Kentucky
State Baptist Historical Work - A Symposium, 1965 -
By Leo. T. Crismon^*

      As early as 1866, Kentucky Baptists demonstrated interest in the conservation of historical records by amending the constitution of the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky to include the following clause: "And to collect and preserve our denominational history of Kentucky." In 1871 the Kentucky Baptist Historical Society was established, with headquarters in Frankfort, and in 1890 its charter was revised to permit amending transfer to Louisville with the repository of materials in the library of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

      The Society was kept alive until 1919, but ceased to function for twenty years after that. Its revival in 1939 was due to interest stimulated by the organization of the Southern Baptist Historical Society, and to the personal efforts of W. O. Carver.

      The Society is related to the Executive Board of the Kentucky Baptist Convention through a Committee on the Kentucky Baptist Historical Society. No budget is currently provided for the Society but its members can submit plans of proposed projects and request funds from the Executive Board for developing them.

      The historical collection of the Society is housed in the library of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Over a period of years the Society has published six items relative to Kentucky Baptist history. The most recent publication is the Kentucky Baptist Atlas (1964), compiled by Leo T. Crismon and George Raleigh Jewell. Plans are being made for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the first Baptist preaching in Kentucky in 1976.

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^*Librarian, Southern Baptist Historical Society; Kentucky member of Southern Baptist Historical Society.
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[From, Baptist History and Heritage, volume 1, No. 1, August, 1965. pp. 43-44. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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