Celebrating Sage Library’s 150th Anniversary
December 22, 2025
Written by Patrick Milas, MLIS, PhD
Assistant Professor of Theological Bibliography and Research
and Director of the Gardner A. Sage Library
An Update on Anniversary Events
The Gardner A. Sage Library’s 150th anniversary is off to a glorious start! This fall, there were three great events. First, on October 9th, there was the joint meeting of the New York Area Theological Library Association (NYATLA) and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Theological Library Association (SEPTLA); the first such meeting in nearly ten years.1 New Brunswick Theological Seminary (NBTS) was honored to host the meeting of theological librarians.2 Rev. Dr. Micah L. McCreary, NBTS President, welcomed participants with opening remarks and prayer. Prof. Chris Rosser of Oklahoma State University gave the keynote address “Beyond Ghost Stories: Theological Librarians as Narrative Architects of AI Futures.”3
Second, on October 16th, there was the Reformed Church Center’s program,
“Sage Library and Evolving Reformed Bibliography,” held online to facilitate broad participation. The presentation was given by T. Patrick Milas, Director of Sage Library and Assistant Professor of Theological Bibliography and Research at NBTS. The response was given by Tolanda Henderson, the Associate Teaching and Learning Coordinator in the Fairfield University Library. Ms. Henderson worked at Sage Library from 2006-2009.4
Third, on October 24th, there was “The Jewel of the Campus: a Gala Celebration” for Sage Library’s 150th Anniversary. The festivities began in the Great Hall of Sage Library, where attendees met fellow trustees, alumni, faculty, library staff, students, area pastors, and other library enthusiasts. On display was Sage Library’s Paris Polyglot, an elaborate ten-volume polyglot Bible in Hebrew, Samaritan, Chaldaic, Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Arabic. Throughout the reception, the Latin fusion band De Tierra Caliente, led by Bron Tennis, performed from the mezzanine above. Guests exited through the historic library entrance toward the Seminary building, where the celebration continued with a piano performance by Ben Berman and a lively discussion.
The evening culminated in an inspiring program in Mast Chapel. Dr. Felicia McGinty, NBTS Trustee, gave the invocation. Dr. T. Patrick Milas, Library Director, introduced a film about Sage Library’s history and spoke about the library’s glorious history and bright future. He acknowledged how Gardner Sage, Norman Kansfield, Charles Van Dyke, and Mary Board gave wholeheartedly to help make the Sage Library what it is today. He also thanked Arthur and Elizabeth Kroeber, who gave $50,000 for the social justice book fund in memory of Arthur’s ancestor, Graham Taylor, NBTS Class of 1873, who was a major figure in the Social Gospel and Settlement House movements.5 Milas celebrated that President Micah and Jacqueline Madison-McCreary, together with faculty, also honor Kansfield’s legacy by establishing the Kansfield scholarship for our NBTS students. Milas concluded, “It is up to us to sustain our monumental library, preserve its historic architecture, curate its renowned research collections, protect its unique archives, and champion our mission for the next 150 years of theological scholarship.”
Rev. Micah L. McCreary, President of the Seminary, next presented Presidential Service Awards to Bishop Ronald L. Owens and the Reverend Dr. Renée House. A film of Bishop Owens’ acceptance was shared, and Dr. House spoke enthusiastically about Sage Library and NBTS, remembering by name many close colleagues. President McCreary concluded the program with an update on the Seminary’s recent successes, offered gratitude for support, and called to action all present to support the mission of advancing graduate education in a free-standing seminary. The evening closed with a responsive reading of the prayer “Prophets of a Future Not Our Own.”6 It was truly a night to remember, reminding us of the vital role the Seminary and Sage Library continue to play in shaping faithful, courageous leaders; it was a grand affair, with much rejoicing!7
Historical Background of the Seminary
Just what is so remarkable about Sage Library to warrant such festive attention?
To answer that, some background on the Seminary is needed. Before I was librarian at NBTS I was at Princeton Seminary Library, and it was there that I read Essays in Celebration of the First Fifty Years of the American Theological Library Association where on the very first page, the very first sentence reads “Education for Christian ministry in North America, particularly its contemporary form as expressed in the formation of theological seminaries, is a relatively recent development dating back no earlier than 1784 […] the year to which New Brunswick Theological Seminary traces its origin.”8 Ha! I sat across from the authors of the chapter featuring this quotation, Elmer and Betty, at my first Atla conference in 2007 in Philadelphia, at which Pat Graham, the volume’s editor, welcomed me to the profession at the opening reception. Nine years later, I was working at Princeton, reading a chapter by them referencing the institution to which I was about to be called to serve as librarian for the past seven years. How providential! And I must say, leave it to librarians to give credit where credit is due: NBTS is remarkably historically significant.
