American Baptist Historical Society

American Baptist Historical Society Founded in 1853, ABHS holds the largest and most diverse collection of Baptist-related materials in the world.
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Our historical library holds upwards of 55,000 volumes. Browse our catalog of archival materials via our website: ABHSarchives.org Our mission is to preserve Baptist history and share its contribution to church and society. Baptist history is religious history, American history, global history. Our collection includes:

• Books and pamphlets
• Original correspondence and church records
• Periodi

cals representing the Baptist press worldwide
• State and Association minutes of many Baptist denominations and a few international bodies
• The archives of the national mission boards of the American Baptist Churches, USA (formerly the Northern Baptist Convention)
• Archives of the Baptist World Alliance
• Artifacts from missionaries
• Memorabilia from Baptist institutions (colleges, city community centers, homes, and hospitals). Our location (we consolidated our two sites Rochester, NY & Valley Forge, PA to Atlanta, GA in the fall of 2008) contains approximately 6 miles of shelving.

Sept 2, 1845. Sarah Boardman Judson, second wife of Adoniram Judson, passed away after twenty years of missionary servic...
09/02/2026

Sept 2, 1845. Sarah Boardman Judson, second wife of Adoniram Judson, passed away after twenty years of missionary service in Burma. Sarah and her first husband, George, worked among the Karen tribes of Burma. Sarah’s Burmese translation of The Pilgrim's Progress is still in use today. She also translated the New Testament into Peguan. Judson asked Emily Chubbuck to write Boardman's biography. ABHS has a copy of Sarah’s Catechism and collections of correspondence of both George Boardman and Adoniram Judson.

Sept 1, 1803. The first issue of Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine, the precursor to The American Baptist Magazi...
09/01/2026

Sept 1, 1803. The first issue of Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine, the precursor to The American Baptist Magazine was published. It is the oldest extant religious magazine. ABHS has every issue of this magazine, which has changed names several times.

ABHS celebrates First Baptist Church of Corunna in MI on their 175th anniversary!
08/30/2026

ABHS celebrates First Baptist Church of Corunna in MI on their 175th anniversary!

August 29, 1840 Ellen Cushing was born in Kingston, MA. Cushing was first an educator who assisted freed slaves in en...
08/29/2026

August 29, 1840 Ellen Cushing was born in Kingston, MA. Cushing was first an educator who assisted freed slaves in entering post-war society. Later she went as a missionary to Burma with her husband, Josiah, where they collaborated on an English-Shan dictionary.

In the late 1890s, she started the Baptist Training Institute in Philadelphia to train single women missionaries. The BTI moved to Bryn Mawr and became known as Ellen Cushing Junior College.

August 25, 1849 William Jewell College was chartered in Liberty, MO. This was the first four-year college west of t...
08/25/2026

August 25, 1849 William Jewell College was chartered in Liberty, MO. This was the first four-year college west of the Mississippi River. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. Another founder was Robert S. James, a Baptist minister and father of the infamous Frank and Jesse James.

ABHS has a collection of correspondence and historical catalogs from William Jewell College. ABHS also has biographical information and an image for William Jewell.

ABHS celebrates First Baptist Church in Milton, PA on their 200th anniversary!
08/23/2026

ABHS celebrates First Baptist Church in Milton, PA on their 200th anniversary!

Pennsylvania’s Northumberland Baptist Association took a strong stand against slavery. While many associations merge or ...
08/17/2026

Pennsylvania’s Northumberland Baptist Association took a strong stand against slavery. While many associations merge or change names, Northumberland is still in existence and has been sending ABHS their association minutes since 1822. Association minutes have a great deal of information about individual churches and their pastors.

ABHS celebrates First Baptist Gainesville in Gainesville, GA on their 200th anniversary!
08/16/2026

ABHS celebrates First Baptist Gainesville in Gainesville, GA on their 200th anniversary!

REMINDER: Deadline Approaching for Torbet Prize Submission! Each year ABHS seeks essays on Baptist history from authors...
08/15/2026

REMINDER: Deadline Approaching for Torbet Prize Submission!

Each year ABHS seeks essays on Baptist history from authors who have not already published a major scholarly work. The Research and Publication Committee of the ABHS Board of Manager serves as judges, and the winning essay is eligible for publication in an upcoming issue of the American Baptist Quarterly and its author awarded $500.

Entries should be no more than 25 double-spaced pages (excluding notes) with citations following the Chicago Manual of Style.

Send entries to [email protected]. The submission deadline for the next award is September 1, 2026.

Address

2930 Flowers Road S
Atlanta, GA
30341

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+16785476680

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