Collections : [Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary]

This collection contains records from an international ecumenical conference of Protestant missionaries held in New York City, April 21 – May 1, 1900, which provided a forum for missionaries to discuss topics including geographical surveys of missionary work, medicine, education, evangelism, literature, and women's work. Materials include conference program and register, minutes, stenographic reports, presented papers and reports, and a special issue of The New York Tribune.

The M.I.A.U. news service began in 1970 as a Roman Catholic effort to promote the spread of uncensored information on events in Latin America, founded by attendees of the seventh annual Catholic Inter-American Cooperation Program (CICOP). Its acronym stands for the Movimiento de Información y Acció́n Urgente, and deliberately evokes the sound a cat makes when its tail is being stepped on. In 1971, the group's name was changed to LAB Services, and it became affiliated with the National Catholic Welfare Council's Latin American Bureau. This collection contains articles, essays, reports, and minutes collected by the organization and covering topics including a Roman Catholic bishops conference in Puerto Rico in 1970, early lectures on liberation theology, articles on the church's struggle against compulsory military service in Puerto Rico, and snapshots of torture cases in Colombia, Brazil, and El Salvador. The majority of the documents are in Spanish.

Eitel Frederick George Proelss (1906-1996), born in Germany, Union Theological Seminary class of 1953, Episcopal priest in the Diocese of New York, and senior chaplain of Riker's Island Prison in New York. The collection contains writings by Proelss and others in the form of note cards, jottings, clippings, and one annotated manuscript, used to help Proelss gain an understanding of criminality so as to better assist the incarcerated people whom he served.

This collection contains professional and personal materials of Reverend Doctor James Hal Cone, a pioneering voice in American religious history and founder of Black Liberation Theology. Materials include writings, notes, teaching materials such as syllabi and student work, lectures and documentation of speaking engagements, supporting research for and manuscripts of publications, photographs, personal and professional correspondence, documentation of committee and other work at UTS, AV materials used for research and documenting speaking engagements, books, and awards and memorabilia.

Katie Geneva Cannon, the first African-American woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church, was a minister, professor, and foundational voice of womanist theology. The collection contains professional and personal materials including coursework, biographical material, artwork, teaching resources including syllabi, writing and research materials including drafts and notes, sermons, lectures and documentation of speaking engagements, correspondence, and publicity materials.

Bertha E. Davis was an American Baptist foreign missionary to Burma from 1899 to 1931, where she helped establish schools. The collection contains diaries, address books, expense records, photographs, a copy of the 1946 Anglican Bishops Report from the Diocese of Rangoon, and other personal items relating to Davis's life before, during, and after her missionary work.

Thomas Samuel Hastings was a Presbyterian pastor of New York City and professor and president of Union Theological Seminary. The collection consists of correspondence, writings, and scrapbooks relating to activities of the seminary and the debate concerning the Presbyterian Creed. Included in the collection are also a notebook of his father, Thomas Hastings (1784-1872), and a travel diary that may be of his son, Thomas Hastings (1860-1920).

This collection contains materials compiled by the Missionary Research Library that describe the Latin American churches' response to the social movements that emerged during the years 1962-1973, including reports, pamphlets, essays, press statements, quarterly reports and a study by the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA).

Elwood G. Tewksbury was a missionary and college teacher in China. He and his wife and two sons, Donald G. and Malcolm G. Tewksbury, were besieged in the British legation during the Boxer Rebellion. Donald George Tewksbury later became a professor of Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Malcom Gardner Tewksbury authored two textbooks on speaking Chinese. The collection contains clippings and correspondence documenting Elwood Tewksbury's ordination, missionary activities in China, and role in the Boxer Siege of Peking in 1900, as well as papers of his sons relating to China.

Walter Rauschenbusch was a leading scholar of the Social Concern Movement and the Church in America, and taught at the Rochester Theological Seminary. This collection consists of two letters written by Rauschenbusch to Dr. Thomas C. Hall, Professor at Union Theological Seminary, discussing courses and anti-German sentiment after World War I.