Special Collections Archive

Academic Catalog Collection

The seminary’s catalog collection, started by Dr. Boyce and expanded by Dr. Deering in the 1970s–80s, includes significant 19th-century holdings from Baptist and Protestant institutions.

Maldon Browning Adams Collection

Maldon Browning Adams (1869–1945), a pastor and Georgetown College president (1913–1931), was active in Baptist education, and his papers were gifted to the seminary in 1973.

William Foxwell Albright Collection

The William Foxwell Albright Collection, acquired from the renowned archaeologist and professor, contains about 10,000 off-prints, articles, and papers on the ancient Near East and archaeology, dating from 1920–1970.

Baptist Minutes Collection

The Baptist Minutes Collection, one of the largest in the country, holds over 105,000 associational minutes, including rare 19th-century, Primitive Baptist, and Black Baptist records, with some available digitally.

James Petigru Boyce Papers

The Boyce Papers include correspondence, manuscripts, and personal items from seminary founder James P. Boyce (1827–1888), whose extensive book collection helped establish the seminary library.

John Albert Broadus Collections

The Broadus Papers contain correspondence, manuscript notebooks, and the original manuscript of On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons from John A. Broadus (1827–1895), a key seminary professor and second president.

Church Minutes Collection

The Crismon Collection, acquired through historian Dr. Leo T. Crismon, contains manuscript minutes from Kentucky Baptist churches dating back to 1785.

John Clarke Letters

The John Clarke Letters (1655, 1658) document his efforts with Roger Williams to secure Rhode Island’s 1663 charter, affirming land rights and religious liberty.

Codex Robertsonianus

The Robertson Codex, acquired in 1927 through New Testament scholar A.T. Robertson, is a valuable Greek Gospel manuscript, now digitized for research.

Leo T. Crismon Records

The Leo T. Crismon Records document his tenure as SBTS librarian (1937–1971) and involvement in theological library associations and Baptist historical work.

Thomas Treadwell Eaton Papers

The T. T. Eaton Papers include correspondence, sermon notes, and personal items, documenting his role as pastor, editor, and influential figure in Southern Baptist history.

Findley Edge Papers

The Findley Edge Papers include 26 boxes of correspondence, course materials, and writings on Christian education, along with 16 boxes related to the Vineyard Conference Center.

Charles Spurgeon Gardner Papers

The Charles Spurgeon Gardner Papers primarily consist of addresses, sermon manuscripts, and lecture materials created during his tenure as a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Billy Graham Collection

The Billy Graham Collection includes thousands of items, focusing on his evangelistic crusades from 1949–1984, particularly the 1956 Louisville crusade.

Dr. & Mrs. John H. Haldeman Bible Collection

The Haldeman Bible Collection includes 230 rare items, such as a 1552 Tyndale New Testament and a 1484 Latin Bible, gifted by Dr. and Mrs. John Haldeman.

Roy Honeycutt Collections

The Roy L. Honeycutt collections include his Presidential Records, documenting his administration and involvement in Baptist controversies, and his personal papers, covering his preaching, teaching, and academic career as an Old Testament scholar.

Kentucky Southern College Collection

The Kentucky Southern College Collection includes publications, correspondence, and financial records from 1955–1969, donated by Mrs. Mary Jane Sanders, documenting the college’s history before its dissolution.

C. S. Lewis Collection

The C. S. Lewis Collection, acquired from Dr. Marvin W. Anderson, features early printings of Lewis’s works and letters, praised as one of the finest personal collections of its kind.

Basil Manly Jr. Papers.

The Manly, Jr. Papers include a diary, letterpress books, sermons, speeches, and memorabilia documenting his career as a pastor, seminary professor, and college president.

Basil Manly, Sr. Papers

The Basil Manly Sr. Papers include over 475 sermons and a few items of correspondence, reflecting his leadership in Baptist education and ministry.

Duke McCall Collections

The Duke K. McCall collections include his Presidential Records, documenting his administrative work and response to theological controversies, and his personal papers, which contain sermons, speeches, and manuscripts from his career.

Edgar Young Mullins Papers

The Mullins Papers consist of 47 boxes of correspondence and notebooks, reflecting his leadership at the seminary and the SBC. Detailed finding aids and indexes are available upon request.

Grady Nutt Collection

The Nutt Collection includes two books with correspondence, memorials, photographs, recordings, and other materials related to Grady Nutt’s life and ministry. A finding aid is available for this collection.

Photographic Archives

The Archives and Special Collections department holds over 30,000 photographs and engravings related to the seminary and Baptist history. These photographs have been indexed electronically and are available upon request.

Luther Rice-Letter to Sarah J. Myers

The Archives holds a manuscript letter written by Luther Rice to Sarah Myers, proposing marriage. This item is part of the Manuscript Collection in the Inner Archives on the 2nd floor.

Archibald Thomas Robertson Papers

The Robertson Papers, located in the Manuscript Collection of the Rare Book Room, include ten boxes of correspondence, notebooks, and a manuscript of A Grammar of the Greek New Testament, with an inventory available upon request.

John Richard Sampey Papers

The Sampey Papers, located in the Manuscript Collection of the Rare Book Room and Founders Collection Storage Area, consist of 26 boxes of sermons, presidential papers, and correspondence related to foreign missions, with a partial online finding aid available.

Harold W. Seever Collection

he Seever Collection, housed offsite, consists of 33 boxes containing personal items, pictures, sermons, letters, and miscellaneous papers, with an online finding aid available.

Jesse Burton Weatherspoon Papers

The Weatherspoon Papers, located in the Rare Book Room, consist of five boxes containing biographical materials, correspondence, lecture notes, manuscripts, clippings, and sermon illustrations, with an online finding aid available.

William H. Whitsitt Collection

The Whitsitt Manuscript Collection, located in the Rare Book Room, contains journals, lecture notes, essays, clippings, correspondence, and sermons, with a finding aid available.

Woman’s Missionary Union Training School Records

The Woman’s Missionary Union Training School records (1949-1964) are housed in thirty-three boxes, with additional microfilm records from 1906 to 1962, and miscellaneous records from the Carver School (1964-1992).

Archives and Special Collections Hours

Monday - Friday: 9:00am - 5:00pm

SBTS or government-issued ID required to enter.