College Archives

A.J. Gordon Heritage Collection

The A.J. Gordon Collection is made up of materials created by A.J. Gordon namely sermons, hymns, articles, and books. Please note that many of the books by A.J. Gordon are included in the Archives Book Collection.

For more information about the A.J. Gordon Collection please visit https://www.gordon.edu/ajgordon to visit the A.J. Gordon Heritage Project. This page includes digital access to many books, articles, and hymns written by Gordon.

Pictured: How Christ Came to Church: A Spiritual Autobiography by A.J. Gordon

A.J. Gordon Heritage Collection

Doodles/drawing by A. J. Gordon.

Archaeological Collection

Israel – Tel Dothan Archaeological Collection

• The Israel – Tel Dothan Archaeological Collection includes artifacts from the Early Bronze through Iron Age II (3,000 – 600 BC) from the site of ancient Tel Dothan which is located 60 miles north of Jerusalem. The dig was conducted in 1954-1955 by Wheaton College and the American Schools of Oriental Research. The Collection is a gift of former Providence Bible Institute (later Barrington College) alumnus, George Kelsey (1950), who was the first assistant to Joseph P. Free, the Director of the expedition.

Egyptian Archaeological Collection

• The Egyptian Archaeological Collection was donated by Elizabeth Eliot Gren and contains artifacts from a dig performed by William Cowper Prime in 1855. It also includes a 19th century Arabic outfit.

Pictured: Egyptian sarcophagi pieces (not much known about them).

Archive Book Collection

The Archive Collection is made up of books relating to or about Gordon College and Barrington College. Most of these books were written by Gordon and Barrington faculty, staff, and administrators.

Pictured: The Ministry of the Spirit by A.J. Gordon (1894), Stir, Change, Create by Kenneth L. Pike, Perspectives on Our Father Abraham: Essays in Honor of Marv R. Wilson edited by Steven A. Hunt

Barrington College Publications

This collection is comprised of publications created by the college or other college groups including:

• Victory (1933 – 1935)
• P B Eye (1948 – 1954)
• The P-Bee (1954 – 1959)
• The Barringtonian (1959 – 1972)
• The Forum (1972 – 1984)
• The Main Event (1985)
• Alumni materials
• The Torch (1939 – 1985)
• Various Newsletters, student publications, etc.
• Course Catalogs

Barrington Papers

This collection is made up of materials created by the College including:

• Brochures, marketing, and program materials
• Records of the Board of Trustees
• Records of the President’s Office
• Committees – meeting minutes, correspondence, etc.
• Other academic and administrative offices and departments
• Reports, Reviews, and Assessments
• Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Student papers
• Syllabi
• Histories of the College, programs, events

Pictured: The P-Bee (March 6, 1936); Barrington Bulletin (March 1960 & October 1960)

Barrington College Material

Board of Trustee Minutes (1906-1932 & 1929-1952).

Clarendon Street Baptist Church

The Clarendon Street Baptist Church played a large role in the early years of Gordon. Not only did A.J. Gordon, the then pastor of the church, and a number of the church’s deacons begin Gordon College (Boston Missionary Training School), but the church also served as classroom space. It also became the church of a number of the school’s students. The collection includes early church records including membership lists, financial information, and the Clarendon Light newsletter.

Pictured: Church Records Sept. 20, 1887 – Oct. 18, 1907; Clarendon Light (May 6, 1894)

The Ella Thing Missions Fund is comprised of historical materials pulled from the Gordon College Papers and Publications Collection and the Clarendon Street Baptist Church records as well as public, outside resources. The Ella Thing Mission Fund was created and supported by Samuel B. Thing (Thyng) after his daughter Ella died in 1891.Mr. Thing was a deacon of Clarendon Street Baptist Church and a founding member of the Boston Missionary Training School (later Gordon College) and as such funded many of the students coming out of the school’s program. The school itself nor Clarendon Street Baptist Church sent these missionaries directly.

For more information on the Ella Thing Missions and early Korean missionaries that were former Gordon students check out the Korean Missions Finding Aid (coming soon).

Pictured: Ella Thing’s name from Clarendon Street Baptist Church Records

G. Lloyd Carr Photography Collection

The G. Lloyd Carr Photography Collection is the personal photographic collection of former Biblical Studies professor G. Lloyd Carr. It includes photographs, slides, proofs and negatives pertaining to Dr. Carr’s life and career at Gordon College and beyond. The materials range from 1953 to 2009. The finding aid for this collection is listed at the bottom of the page. 

