Successful Ellen White Issues Symposium on March 25, 2013

The purpose of this symposium is to break new ground in understanding Ellen White and issues relating to her life, ministry, and prophetic gift that have current importance. The structure of the symposium had some elements of academic formality. Papers were presented with a prepared response followed by a brief responses from the presenters. The papers presented will later be published in a journal that will be available at a reasonable cost. At the symposium were available the published presentations from the previous symposiums. Forms were provided to attendees to give them an opportunity to submit questions. These questions were later discussed as part of the Current Issues Discussion at end of the afternoon.

The first speaker of the morning was Benjamin Schoun, general vice-president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; he gave the devotional talk. James R. Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate, was unable to participate due to travel inconveniences, and Nicholas Miller, Professor of Church History, read Nix’s paper, “‘Sickly, Slobbering, Idiots’ and the Story of Albert E. Horsley,” in his place. This inspiring story received a good response despite the author not being present. Theodore Levterov, director of the Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office at Loma Linda University and Assistant Professor of Religion and Theological Studies, his paper was entitled “The Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Understanding of Ellen G. White’s Prophetic Gift, 1844-1889.” Alberto Timm, Associate Director of the Ellen G. White Estate, is a specialist in the development of Seventh-day Adventist doctrines and theology. He presented a paper entitled “Development of Contemporary Issues Related to Ellen G. White.” The final paper presented that afternoon was from Jiří Moskala, and his paper was entitled “Can a Prophet Err?” The last event of the afternoon was the Current Issues Discussion facilitated by Dr. Merlin D. Burt, professor of Church History.

Current Issues Discussion facilitated by Dr. Merlin D. Burt.

Current Issues Discussion facilitated by Dr. Merlin D. Burt.

We look forward to seeing you at the next Ellen White Issues Symposium. Though this will be an academic symposium it is our intention that it also provide spiritual encouragement and inspiration for those who attend.

A peek into the Archives

In preparation for the 75th anniversary of the James White Library the Center for Adventist Research has been sifting through our artifacts to find items from our collection that don’t often get displayed because of the logistics of doing so securely and in a way that will preserve the item.

One such item is a tapestry that was donated to the Center some time ago. It is fragile condition and would require special care to display.

Detail from tapestry found at the Center for Adventist Research. It is a close-up of a man in armor looking up intently.

Detail from tapestry found at the Center for Adventist Research.

The centuries old cloth fibers have faded over time. As we opened up the tapestry we could smell the dust and decay. The muted colors of yellows, browns and greens blended together at first glance the central artwork with its border.

Detail of tapestry at Center for Adventist Research

Detail of tapestry at Center for Adventist Research

Then details soon called for attention. The intricately woven leaves in the border embraced musical instruments and flowers. Each graphic element representing some idea or thought. With an experts review we could learn their significance. The workmanship was evidenced in the nuanced expressions on the faces of the people featured in the tapestry. Scene is a moment of action frozen in time. One man is about to mount his horse.

Detail of tapestry at Center for Adventist Research

Detail of tapestry at Center for Adventist Research

Digitization Projects at the Center

What do the Monterey, Michigan SDA Church record book, the Advent Shield and Review from 1844-45, and A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White with Hiram Edson’s signature on the cover have in common? All these items were digitized last month by the CAR digitization team! Things have really changed and we are excited to see the results.

At the beginning of the year, we purchased a Kodak sheet-fed scanner that has allowed us to scan loose pages and cut books at a rate of 30 pages a minute (front and back)! We are using this machine to scan the books that we can cut and to digitize the White Document Files (see insert). The software allows for each scan to render two images, one in color for archiving, and one in black and white to compile into a format that will enable it to be read online.

To date this machine has produced over 2,500 files that have been subsequently attached to our library catalog. We are currently working to scan the entire collection of 2,700 White Document Files.

In May 2012, we purchased a flatbed camera scanner that allows us to digitize items that are more fragile, such as our vault books and other rare manuscripts. An item, such as a book, is placed on the platform and a sheet of glass is lowered over it. The scanner then makes a pass over the item with bright LED lights and takes a picture. The software is then able to crop out the borders and render a perfect scan of the item. We spent a few months testing and getting the kinks out, and we are now in full production with the goal of digitizing the entire vault collection of books. It takes about 10 seconds to scan a two-page spread, with the post-processing of compiling the images into a format to be read online taking about 10 minutes for the average size book. Last month we produced 210 items to attach to the catalog, comprising 6,000 images, most of which were vault materials.

Our goal has always been to preserve our precious materials, but with the advent of the new equipment, we are now able to make the materials we scan quickly available to our patrons. While not all of the items we scan will be attached to our catalog due to copyright laws, we hope to provide our patrons with a much wider selection of digital materials within the next year.

To browse our growing collection of digital titles, visit our library catalog at http://andrews.edu/library and type “Andrews Digital Library” in the search box.

Michigan Adventist History Tour – April 20, 2013

This tour will be an all day tour that visits many Adventist history sites in central and western Michigan.

Register: Sign-up sheet is at the Dean’s office of the Seminary.

Title: Michigan Adventist History Tour

When: Sabbath, April 20, one day tour

Departs: 8 am from the Howard Performing Arts Center parking lot

Returns: 6:45 pm

Where: Tour goes to Grand Ledge, Greenville, Monterey, and Allegan (in that order)

Food: Participants needs to plan to bring their own lunch. We will eat lunch on the bus. There will be no facilities for heating food.

Attire: Dress code is casual. We will be having a short worship service on the bus, but there will be no formal church service.

Who: Tour is for Seminary students only. Children are not allowed on the tour.

Cost: Tour fee of $5 is due at the time of signing up for the tour. See Steve Nash for scholarship information.

Participants are welcome to use cameras and sound recording equipment.

Michigan Adventist History Tour, sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Michigan Adventist History Tour, sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary