Calendar of the Baptist Collection of Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Prepared by the Michigan Historical Records Survey Project, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Work Projects Administration.

Abstract

The papers calendared in this volume were brought together by Kalamazoo College at the time of its centennial. They are, therefore, frequently referred to as the College Centennial Collection. However, an examination of this calendar will show that it is not merely a college historical collection but rather a collection of material on Baptist activities in the State of Michigan, for it gives an insight into the labors of early Baptist missionaries, the financial struggles of churches and the Michigan Baptist State Convention, and the founding and early history of Kalamazoo College, toward whose success many a Baptist missionary preacher contributed much of his energy, and many Baptist pioneer settlers considerable sums of money, taking into consideration, of course, the economic conditions of a pioneer civilization. By far the greater part of this collection are the papers of Reverend Thomas Z.R. Jones, Baptist missionary preacher in Michigan from 1835 to 1876 and financial agent both of the Michigan Baptist State Convention and of Kalamazoo College. This calendar does not describe several bundles of fiscal records such as bills and receipts, nor a quantity of memos and notes. Those parts of letters which are mere lists of names and amounts subscribed or collected have been incorporated in the Appendix. They carry the same entry numbers as the letters from which they are excerpted.