Book Reviews

Preserving the Past & Engaging the Future: Theology & Religion in American Special Collections. M. Patrick Graham, ed. Chicago, IL: American Theological Library Association, Atla Open Press, 2021. 270p. Paper, $35.00 (ISBN 978-1949800166). doi:10.31046/atlaopenpress.43.

Preserving the Past & Engaging the Future: Theology & Religion in American Special Collections is a fine collection of essays that demonstrates the practical work and value of special collections in libraries for religion scholarship and cultural heritage.

Editor M. Patrick Graham is a giant in the field of religious studies libraries and special collections, having retired in 2017 from the Pitts Theological Library at Emory University after a long and successful career. His subject expertise, as well as his genial nature and knack for building community, makes him the perfect person to have gathered these collected essays.

The 10 chapters are divided into three sections: “Special Collections Retrospective,” “Special Collections at Work in Teaching and Research,” and “Collection Development and the Future of Special Collections.” Many of them provide practical explanations of projects and programming as well as give insight into the possibilities for future special collections work.

The volume highlights not only the importance of religious/theological special collections for religious studies, but also for a more deeply contextual understanding of the history of Western culture as a whole. It’s clear that the religious and theological special collections have broader interest and implications for the field of special collections more generally, given the outsized (though not unproblematic) role of the Christian Church in the history of literature, publishing, and the academy. Caroline Duroselle-Melish’s chapter on the Folger Library’s German Reformation collection demonstrates this integration of religious background to the “secular” world of Shakespeare, for example. The collections are marked by the historical and material realities through which they have lived—the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, travel and trade and time.

As a librarian who does not work in Special Collections myself, I was educated and edified by reading about different modes of creating and developing collections, illustrated by the processes of Phillips and Stickelberger and their respective collections now held by the Folger Library. The discussion of selective collecting versus collecting “en bloc,” for example, was an interesting dichotomy. Considering the advantages and difficulties of each gives a fuller picture of some of the concerns related to collecting rare and historically significant materials. Learning about the process and value of each was beneficial for thinking about my own library’s collections.

The second part of the volume focuses on teaching students how to use and analyze collections and archives as scholars in their own right. Matthew Baker emphasizes the Burke Library’s desire for “materials to be experienced safely, with appropriate care and also without undue intimidation.” As Ranganathan asserted, books are for use, and the same goes for items in special collections. The goal is for active participation of students, scholars, and, as Brian Shetler and Jesse D. Mann’s chapter describes, alumni donors. Images of notable objects, book pages, and illustrations in several of the chapters lend credence to the theme that threads throughout the volume of the value of experiencing the collections, even as surrogates.

The essays overlap in so many ways, illustrating the real collegiality and interconnectedness of theological special collections. It’s a small world, and the collaboration and conversation between collections, such as the Pitts and Folger Reformation collections, makes for a robust field and a fulsome compilation of essays. The connections between libraries and librarians are as apparent here as they are integral.

The volume perhaps would have benefited from some more critical perspectives and a more diverse authorship. Anthony Elia’s essay addresses some concerns around environmental issues and the prospects of special collections and libraries facing a climate-changed future, and there are passing references to the gaps in the historical record or the “silence of archives” throughout. I wish there had been some treatment of the complicated relationship of, say, provenance and marginalized histories.

Additionally, I was pleased to see some discussion of COVID-19 in these pages, without it turning into a piece of explicit or exclusive pandemic reflection. The pandemic has changed our work and our lives, and acknowledgment of this fact is crucial even if tangential.

The volume as a whole strikes a balance between appreciation for the wonderment of Special Collections—old stuff is cool, after all!—without falling into the nostalgia or vocational awe that can hamper much library work. A passion for the field shines through each of the essays, from the authors’ care for the history of the work to their excitement about the future. Overall, the collection is an excellent snapshot of contemporary special collections in theology and religion, the work the field is doing with and for scholars and students, and the possibilities in the years to come.—Keegan Osinski, Vanderbilt Divinity Library