Historical Sketches and Scrapbooks, 1916-78

This series is a collection of materials which serve as an introduction to the Annville Institute. It consists mainly of remembrances and correspondence of former staff members, and a five volume scrap book of clippings of the writings of Jackson County missionaries which appeared in RCA publications. These materials, arranged chronologically, do not provide a continuous history of the school. Nonetheless, they are useful in understanding the motivations behind its establishment, the origin and progress of its programs, and the religious / missionary orientation to the school.

The most comprehensive and perhaps most important single documents in understanding the history of the school are the scrapbooks, William Metcalf’s thesis on the history up to 1946, James P. Blair’s paper on the labor program up to approximately 1961, and Gordon F. Dejong’s analysis of the Reformed Church theology and its application to the missionary work in Jackson County. The scrapbook clippings report on most of the components of the RCA missionary work at Annville and Gray Hawk, but descriptions of the work at Mckee are rarer. In general, they are promotional rather than analytical reports of the educational, evangelistic, and medical programs initiated in Jackson County. Some of the writings describe impressions of the people of Jackson County, and they frequently report staff and student news. William Metcalf’s 1946 master’s thesis on the history of Annville Institute and James P. Blair’s study of the student labor program provide information on the history and philosophy of the organization, the curriculum, manual training programs, and extracurricular activities. Along with Gordon Dejong’s paper outlining the interplay between the RCA and other religious denominations in Jackson County—c. 1900-1960—these are the most analytical documents in the series, although they are by no means critical.

Other materials of special interest in the series are: 1) Presbyterian minister Jack Weller’s Relating the Reformed Theology to Appalachia, an article describing what he believes the “Reformed Theology” (that of the RCA and the Presbyterian Church) can add to religious doctrines and practices in Appalachia; and 2) William A. Worthington’s letter of encouragement to Annville alumnus Robert H. Johnston in 1916. The other articles, remembrances, eulogies, clippings, etc. add individual color interest to the collection and include historical information not found in the more comprehensive materials.