The Stenholm papers contain the personal collection of Gilbert Stenholm, consisting of a variety of topics. Included throughout the collection are many newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements, promotional materials, and correspondence addressed to Stenholm or his wife. The collection shows his reliance on Frontline, Sword of the Lord, and Blu-print as the main periodicals he used dealing with religious issues. Congressional reports as well as religious observations by men such as John Ashbrook comprise the bulk of the folders relating to Communism.
Stenholm kept both large and small records concerning ethical, religious, and political issues; denominations; particular churches he visited; Christian colleges; and matters of doctrine or theology. Among the largest files are Stenholm’s collections concerning the Communist agenda, which includes such folders as brainwashing, relations to China, Cuba, Christianity and the Catholic Church, and religion in Communist countries. Also taking up a large percentage of the collection are Stenholm’s Bob Jones University files. Among the BJU files are materials concerning the school’s accreditation battle, the Alumni Association during Stenholm’s tenure as president, faculty and staff information, and the school periodicals Voice of the Alumni and Little Moby’s Post. Among the denominations and religious organizations taking up more than one folder in the collection are the Catholic Church, the Conservative Baptist Association, the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Throughout his years traveling as an evangelist for BJU, Stenholm gathered a collection of materials from several religious schools, including Cedarville College, Berkeley Baptist Divinity School, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Furman University. He also kept tabs on his former schools of North Park Theological Seminary and Northwestern University. In all, twenty-five colleges, universities or seminaries are on file.
Stenholm’s biography file consists of material on some seventy-five individuals, ranging from Anita Bryant to Bill Gothard to Ian Paisley. Taking up the bulk of the biography files are the files concerning Billy Graham. The Stenholm papers contain thirty-six files regarding Graham, among which are materials regarding Graham’s relations to BJU; twenty-four different files concerning his crusades; several about his political involvement with Presidents Kennedy, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Johnson; and various interviews and statements.
Exclusive to the Stenholm papers are his personal files concerning individuals, his multi-faceted career at Bob Jones University, correspondence to relatives and friends in the ministry, and letters of appreciation from churches on his evangelistic circuit. Of particular interest in the personal files are some of Stenholm’s early college papers and lesson plans, demonstrating the early years of Bob Jones University class life.
The papers are divided in religious, non-religious, and biographical files, arranged alphabetically according to subject.
The Weniger papers consist mainly of the personal files collected over many years by Guy Archer Weniger (1915-1982). Included are many newspaper and magazine clippings filed under topic headings of religious interest (see the list that follows), with many pieces marked by Weniger to point out which portions were especially noteworthy for his purposes. The papers also contain much of Weniger's correspondence (with many leading Fundamentalists such as Carl McIntire, Bob Jones, etc.) and hundreds of documents he gathered for sermon illustrations. Periodical articles, which compose about 75% of the topic folders, were clipped from Christianity Today, Christian Century, Christian Beacon, Sword of the Lord, Eternity, certain California newspapers, and many other religious and secular publications. Many advertisements, school bulletins, transcripts, brochures, flyers, and other pertinent miscellanies fill out the rest of the collection.
Weniger gathered information on religious, political, and ethical issues, on denominations and other religious organizations, and on over three hundred people, again primarily religious figures. Organizations about which Weniger filed the most material are either those with which he was closely associated (Bob Jones University, the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, the Conservative Baptists) or those which were subject to Blu-Print criticism (Fuller Theological Seminary, the Roman Catholic Church, the National Council of the Churches of Christ). The people whose folders are the largest are also those figures who were most likely to appear in the Blu-Print (Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham). In addition, certain issues of the day warranted a large collection (capital punishment, the ecumenical movement, evolution, homosexuality, church and state, Communism). A personal library and sermon ledger resides in the last of the fourteen file drawers required to house the Weniger collection. It lists books in Weniger's possession and contains a lengthy topical bibliography. The ledger also lists texts upon which Weniger had preached.
Of particular interest for original research are Weniger's papers concerning Baptist Fundamentalist organizations. His extensive documentation on the Conservative Baptist Association of America reflects the heated conflicts that went on within that body (of which Weniger was a part) in the 1950s and 1960s. The papers also contain significant information on the Fundamentalist bodies and organizations that left the CBA as a result of these battles, in particular the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship and the New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches.
The papers are divided into folders according to subject and arranged alphabetically.