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MUSSELMAN LIBRARY'S SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Musselman Library is home to rich historical collections important to the Bluffton experience and supporting intellectual discovery of our students, faculty, and staff – and of scholars from around the world. These collections are the treasures of our institution… tracing our heritage back to beginnings of Anabaptism and telling amazing stories along the way.
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UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
The University Archives is located on the entry level of the Musselman Library, and houses the historic records of Bluffton University, which trace the institution back to its inception as Central Mennonite College in 1899. Bluffton is also the official repository for the Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA and its member congregations. In addition, various Mennonite mutual aid organizations have deposited archival materials here in collections established by the late Dr. Howard Raid. Our manuscript collections include the papers of former presidents, faculty, and staff of Bluffton University as well as those of other prominent individuals of interest to local historians and to the wider Mennonite community.
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MENNONITE HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS
The Mennonite Historical Collections are housed on the first floor of the rear portion of Musselman Library. Founded in 1935 by the late Dr. C. Henry Smith as the Mennonite Historical Library, our Mennonite Historical Collections reflect the Mennonite affiliation of Bluffton University and the Swiss tradition of many constituents. Collections include a number of editions of key Anabaptist-Mennonite texts, periodicals with research and news for and about Mennonite and related groups, resources for genealogy research, secondary sources on Mennonite history and life, and historic materials from the village of Bluffton and of surrounding communities. One special piece in our collection is a 1545 Froschauer Bible with a title page from a Martin Luther Bible of the same time period.
Local History Reading List
Fraktur bibliography
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EDNA HANLEY BYERS ROBERT FROST COLLECTION
The Edna Hanley Byers Robert Frost Collection consists of approximately five linear feet of material collected by Edna Hanley Byers '23, a former Bluffton University librarian, between 1933 and 1969. While librarian at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, Byers fostered a relationship with American poet Robert Frost, who visited the campus of Agnes Scott College annually beginning in the early 1940s. Byers collected a large amount of "Frostiana" and established a Robert Frost Collection at Agnes Scott, but reserved this smaller collection for her alma mater. The finding aid for this collection is available online.
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The University Archives and Mennonite Historical Collections are best accessed by scheduling an appointment in advance of your intended date of visit so that we can prepare needed materials for your use and provide support for your research.
Contact Carrie Phillips, Archives and Special Collections Librarian, at phillipsc@bluffton.edu or 419-358-3275 for more information about the collections or to schedule a visit.
Read our special collections policies
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