The Gardner A. Sage Library was dedicated on June 4, 1875, but the story of the Sage Library really began even before the cornerstone was laid for its construction under the patronage of Gardner Avery Sage. Because the history of the library is also the story of the Library’s community and collections. The Library’s principal community, the faculty and students of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, predate the Sage Library; the Dutch Protestant Reformed Church that founded New Brunswick Theological Seminary had been educating aspiring clergy in New York City since 1784, and sharing theological texts even before then. In New Brunswick, the Sage Library was preceded by the Seminary Library in Herzog Hall on “Holy Hill” in New Brunswick, New Jersey. And before its move to “Holy Hill,” the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, and its library, were located in Old Queens, together with Queens College and what would become the Rutgers Preparatory School. So, with such strong foundations before 1875, it is understandable how rapidly, after the building began to be used, it was acclaimed in 1888 that “the Theological Library at New Brunswick stands second to none. Indeed, it is the constant comment of students and scholars throughout the country that ‘the Sage Library is the best working seminary library in the United States’.”9
The community of Sage Library is the heir to the community of the Dutch Protestant Reformed Church, which was comprised of immigrants from the Netherlands and their descendants who settled in Nieuw Amsterdam. Although they had brought the Dutch Reformed tradition with them from the Netherlands even earlier, the first official congregation, the Collegiate Church, was chartered in 1628. The British took over politically in 1664, hence New York instead of Nieuw Amsterdam, but the Dutch settlers retained their culture and religion, which spread across the Mid-Atlantic states during this first period of Dutch immigration (a later wave was to settle in the Midwest).
The prevalence of Dutch settlements in the Raritan Valley led the area to be called “the garden of the Dutch Church.”10 The use of the Dutch language was still common in everyday culture and in the church. There was a great debate as to whether Dutch clergy who had previously only been educated in their native country of the Netherlands could properly be educated on American soil. In 1766, one party to the debate received a charter for a school to teach Dutch clergy and thus founded Queens College. The first Professor of Theology, John Henry Livington, was appointed by the General Synod in 1784. According to Rev. Daniel Meeter, he taught the first seminarians at his house in Manhattan, later in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and finally, in 1810, brought the seminary to New Brunswick. The move to New Brunswick was predicated by the commitment of the Synod to “purchase a theological library and for erecting a theological hall.”11
From Seminary Library to Sage Library
In the early years of its co-location with Queen’s College, later Rutgers College, the Theological Seminary shared a library with the College, as can be seen in this 1854 Joint Catalogue with Rutgers College. At that time, all subjects, secular and divine, were bound together in a professionally printed format. But the Seminary community was not satisfied with that arrangement. Indeed in July 1854, the faculty complained to the Board of Superintendents about the state of the Theological Library, “While the libraries of other Theological Seminaries in the country are receiving every year large and valuable accessions whereby the Professors and Students of these institutions are able to keep up with the advancing progress of theological literature, ours is stationary and is now deplorably deficient in every department of sacred science.”12
They suggested that the Theological Library be separated from the College Library and placed under the charge and control of the Theological Faculty, that a student might be appointed Under Librarian, and that they be empowered to raise money and expend the same for the improvement of the library. At the same time, students were complaining that their rents in New Brunswick exceeded those at Princeton or Union in Manhattan. All of this led to a resolution that a new Theological Hall—Hertzog Hall—be built, and that their recommendations be approved. And so it was that the Theological Library separated from the College Library, Hertzog Hall was built, and in it, a Library Room was established.
But by 1870, Dr. James Cornell was appointed as agent of the General Synod of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, and he led tremendous efforts for the Seminary and Library. As noted by David Demarest in the Centennial of the Seminary, “Believing, that a far better Library than the Seminary possessed, was needed by both Professors and students, and that moneys could be raised for this object more readily, than for almost any other, he gave himself for a time, chiefly, to the obtaining of subscriptions of $2,500 each, for the purchase of books; the name of each donor, or of some person designated by him, to be attached to an alcove in the Library.13 In a very short time, 19 subscriptions of $2,500 each had been obtained, besides a few smaller ones. Mary Board donated 3,000. This money was not to be invested permanently, but to be expended entirely for books, gradually and wisely. But how would there possibly be enough space for all the books?
