by Colleen McFarland Rademaker

What do members of the Stone-Campbell movement have in common with archivists? We both aspire to wholeness.  For archivists, wholeness begins by acknowledging that no single repository can hold everything on any given subject. In fact, when we try to collect everything, we may as well collect nothing; unbridled collecting quickly grows beyond the stewardship capacities of even the wealthiest of institutions. Building and sustaining archival collections requires cognisance of our limitations and our dependence on each other to preserve and provide access to a rich and diverse historical record.

Over the course of my career, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of revealing relationships among archival collections to researchers. At the Disciples of Christ Historical Society, opportunities for this work abound. For example, shortly after I began my work here, the Historical Society received a donation of materials from the late Rev. Dr. Janet A. Long and the Washington Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Elyria, Ohio.  It included an 1818 letter from an Ebenezer Nye to his son, George Nye. In the letter, Ebenezer Nye offers counsel on the dangers of false brethren in Christ and the importance of repenting of sins in one’s youth. He also discusses the imperative of suffering with Christ and cites examples of early Christians suffering persecution. 

My investigation into the letter revealed that the Ohio History Connection holds the Ebenezer Nye papers, a set of sermons, correspondence, and other materials related to the early Stone-Campbell movement in Ohio. The discovery was both exciting and discouraging. I was truly excited to learn of the existence of related materials that offer context to the donated letter, but I was discouraged to realize that the collection description did not reference the Stone-Campbell movement or Restorationism. Nye is identified only as a “Baptist.” While an astute scholar of American religious history would make the leap from Baptist to Stone-Campbell adherent, many other potential users of these papers would not.

When I write the full archival description of this letter, I will note the Ebenezer Nye papers at the Ohio History Connection as a related collection. I will also characterize Nye as a likely follower of the Stone-Campbell and include the subject heading “Restoration movement (Christianity).” In making the relationship between this letter and the Ohio History Connection collection visible,  it’s critical also to name and claim Ebenezer Nye as part of the Stone-Campbell tradition.