Gordon College Publications

This collection is comprised of publications created by the college or other college groups including:

• The Herald (1947 – 1958)
• The Tartan (1958 – present)
• Stillpoint (1985 – present)
• Gordon Alumni Chronicle (Dec. 1935 – Apr. 1946)
• Other Alumni materials
• Student Publications (If I Told You, Vox Populi, Idiom, etc.)
• Princemere (2011 – present)
• Various Newsletters
• Hypernikon (1923 – 2010; 2018 – present)
• Course Catalogs

Digitized, searchable indexes can be found in the "Indexes & Finding Aids" section at the bottom of this page. 

Gordon Papers

This collection is made up of materials created by the College including:

• Brochures, marketing, and program materials
• Records of the Board of Trustees
• Records of the President’s Office
• Committees – meeting minutes, correspondence, etc.
• Other academic and administrative offices and departments
• Reports, Reviews, and Assessments
• Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Student papers
• Syllabi
• Maps and blueprints documenting College’s growth
• Event posters and information
• Histories of the College, programs, events

Pictured: Gordon Alumni Chronicle (January, 1938); The Tartan (Nov. 2, 1962)

Board of Trustee Minutes (1914-1924 & 1924-1952).

Marvin R. Wilson Jewish-Christian Relations Collection

The Marvin R. Wilson Jewish-Christian Relations Collection is a compilation of reports, papers, articles, books, memos, correspondence, and other materials pertaining to Marvin R. Wilson, Biblical Studies professor (at Gordon and Barrington Colleges), author, speaker and scholar. Especially highlighted is his ongoing engagement with the local and national Jewish community, as well as that of his students and Gordon/Barrington Colleges' administrations. The materials range from 1967 to 2018. The finding aid is now available.

Image: Marv Wilson stands in front of his donated collection in the Gordon College Archives before the collection was processed. 

Special Collection

The Special Collection is a collection of old and rare books of historical and financial value. These books are usually difficult to find in the used book market or are limited edition.

Pictured: Letter written by William Wilberforce March 26, 1789

Temperance Collection

The Temperance Collection is comprised of materials relating to the Temperance movement during the 19^th and early 20^th century. It was a movement against the consumption of alcohol with special emphasis on abstaining from alcohol. Maria Hale Gordon was a notable leader in the Temperance movement in Boston and her son, Ernest B. Gordon, was a prolific author on the subject. 

Gordon College’s collection holds numerous titles on Temperance including books, speeches, and articles authored by Ernest Gordon. The collection also includes Sons of Temperance newspapers and meeting information. There are a few, small artifacts in the form of pins, ribbons, and small medallions. The finding aid for the non-book materials is now available.

Pictured: Red, white, and blue fabric with convention badges; Journal of the American Temperance Union; and The New-York Prohibitionist (New York, August, 1861)

Vining Rare Book Collection

The Vining Collection was the personal library of Edward Payson Vining (1847-1920) and was donated by his family to Gordon College in 1921. The collection consists of 7,000 books, manuscripts, and letters, ranging from the 12th century to the early 20th century. It contains over 900 Bibles in 140 languages and is rich in Shakespeareana, Early Americana, geography, travel literature, ethnology, and especially philology – with vast holdings in indigenous languages.   

Examples of materials that can be found in this collection include:

• John Eliot’s The Holy Bible: Containing the Old Testament and the New. This Bible is the first of its kind to be translated into the native Algonquin language in 1663.
• Shakespeare’s 2nd Folio titled Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies and printed in 1632.
• Martin Luther’s Pamphlet Das schöne Confitemini: an der Zal der CXVIII Psalm (1530), Von den letzlen Worten Davids (1543), and Enarrationes Epistolarum et Evangeliorum, quas Postillas vocant (1521).
• Ptolemy’s Geographiae (1511 & 1525)
• Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on .... Virginia (1787)
• Captain John Smith’s The Generall Historie of Virginia… (1624)
• Biblia Sacra Polyglotta – Hebraice, Chaldice et Gracae (1514) the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, edited by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros and published by Complutense University of Madrid. Of the 600 printed six-volume sets, only 123 are known to have survived to date. The work is widely known to be a monument of the Spanish Renaissance. Gordon College possesses only the fifth volume (New Testatment). 
• Erasmus’ Novvm Testamentvm Omne (1522) - Greek-Latin parallel text prepared by Erasmus and printed by Froben in Basel. First published in 1516, this is Erasmus’ third edition. It was used by Tyndale for the first English New Testament (1526) and later by translators of the Geneva Bible and the King James Version. With the third edition as well, the Comma Johanneum was included for the first time.

Pictured: Cosmographia by Ptolemy (1486) [Vining G 87 .P84 1486]

Vining Rare Book Collection

The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles… by John Smith (1624) [Vining F 229 .S61 1624]

Vining Rare Book Collection

The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles… by John Smith (1624) [Vining F 229 .S61 1624]