More than all the fundraising for books, Dr. Cornell introduced Gardner A. Sage, of NYC, to the Theological Seminary. The old Library Room in Peter Hertzog Hall was too small to contain the books that were to be purchased. And, besides this, Hertzog Hall seemed to be an unsafe place for a valuable Library, since a fire could quickly devour it. Mr. Sage imagined a fire-proof building whose realization he facilitated start to finish, enlisting German architect Detliff Lienau to make pioneering use of concrete in its construction. After the cornerstone had been laid, Sage was seen almost daily in New Brunswick, overseeing the construction. And he succeeded in providing for the Library just the building that was needed.
Writing in 1882, Demarest described the building as “fire-proof, commodious, well arranged, well-lighted, and in every way most attractive. It contains a closet for the archives of General Synod and the safekeeping of valuable papers. It was dedicated on June 4th, 1875. The entire General Synod, which was in session in Jersey City, came to New Brunswick to attend the dedication.”14 After that, it was under the care of the librarian Rev. Peter Quick, assisted by John Van Dyke, who soon after replaced Quick. Sage envisioned that Sage would be for the broader community, not just the faculty and students. And that the Librarian would be the gatekeeper. But at other seminaries, it was common for faculty to have keys to the library. So, there was some disagreement, and in the end, the faculty at New Brunswick had their keys.
Leave it to a church organized according to Reformed polity to establish a committee to select the library’s books! Before the expenditure of the money had been completed, the sum had amounted to nearly $55,000, by reason of accumulated interest on unexpended balances. The selection of books was made by the faculty, aided by a Committee of the General Synod, consisting of Drs. Chambers, Corwin, Hartranft, and Prof. Jacob Cooper of Rutgers College. They held monthly meetings for nine years, exercised great care in the selection of books, and made annual reports to the Synod. The result was a Library which was the boast of the Institution, of inestimable value to the Professors and students of the seminary and Rutgers College as well, and to the neighboring clergy of all denominations, who were welcome to use it. Together with valuable contributions by Mary Bethune, from the library of her deceased husband, George Bethune, the Committee on Selection of Books reported in 1882:
The Library which in 1870 numbered about 8,000 vols now numbers 35,000 volumes […] we know of none which surpasses this in the requisite of a good working Library for a Theological Seminary […] While no one branch has been neglected, special attention has been given to the history, theology and literature of Holland. Of the Heidelberg Catechism there are more than a hundred and fifty different expositions, and the volumes on the Remonstrant Controversy amount to many hundreds. So far as the past is concerned the chief collections have been secured, and those who come after us will require only to build upon a foundation already laid.15
In preparation for my lecture for the Reformed Church Center on October 16, 2025, I perused early evidence of the practice of theological bibliography at the Theological Seminary as it appears in the historic Library Catalogs, Author Lists, and Subject Lists. And I noticed a fascinating aspect of our library history. There was a subject heading called “Religion = False.” Indeed, any religions outside the subject domain of Christianity were relegated with the stroke of the librarian’s pen to the False Religions list. We see here works by the Buddha, Confucius. Works about Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. All are summarily grouped among the False Religions.
And it was just that simple. At this early point in the history of bibliography, still years before Melvil Dewey published the Dewey Decimal system in 1876, or James Hanson developed the Library of Congress classification schema in 1897, this was how classification was done at the individual library level. According to Quick in his Annual Report, “The books, pamphlets, etc., have been removed to the new building, and have been arranged in their alcoves, in alphabetical order, according to the authors. This is the plan now generally adopted in the best public libraries, and is found to work admirably.”16
Quick’s dogmatic approach to classification is far beyond the scope of this article, but allow me to say that in 2025, we do not deprecate the works of non-Christian traditions, nor have Sage Library for many generations. And to its credit, the Seminary library contained works of and about what we now call world religions was a good thing, indicative of a spirit of curiosity and openness of thought.
