This will be my last MMI Archives Blog as I will be leaving MMI as of Thursday, September 30th. I have accepted the position of Director of the Brethren Historical Library and Archives (BHLA) at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Illinois.
A current logo of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers). (Credit: http://www.brethren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=office_general_secretary_logos)
A member of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers) since 1980, I am a Brethren historian and a contributor to the four-volume Brethren Encyclopedia. I have also served the Brethren at both the congregational and district levels over the past thirty years including attending the Brethren seminary in Indiana, Bethany Theological Seminary. From 1993-2005, I served as the archivist/museum curator at Bridgewater College in Virginia, one of the Brethren-related colleges. My book, One Who Served: Brethren Elder Charles Nesselrodt of Shenandoah County, Virginia (3rd ed., 2004), is the story of a typical Brethren elder serving in the free ministry in the Shenandoah Valley around the turn of the twentieth century.
The front and back covers of my little book. (Credit: http://www.lotswifepublishing.com/)
My new position at the BHLA allows me the opportunity to serve my denomination at its national headquarters in Elgin, Illinois, a fast-growing city of over 100,000 residents some 40 miles northwest of Chicago.
While many of you have probably never heard of the Church of the Brethren, military history buffs may recognize us via the little Dunker Church of Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland (September 17, 1862), and the famous images taken of it after the Civil War battle by Alexander Gardner, an employee of Matthew Brady.
One of the Gardner images of the Dunker Church taken shortly after the battle. (Credit: US Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA)
The restored Dunker Church today on the Antietam battlefield. (Credit: http://www.philkearnycwrt.org/then_n_now.html)
Finally, I have enjoyed my three-plus years serving MMI ("The Land of Many Bugles"), and I leave with a certain sense of pride at what we have been able to accomplish to date. I thank the entire MMI Family for your friendship, kindness, and for the many courtesies extended me during my tenure.
Blessings to one and all and to Marion Military Institute!
Terry Barkley
