American Baptist Historical Society recognized for Outstanding Achievement in Assessing and Preserving Baptist History
By Aaron Weaver, BHHS Executive Director
The Baptist History & Heritage Society and the Association of Librarians and Archivists at Baptist Institutions (ALABI) recognized the American Baptist Historical Society (ABHS) as the 2025 Davis C. Woolley Award recipient for Outstanding Achievement in Assessing and Preserving Baptist History during BHHS’ joint annual conference on May 20 in Waco, Texas.
Established in 1991, this annual award is named in honor of Davis C. Woolley, who served as the second executive secretary-treasurer of the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The purpose of the award is to encourage creativity and excellence in Baptist history programs, including all organizations involved in assessing and preserving Baptist history. Since 2013, BHHS and ALABI have partnered to present this award.
ABHS holds the archives and serves as the historical interpreter of the American Baptist Churches USA, and its archival collections in Atlanta include records from many Baptist organizations in North America and around the world. As the oldest Baptist historical society (founded in 1853) with the largest and most diverse collection of Baptist historical material, ABHS’ holdings are of irreplaceable value to church, national and global history.
ABHS serves as the keeper of the record of the modern missionary movement with resources documenting African-American church associations, women’s work, local church and association minutes, and the social gospel movement.
Woolley Award selection committee members included: Jennifer Taylor (Samford University), Traci West (Dallas Baptist University) and Taffey Hall (Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives). The committee noted ABHS’ recent accomplishments include:
- Launched an integrated digital preservation and access platform
- Scanned degrading microfilm
- Demonstrated professional handling of preservation and accessibility of historically marginalized stories with federal grant support and compliance with legal standards (Examples: submitted Native American artifact inventory in compliance with NAGPRA; made rare films and missionary correspondence available, including missionaries connected with Burma, India, and the Cherokee Nation; and added additional content related to Japanese American incarceration through the JACS project, including materials from community scanning events)
ABHS Digital Archivist Jenny Monasco (right) accepts the Davis C. Woolley Award from BHHS Executive Director Aaron Weaver (center) and ALABI Executive Secretary-Treasurer Taffey Hall (left), and shares with BHHS members about the work of American Baptist Historical Society.
Learn more about the Baptist History & Heritage Society and how you can become a member or church partner of our 87-year-old organization committed to “helping Baptists discover, conserve, assess, and share their history.”