After Quick came John C. Van Dyke, who, according to historian John Coakley, was the one most responsible for furthering Sage’s vision. Coakley elaborates,
[Van Dyke] came as a short-term library assistant in 1878 but stayed on, was appointed librarian in 1887, and remained in the position until his death in 1932. A man of wide interests, an author, and an art historian in his own right, he served concurrently as professor of art history at Rutgers college from 1891 to 1929. It was he who assembled the collection of faculty portraits that until recently hung in the library [and some of which are now in heritage hall on the second floor of the new seminary building]. He was frequently cited by the superintendents (the former term for trustees) for his work as librarian, and in 1891 the synod approved the construction of a residence for him on the campus (on George St.) as had been done for the faculty.17
In his 1888 Notes on Sage Library, the then Librarian John Van Dyke, reported,
The whole library is catalogued upon cards arranged in long trays and the entries are under author, title, subject, and class, so that one has little difficulty in finding what he wants provided he has the remotest idea of his subject. A great many callers have not this “remotest idea,” but strangely enough fancy the librarian a mind reader who can tell them what they want by looking at them. Sometimes a librarian is able to do this, but he does not find the rule a good one for universal application. The shelf arrangement is entirely by subjects, and in the theological department is designed to supplement the course of instruction in the Seminary, the literature of each chair being by itself. There are forty-two alcoves, each one having a number, and the reference is made from the catalogues to the numbers. Within the alcove the subjects are indicated by labels, and as there are not more than half a dozen subjects in each alcove, there is little difficulty in finding what is desired.18
Testifying to Van Dyke’s high view of the Library’s stature, from just before Sage Library was built, throughout its construction, and for ten years after, the Old Testament Company of American Revisers convened at New Brunswick for 407 days between 1871 and 1885. That this committee for a new edition of the Bible, The American Standard Version, met in New Brunswick, witnesses to the prestige with which theological scholarship in New Brunswick was held at the time, both before Sage Library was built and after. Faculty from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were served alongside our own faculty member, John DeWitt, as well as Talbot Chambers of the Collegiate Church. The gift of their worktable in 1886 still stands in the Sage Library.
There were noteworthy reports on Sage in the early 20th century, such as the addition of electric lights in 1913, reports of a lack of space in 1915, and again in 1921. The only major staff transition was the appointment of Worcester to relieve Van Dyke in 1928. Space was afforded to the growing collection, and in November 1929, the addition of the transept shown here was complete with a donation by Mrs. Mary B. Pell. The octagon apse, Van Pelt Memorial Alcove, was donated by Mrs. Cornelia B. Van Pelt. This doubled the amount of space for books that was previously had. A remodel was completed in the 1980s, which is how the Library stands today. In 1931, the library reported owning 63,000 volumes; we now have more than double that amount.
What the Books Are About and What Was Happening with Them
What are so many books about anyway? Another trove of documentation to appraise the scope of a library’s acquisitions priorities can be found in its cataloging records, or you can browse its shelves, and that is true whether the books were added in 1875, 1975, or 2025. Another important subject for theology is missions or missiology. Let’s say you had heard about Horace Underwood, whose memorial is in Sage Library, and you wished to read more about Korea, where he was a missionary. You could search the card catalog and find the hand-written catalogue card, a golden oldie, showing changes over the years: new edition, and new type-written Pettee call number.
Theological librarians in the early 1900s were faced with few options when it came to the classification of theological books. The Dewey Decimal Classification System was new and untested for theological collections. The Cutter system was also new, and the Library of Congress system was in its earliest stages of development. Location classification was still in practice in many libraries, and many of those who had a classification system were using homegrown systems developed for their own purposes. Beginning in 1908, however, this would all change through the work of Julia Pettee at Union Seminary in Manhattan. The Pettee system was developed especially for theological collections, and the older books on Sage Library’s first and third floors are still classified in Pettee.
Daniel Meeter and Henk Edelman, the Library Director from Rutgers University, collaborated in grand fashion to include the Queen of the Netherlands, Beatrix, in a special exhibition of Sage Library’s rare Dutch and Dutch American imprints, celebrating 200 years of peaceful diplomatic relations between the United States and the Netherlands.
The Queen visited Sage in 1982. The handsome catalog from the exhibition, prepared by Daniel Meeter, is a wonderful resource for some Sage’s greatest holdings from and about the Dutch Reformed in the Old World and the New. Meeter’s article, “The Gardner A. Sage Theological Library” in The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, has been another springboard for my own research into Sage Library’s history. It was my pleasure to recreate an abridged version of the exhibition with Meeter’s help in 2019, for an NBTS Faculty Symposium on post-colonialism.
Adopting a post-colonial perspective had been increasingly important to the faculty under the leadership of President McCreary and former Dean Beth Tanner, and the next year, the faculty voted to establish an Islay Walden Initiative. Islay Walden, a former enslaved person, was one of the two earliest African Americans to study at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. After three years of study, he graduated and was ordained in 1879.
