Archives

Finding Aids to Collections

Finding Aids are documents that provide detailed information about a specific collection of materials within the Archives.

Finding Aids to Archival Collections at C.U.:

Digital Collections

The digitization of archival materials is an on-going process. As progress is made, digital items are added to the online collections, which are accessible via the links below.

Beulah Campbell Collection

Collection Descriptions

The following is a partial list of the collections housed in the A.B. Colvin Baptist Collections & Archives. For complete information, contact the Archives. The University does not engage in an active collecting program for the Archives through gift, solicitation, or purchase.

A.B. Colvin Collection

This collection composes the bulk of the university’s special collections. The range of subjects is diverse but principally related to Christianity. They include published sermons, Bible commentaries and references, versions of the Bible, study course books, doctrinal works, theology, biographies of Christ, interpretative works of the teachings and life of Christ, devotional books, practical books on the church and church administration, Sunday school lessons, denominational and contemporary social issues, reference aids on writing, speaking, and sermon preparation, fiction, pastoral care, ministry, Baptist and church history, hymnals, and counseling. The books were published in the nineteenth- and twentieth centuries. The material was donated to the university by the Colvin family in 2004. A. B. Colvin (1917-2003) was a pastor and leader among Kentucky Baptists for nearly seventy years. Colvin was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Campbellsville College in 1990 and served as a trustee of Campbellsville University for eight years before his death.  

With the generous gift of Laura Tesseneer, the university acquired a collection of records of Bethel College for Women. The college was founded in the early 1850s in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, by the Baptist churches in Bethel Association. It closed in 1964. Mrs. Tesseneer, an alumnus, was the wife of Dr. Ralph Tesseneer, a vice president of financial aid and trustee of Campbellsville University. The collection includes records which cover nearly the entire span of the school’s existence (1854-1964). The ninety-eight boxes of records include faculty minutes, trustee record books, financial records, class schedules and transcripts, inventory lists, student roll ledgers, a pennant, registrar’s correspondence, catalogs, grade sheets, and The Scroll, the student yearbook. 

Beulah Campbell Collection 

Beulah Campbell was a nationally recognized authority on children’s literature. She was a 1937 alumnus of Campbellsville University. She earned degrees from Western Kentucky University in elementary education. Most of her career in education was spent teaching children’s literature and elementary education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. During that time, she organized and directed conferences, festivals, and workshops on children’s literature. Her correspondence with children’s authors and illustrators was extensive. She purposefully collected the original artwork of published children’s illustrators. Campbell donated her collection to her alma mater and Appalachian State University. The collection at Campbellsville consists of art, correspondence, and photographs of noted children’s authors and illustrators, and of children’s books from the 1940s to the 1980s. It is a resource used by the School of Education. Some of the collection was used for the first Beulah Campbell Children’s Literature Conference held at Campbellsville University in April 2012. 

Clyde T. Francisco Papers 

This collection contains some of the papers, photographs, and books of Clyde T. Francisco (1916-1981). Francisco was the John R. Sampey Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky for thirty-six years, from 1944 to 1981. He was a highly respected scholar among Southern Baptists. The heart of this collection involves the controversy concerning the commentary written on Genesis for the initial publication of the Broadman Bible Commentary in 1969. G. Henton Davies (principal, Regent’s Park College, Oxford University) wrote the commentary for the first edition, but conservatives among Southern Baptists declared it unacceptable and asked Francisco to rewrite it. The collection has Francisco’s manuscript of the revised commentary and correspondence with his former students about issues concerning their contributions to the commentary. His lecture notes for the classes he taught, and photographs of family travels are also included. The books were part of his personal library. They include various versions of the Bible, commentaries on individual books of the old and new testaments, histories, and theological treatises. 

James Blevins Collection

James Blevins was a retired Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.  He had a special interest in the book of Revelation and was the author of several books including Revelation as Drama and Revelation Knox Preaching Guide as well as many teaching and preaching articles in Review & Expositor and other publications.  The collection consists primarily of religion, Christianity, theology, commentaries, and some popular literature. 

Kyle Hubbard Collection 

Books in the Hubbard Collection were donated by Carroll and Kyle Hubbard in memory of their parents, the Rev. and Mrs. Carroll Hubbard, Sr. Kyle Hubbard was a trustee of Campbellsville University. The collection consists primarily of books on religion, Christianity, the Bible, doctrinal theology, practical theology, and Christian denominations. The Hubbard family contributed funding to the A.B. Colvin Baptist Collection and Archives. 

Rare Book Collection  

The Rare Book Collection contains only a few volumes. The volumes are notable for their theological content, such as Constantinus Tischendorf’s two-volume edition of the Greek New Testament published in 1869. There is the 1943 German edition of Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler. It was donated by a former Murray education professor who went to post-World War II Germany to help re-start their secondary schools. He claims to have found the book in Hitler’s bombed out house. William H. Whitsitt’s personal copy of Biblia Hebraica (1839), edited by Augustus Hahn, was donated. Whitsitt was the third president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

Ron Lewis Papers

Ron Lewis served the second Congressional District of Kentucky from 1994 to 2009. He donated his congressional papers to Campbellsville University in 2008. Lewis was elected in 1994 to fill the unexpired term of long-serving representative William H. Natcher, who had died. His election was the beginning of the Republican takeover of Congress. Lewis was later elected to a full term in November. The nearly ninety boxes contain material related to his campaigns, legislation he sponsored, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Many of the files cover issues that were significant to the second district, including military base closings and the tobacco buyout program.

Supertone Photographic Collection 

In the summer of 2011, Supertone Studio of Campbellsville, Kentucky, donated thousands of negatives related to Campbellsville College. The images cover the period between 1949 and 1994. Supertone, a local business since 1949, provided many photographic services to the college. The images consist principally of student photographs taken for The Maple Trail, the student yearbook. Other images are of college buildings, organizations, events, and athletics.

University Archives 

The University Archives includes official records, publications, oral histories, personal papers, audio-visual media, and photographs which document the University's founding and history since 1906. Of particular importance are the University's Baptist roots in the Russell Creek Academy.