaques, and other memorabilia.