Straw, W. E. Madison College and Self-Supporting Work

Item — Box: 23, Folder: 44

Identifier: XII

Staff Only

Content Description

From the Collection: Over the years five different collections, from five different sources, related to Madison Institutions were received by the Andrews University Center for Adventist Research. Three of them were commonly called, Madison Institutions, one was Edward A. Sutherland, and the last one was from the Madison College Alumni Association, which was received in 2013. In reviewing all five collections it was found they really should be merged together into one collection due to the extensive overlap of their contents. For example, institutional correspondence by E. A. Sutherland was found in three of the collections. Financial and business records were in more than one collection as were minutes and publications of the institution. At this point it is hard to understand how the collections initially came to be broken up, but it seemed best now to reunite them to create a larger picture and story of all that was Madison. The collections received are:
• Collection 084 Edward A. Sutherland [3.75 linear feet]
• Collection 085 Madison Institutions (1) [1.6 linear feet]
• Collection 138 Madison Institutions (2) [19.6 linear feet]
• Collection 167 Madison Institutions (3) [11.25 linear feet]
• new Madison College Alumni Association [51.0 linear feet]

Included in the collection are large amounts of E. A. Sutherland correspondence, and the correspondence of other leaders of Madison, from those at Battle Creek College, from W. C. White, and others from before and a little after the turn of the 20th century. There are also several linear feet of various high level minutes from Madison Institutions. Also included are Bulletins from the school(s), financial reports, other reports, topical files, faculty lists, alumni lists, and a wide variety of other materials associated with the Madison operation. Taken together, this collection is essentially what is left of the business archives of the Madison Institutions. This collection provides a strong picture of Madison College and the various associated institutions. It is also possible to gain a very good insight into the work of Edward A. Sutherland through the large quantity of correspondence and business records, since Sutherland and Madison were intricately intertwined.

The Sutherland correspondence especially is in very fragile condition with the paper having a very high acidic content which will not stand much use. The bulk of the paper in the collection appears to be in line with paper from that era in that it is OK for careful use.