At the recently completed General
Conference meetings in Lancaster,
PA, the Conference voted to adopt
the merger agreement which was
previously adopted by the Historical
Society at its May meeting. As a
result of these two votes, the Society
will be working cooperatively with
the Conference to affect the
merger of the two organizations
sometime early in 2016, after the
necessary documents have been
collected and can be reviewed by
legal counsel and the State of
Wisconsin. Because the merger will not be affected until
2016, the Society will have the opportunity to celebrate
100 years of fruitful ministry. The work of historic preser-
vation among SDBs, once the merger is final, will be
accomplished by the SDB Council on History.
The Historical Society was founded in 1916 to further
the aims of the General Conference’s Standing Committee
on History, which was dissolved when the Society was
founded. The presenting issue which required the creation
of the Society was an offer from Julius F. Sachse, a friend
of Seventh Day Baptists and the owner of a large collec-
tion of items pertaining to the Ephrata Cloister and
German SDBs. Nearing the end of his life and wishing
for his collection to be taken care of by Sabbathkeepers,
Sachse contacted the SDB General Conference with an
offer to sell the collection to us.
Unfortunately, the General Conference could not
participate in the transaction because it was not yet
incorporated itself. So the Historical Society was incorpo-
rated in New Jersey so that it could ultimately complete
the transaction. In addition, because the Conference
didn’t have the available capital to purchase the collection,
those who wished to take ownership of the collection
raised funds to help reach Sachse’s asking price. In the
end, Sachse paid half of his asking price himself, SDBs
raised the rest, and the Historical Society became the
proud owners and stewards of Sachse’s important
collection — a collection which we have seen cared for
an entire century.
Despite the corporate changes, the vision and mission
of the Historical Society and the coming Council on
History will be the same as they have been going forward,
including both preservation and communication goals.
These goals still require the ongoing support of Seventh
Day Baptists if they are going to be successful for the
next century. For this reason, we hope that those inter-
ested in historic preservation among SDBs will give their
full support to the new Council on History by supporting
us in the coming years!
One of the long standing ways to support us is to
be a regular financial supporter of our work. As a result
of the affection of the merger, current membership
categories in the Society will be converted into analogous
new supporter categories for the Council on History.
Moving forward, those who designate their donations
to the work of historic preservation among SDBs will
receive the benefits of the former members at designated
giving levels. Life Members of the Society will become
Patrons of SDB History
, and those who give more than
$200 will become new
Patrons
. Annual Members of the
Society will become
Friends of SDB History
for a donation
of $20/year. An additional category,
Legacy Partners
,
has been created to honor those who give more than
$5,000 to the continued preservation of SDB history
through our Centennial Fund. Discounts on our publica-
tions and access to our website
)
are the biggest perks of supporting our work.
The Centennial Fund campaign continues, and we are
a long way from our goal of increasing the endowment
of the Society by $300,000 by the end of 2016. Keep
your eyes peeled for the Society’s fall mailing for your
chance to join in our campaign to support historic
preservation among SDBs for the next century!
Historical Society
Rev. Nicholas J. Kersten
Director of Education and History
20
September 2015 SR
Centennial Celebrations & Moving Forward with the Merger
SR
