research service

Archives

We apologise we cannot undertake extensive research or provide access to the Archives at the present time.

Due to Tabor College's co-location with Churches of Christ Theological College, the Archives have been moved into temporary storage. Until 2013 most congregational and genealogical records will be inaccessible. Family history researchers may find copies of the Australian Christian and other Churches of Christ periodicals at the State Library of Victoria and there are numerous online resources (listed below).

During this period the Australian Churches of Christ Historical Society is raising funds for the professional cataloguing of the Collection and its long-term storage.

We apologise for the inconvenience and hope to have a new and improved Archive in the near future.

The Australian Churches of Christ Historical Society Archives contain Churches of Christ journals, publications, church records and ephemera.  We actively collect materials produced by the Churches of Christ press, Austral Printing and Publishing Company, and the Churches of Christ Theological College (formerly known as The College of the Bible).  We also collect items pertaining to local churches, especially in Victoria, and the religious lives of individuals within the denomination.  We hold a number of audio recordings, photographs, self-published memoirs and nineteenth and early twentieth-century British and American Churches of Christ publications.

While the ACCHS Archives is the denomination’s national archive and holds significant collection of theological and historical materials, not all Churches of Christ records are managed here.  Many individual churches and departments continue to manage their own records and state archives hold some church records.

You can view a list of some of the collection below, including periodicals and holdings pertaining to individual Victorian Churches of Christ.   

Access

Access to the collection is restricted as many items are rare or fragile.

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Items are kept in locked cabinets
to prevent damage from light and handling.
19th and early 20th century American texts.

Research Service

A research service is available. Please contact the historian via mail or email:

Ms Kerrie Handasyde
PO Box 462
Bayswater 3153
history@handasyde.com 

Research enquiries are welcome.  Family history researchers are asked to include the full name, date of birth and names of churches attended by the person they are researching.

Due to the incomplete nature of the collection, not all requests for information will be successful: many Churches of Christ in times past did not keep records of marriages, cradle rolls or baptisms.  Churches of Christ practise adult believer baptism, so baptism records will not reveal parentage and dates of birth in the way christening records might.  Churches named ‘Christ Church’ do not belong to the Churches of Christ denomination.

Research Rates

From November 2010 a charge of $40 per hour will apply (with a minimum half hour or $20, photocopying and postage included).  Charges contribute to the cost of ongoing conservation of the collection.  Cheques may be made payable to ‘Australian Churches of Christ Historical Society’.

Online Resources

Many useful history resources, including biographies, church histories and essays, are available online at http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/subs/rmau.html

In 1903, photographs and histories of almost all Churches of Christ in Australia were published in ‘The Jubilee Pictorial History of Churches of Christ in Australasia’.  http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/digital/jph/JPH000.HTM 

The Historical Society is appreciative of the work of Dr Hans Rollmann, Memorial University of Newfoundland, in developing and maintaining the Restoration Movement website.

Collection

The most commonly requested items in the collection have been indexed.
1. Major Periodicals: list of Australian, British, American periodicals held
2. Historical Digest: index to names, churches and topics, 1960-2008
3. Victorian Churches of Christ from 1853-2008: dates, name changes and archival holdings

1.  Major Periodicals held in the ACCHS Archives

Australian Periodicals
Australasian Christian Standard                1885-1897
Australian Christian                                1898-2003 (except 1899 and 1921)
Australian Pioneer (editor: DA Ewers)        1885-1898 (complete)
Christian Advocate                                1879
Christian Pioneer (editor: TJ Gore)            1868-1879 (complete)
Christian Watchman (editor: JJ Haley)       1880-1885
Christian Witness                                  1870s (incomplete)
Historical Digest                                    1960-
Provocative Pamphlets/Pamphlet Club       1955-1997 (complete)

British Periodicals
Christian Messenger and Reformer            1837-1847
British Millennial Harbinger                       1848-1870 (except 1853)
Ecclesiastical Observer                           1871-1880

American Periodicals
Christian Baptist (editor: A Campbell)        1827-29 (complete 2nd edition)
Christian Messenger                               1827
Millennial Harbinger                                1830-1867

Explanatory note: The Archives hold numerous other periodicals, in incomplete and complete series, however those listed above are most commonly used by researchers.

Index to individuals, churches and topics in Historical Digest , published by Australian Churches of Christ Historical Society, 1960-2008    Click here

(The index records those individuals and churches who are the subject of articles or feature in sub-headings.  It does not list each incidental mention of person or church.)

3. Victorian Churches of Christ from 1853-2008: dates, name changes and historical records held in ACCHS Archive     Click here

Please advise the historian of any inaccuracies.    K Handasyde, 2010.

 Updated 2010, K Handasyde