Sage Library acquired some of his poetry, and it is hoped that some of the funds raised by the 150thAnniversary capital campaign will enable us to implement the refurbishment and furnishing of library space to honor Islay Walden, and display his famous letter to David Demarest in which he writes, “suppose this one question was asked our institution in the day of Judgment—were there any colored people in New Brunswick and what was their condition [?] And what did you do to improve that condition [?] Many would be speechless.”19 Equity and inclusion remain works in progress at New Brunswick, but the progress continues at Sage Library, with diversity in library staff, inclusion of historically underrepresented authors in the collection, and a strong precedent for equitable access for all.
In the 20th century, we had computer automation. There were important agreements between President Howard Hageman, who liaised with Rutgers University Librarian Henk Edelman for the online Sage Library catalog to be integrated with and hosted by Rutgers. The Rev. Dr. Renee House, together with her staff, facilitated a great deal of modernization. Typewritten catalog cards and shelf lists were replaced with metadata in spreadsheets and integrated library systems. But the same basic information still abides: the information about the book itself, like place and year of publication, and very importantly, information about what the book is and especially what it’s about, because in a Library classification system, the mission is to shelve books on similar subjects together, so that browsing can be maximally efficient for researchers.
In 2025, Sage Library remains somewhat of a house divided; there are some subjects for which you will find the older books, especially pre-1990s, in Pettee on the first and third floors, but the newer books on the second floor are shelved in Library of Congress classification order. But if you are not browsing, but searching using the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), the wonderful thing is that both the books in Pettee and the Library of Congress are accessible from the same database.
Leadership Transitions Through the Years
John Beardslee held a big presence in library and archival history. In the mid-20th century, there was at least one prominent female librarian who Nancy Beardslee remembers letting her insert bookplates, a Mrs. Felder. Later, Peter Van Der Berg served as Librarian. There were Lynn Featherstone and Roy Englehart, who then served as librarians. During his tenure, Sage collaborated extensively with regional libraries in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Theological Library Association (SEPTLA) on a Union Catalog of Periodicals, with Sage filling many gaps in Reformed coverage in our region.
Then there was Renée House, who served as library director, and later dean of the seminary, and may have been the most recent full-time library director who was a member of the Reformed Church in America. Episcopalian Chris Brennan served for many years until 2014, followed by Tracey Hunter-Hayes, who was Baptist. And after brief periods of leadership by Barrett and John Coakley, who came out of retirement to serve as interim librarian, I arrived in 2018, another Episcopalian.
Although I was raised Presbyterian and memorized the Westminster catechism as a youngster, the distinctly Dutch Calvinist angle in Sage’s collection required me to stretch and learn more; I do not pretend to have mastered all I should to steward such a marvelous theological collection. Generations of library staff, and not just library directors, but rectors and professors before Sage Library existed, and many specialized librarians for technical services and acquisitions in Sage’s 150 years, helped make Sage what it is today. I wish I could elaborate on the contributions of each one, but in this short article, let me just offer my profound gratitude to them all and to the readers who enjoy using Sage Library, show interest, and may donate their time, talents, or books to make Sage great.
Stories of Sage Library, Past & Future
Finally, I want to close with some recollections of Sage. While collecting material for a full history of Sage Library this past year, I interviewed my predecessors, Renée House and John Coakley, as well as authors Dan Meeter and Joe Felcone, and librarians Henk Edelman and Jim Neissen of Rutgers University Library. Here are two of their earnest reflections:
Sage Library emotionally connected me to the richness of the Eastern RCA […] it’s an intellectual tradition of liberal learning […] Sage is the RCA’s body of knowledge.
-Rev. Dan Meeter, NBTS Graduate and RCA Pastor20
I decided we could be considered a mission in the RCA, which is really true because for people in the Midwest RCA, New Brunswick might as well be in outer Mongolia. [These women came] to take all the books off the shelves, vacuum them, and then clean them with Murphy’s Oil Soap, and it was blastingly hot […] I’ll just always remember them with this dirty water running down their arms from cleaning those bookshelves!
-Rev. Dr. Renée House, NBTS Graduate, Library Director, and Dean21
Finally, if you have a story about Sage Library to share, I would love to hear it. Please write to me, and we’ll set something up. Last year, I began the project of assembling resources to tell the story of Sage Library in print. If you have a chapter to contribute, do let me know!
Bibliography
Annual Reports of the Sage Library, 1874-1920. New Brunswick Theological Seminary. NBTS Archives. Gardner A. Sage Library, New Brunswick, NJ.
