Posted by William Nunnelley on 2005-05-31

Samford University will host the annual meeting of the Baptist History and Heritage Society Thursday through Saturday, June 2-4. Approximately 200 historians, students and others interested in Baptist history will attend the meeting, which will study the theme "Women in Baptist History."

Sarah Frances Anders, distinguished emeritus professor of sociology at Louisiana College, will deliver the keynote address Thursday at 6:15 p.m. in Hodges Chapel. Her topic is "Baptist Women in America: 1950-2000."

Program participants will present a total of 26 papers on various aspects of this year's theme during the three-day meeting. Sessions will meet in Beeson Divinity School.

Samford will recognize Lloyd Elder, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention Sunday School Board, for his contributions to Baptist life Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Hodges Chapel. Elder, who led the Sunday School Board during 1984-91, recently donated his papers to the Samford Special Collection. Comprised of more than 150,000 pages, the Elder Collection is one of the largest Baptist historical collections ever received by Samford.

The Fellowship of Baptist Historians will meet in conjunction with the Baptist History and Heritage Society Thursday at 4 p.m. in Divinity Hall North 101 at Samford. Speakers will include Frances Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission; Wayne Flynt, distinguished professor of history, Auburn University; Sean Flynt, Samford electronic news editor; and Elizabeth Wells, Samford Special Collections librarian.

The Baptist History and Heritage Society is an independent program with headquarters at the Tennessee Baptist Convention in Brentwood, Tenn. Founded as the Southern Baptist Historical Society in 1938, the organization changed its name in 2001. Its purpose is to help Baptists discover, conserve, assess and share their history.

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.