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Collecting Holy Spirit History
By Elissa K. Harvill
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The director of the center, Dr. Mark Roberts (no relation to ORU's founder), says that what makes the collection unique is its focus on materials pertinent to the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements worldwide. "Because major denominations have built their own archives, we focus on acquiring materials from independent churches/ministries worldwide, as well as smaller denominations," Dr. Roberts says.
The center's collection ranges from the popular--works from Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Marilyn Hickey, and others--to the very scholarly, including theological theses, papers, and articles. Roberts says, "We're a warehouse of stories and parts of stories. All through our shelves, there are big stories and little stories about what God has been doing on the earth in the Holy Spirit. People want to tell this story, and we have the parts to help them tell it."
Some of the oldest materials in the collection are copies of works from E.W. Kenyon (1901), Leaves of Healing (1901), and Triumphs of Faith, a monthly journal devoted to faith healing and the promotion of Christian holiness, edited by Carrie F. Judd (1881).
Some of the most intriguing materials include: a paper on a pre-Azusa Street spiritual surge in India (1860--46 years earlier!), Kathryn Kuhlman and God's Generals videos, and recordings of Betty Baxter giving her testimony of how God healed her of spinal deformities and paralysis. The center also has extensive information that is not catalogued, as well as videos, tapes, and phonograph records, and a "Holy Spirit Vertical File" that contains news clippings, unpublished papers, diaries and journals, correspondence, brochures, pamphlets, and booklets by and about Pentecostals/Charismatics and their practices, history, beliefs, organizations, and events, making up 1,700 information files that hold more than 33,000 items.
"Because this is a closed collection, the best way to benefit from the center is to come and [do] research here," Roberts advises. "I welcome pastors, ministers, lay people--anyone working on special research, including high school students, independent researchers, or anyone who just has a history itch. I want the center to benefit them." The HSRC also has student research assistants who help researchers at any level find materials pertinent to their research goals.
The center is an ORU treasure for students as well. Pastor Billy Jo Daugherty of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa reminisces: "In 1972, I transferred into ORU as a second-semester sophomore. That spring I went to the Holy Spirit Research Center and checked out tapes of outstanding Full Gospel ministers. As I listened to David Wilkerson preaching on the Call of God, I fell onto the floor in the library and began to surrender my life to fulfilling the call to serve Jesus. These times in the library, listening to the Word of God on tape, transformed me."
"The library itself is a major service, and we're a part of it," says Roberts. "Our collection is catalogued as part of our university library. Everyone can always use our online catalogue to see what we have, and then locate what they need locally at their public library, or they may be able to borrow sources through interlibrary loan. We will do whatever we can to help researchers get access to our collection."
The center's future goals include finding new ways to put some of its material on the Web, and publishing an exhaustive online index of archive holdings so that researchers with Internet access anywhere in the world can discover materials useful to their research, through the Holy Spirit Research Center collection. Currently, the ORU Information Systems department is making available some of the publications from Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and also the Bible.
"We're always seeking papers, publications of Pentecostal/Charismatic ministers who are retiring or have recently deceased, in order to secure their stories and the testimony of their ministries," Roberts said. "That is truly the stuff of historical research."
The Holy Spirit Research Center is located on the fifth floor of the Learning Research Center and is open weekdays and on Saturday:
Monday-Tuesday 1:00 p.m. - 8:50 p.m.
Wednesday 1:00 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.
Thursday 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m. - 8:50 p.m.
Friday 1:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.
Saturday 1:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.
For more information on the HSRC, or if you would like research assistance, please call 918.495.6899 or email hsrc@oru.edu.