Coakley, John W. New Brunswick Theological Seminary: an Illustrated History, 1784-2014. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.
Demarest, David. “Historical Discourse.” In the Centennial of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America. (Formerly Ref. Prot. Dutch church) 1784-1884, edited by David Demarest, Paul Van Cleef, and Edward Corwin, 49-146. New York: Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America, 1885.
Edelman, Hendrik. Dutch-American Bibliography 1693-1794: a Descriptive Catalog of Dutch-Language Books, Pamphlets and Almanacs Printed in America. Nieuwkoop: B. de Graaf, 1974.
Edelman, Hendrik. The Dutch Language Press in America: Two Centuries of Printing, Publishing, and Bookselling. Nieuwkoop : De Graaf, 1986.
Gasero, Russell Louis. A Historical Footprint: Reflections of a Life in the Archives. East Brunswick, New Jersey: Wit & Intellect Publishing, 2021.
Meeter, Daniel. “The Gardner A. Sage Theological Library.” The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries. 45, no. 2 (1983): 65-81. https://doi.org/10.14713/jrul.v45i2.1629.
Minutes of the Board of Superintendents, Vol. 2-5, 1840-1941. NBTS Archives.
Minutes of the Standing Committee on the Seminary Grounds and Property, Vol. 1-2, 1880-1923. NBTS Archives.
O’Brien, Elmer and Betty A. O’Brien, “From Volunteerism to Corporate Professionalism: A Historical Sketch of the ATLA.” In Essays in Celebration of the First Fifty Years of the American Theological Library Association, edited by M. Patrick Graham, Valerie Hotchkiss, and Kenneth Rowe, 3-24. Evanston, IL: The American Theological Library Association, 1996.
Van Dyke, “Notes on Sage Library of the Theological Seminary of New Brunswick,” Christian Intelligencer, July 4, 11, and 18, 1888.
Notes
1. SEPTLA, “Fall Meeting 2025,”
https://septla.org/invitation-to-fall-meeting-2025.
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2. The meeting was attended by representatives from Atla (formerly the American Theological Library Association), Drew University, Emory University, Fordham University, Hartford International University, Moravian University School of Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, St. Sophia’s Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary, St. Tikhon’s Theological Seminary, United Lutheran Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Yeshiva University.
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3. Rosser, “Beyond Ghost Stories: Theological Librarians as Narrative Architects of AI Futures,”
https://www.notion.so/Beyond-Ghost-Stories-Theological-Librarians-as-Narrative-Architects-of-AI-Futures-287af79e3e9d800bb38dcea02f2f9e27. The program was funded by an Atla Regional Grant to NYATLA.
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4. New Brunswick Theological Seminary’s Reformed Church Center, “Sage Library and Evolving Reformed Bibliography,”
https://nbts.edu/events/sage-library-evolving-reformed-bibliography/.
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5. Milas spoke about how NBTS embraced diversity early on; Islay Walden, a former enslaved person, was one of the two earliest African Americans to graduate from NBTS in 1879. Sage Library has acquired some of his poetry, and it is hoped that this anniversary year will enable the refurbishment of library space to honor Islay Walden.
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6. Excerpt from a homily written for Cardinal Dearden by then-Fr. Ken Untener, October 25, 1979.
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7. Photo gallery available at
https://www.facebook.com/media/set?set=a.1268889145255459&type=3.
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8. Elmer J. O’Brien and Betty A. O’Brien, “From Volunteerism to Corporate Professionalism,” in Essays in Celebration of the First Fifty Years of the American Theological Library Association, 3, 22.
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9. Van Dyke, “Notes on Sage Library,” Christian Intelligencer, 1888, 3.
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10. Daniel Meeter, “The Gardner A. Sage Theological Library,” Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries 45, no. 2 (1983): 68.
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11. David Demarest, “Historical Discourse,” in Centennial of the Theological Seminary, 90.
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12. Minutes of the Board of Superintendents, Vol. 2 (1840–1873): 196–197.
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13. Demarest, “Historical Discourse,” 135.
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14. Ibid., 136.
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15. Ibid., 136.
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16. Ibid., 136.
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17. John Coakley, New Brunswick Theological Seminary: an Illustrated History, 1784–2014, 40.
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18. Van Dyke, “Notes on Sage Library,” 24.
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19. Letter from Islay Walden to David Demarest, RCA Archives.
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20. Daniel Meeter, interview by T. Patrick Milas, October 22, 2024.
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21. Renée House, interview by T. Patrick Milas, July 22, 2024.
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