Collection History, Contents, and Access

 History

On September 14, 2010 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary received the voluminous collection of papers and correspondence of the late apologist Francis A. Schaeffer to Southeastern’s library, thanks to the generosity of the Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation. The collection is given to the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture for Southeastern Seminary. The presentation was made by Udo Middelmann, president of the Foundation and his wife, Deborah, daughter of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. The ceremony during chapel on that day included the symbolic passing of custodianship from the Foundation to the Center with Deborah Middelmann presenting Bruce Little with Francis A. Schaeffer’s personal well-annotated Bible. As Deborah noted, “My dad always said, ‘If anyone wants to know what I believe they should read the notes in my Bible.’” According to the contract between the Foundation and the Seminary, Bruce Little serves as the director of the Schaeffer archives.

The relationship between the Center and the Schaeffer Foundation started in November 2008 when the Center organized the first ever conference on Francis A. Schaeffer. The conference featured Francis Schaeffer’s  sons-in-law, Udo Middelmann and Ranald Macaulay, as well as Dick Keyes, Director of L'Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts and Jerram Barrs, Resident Scholar of the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute. From this event a relationship developed between Dr. Little and the Middelmanns and in the fall of 2009 the Middelmanns approached Dr. Little about the possibility of the Seminary receiving custodianship of the Schaeffer collection. After working out details, the collection was shipped from Switzerland to the United States and brought to the library at Southeastern in summer 2010.

Watch the Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation presentation to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Media Coverage of the Schaeffer Papers Donation:

"Francis Schaeffer papers," David Malone,  ReCollections (September 15, 2010)

"The Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation entrusts Southeastern Seminary with Schaeffer archives," Jason Hall, Between the Times (September 14, 2010)

"Schaeffer collection given to Southeastern," Jason Hall, Biblical Recorder (September 15, 2010)

"SEBTS receives Schaeffer collection, " Jason Hall, Baptist Press (September 15, 2010)

"Bruce Little on the Francis Schaeffer Papers," Evangelical Philosophical Society Blog (October 1, 2010)

"Papers of Bible scholar donated," Yonat Shimron, The News and Observer (September 15, 2010) - This page no longer is being displayed. 

"Southeastern Baptist Seminary receives huge donation of Francis Schaeffer’s unpublished works from his daughter, Deborah," Yonat Shimron of The News and Observer,  The Aquila Report (September 15, 2010)

"Wake Forest Seminary gets works of evangelical icon," Jeremy Loeb, WUNC 91.5: North Carolina Public Radio (September 17, 2010)

"At the end of Self-government or Self-indulgence? (in the 'merited attention' section of the essay)," Udo Middelmann, The Schaeffer Foundation - Footnotes 

Contents

The Francis A. Schaeffer Papers at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is a voluminous collection of Schaeffer's personal research and correspondence. The collection includes:

• Films
• Audio tapes
• Sermon notes
• Notes for his 27 books
• Periodical Clippings with personal annotations
• Correspondence
• Personal Bible
• Books

Access

A thorough inventory of the Francis A. Schaeffer materials was completed in the fall of 2011. The Finding Aid for the collection is currently being created and the digitization of the materials is in progress. The digitization of Dr. Schaeffer’s Bible is complete.

Access to the collection is for research purposes only and all requests for access must be approved by Center for Faith and Culture Director, Dr. Bruce Little.　 Dr. Little can be contacted by email at blittle@sebts.edu.