WCC launches Center for
study of the work of William Carey Jul 12, 2001 By Kathie Chute
|
Leading the study of the life
and work of William Carey Myron Noonkester (left) and Bennie Crockett are
co-directors of the new Center for Study of the Life and Work
of William Carey.
| HATTIESBURG,
Miss. (BP)--Myron Noonkester and Bennie Crockett admit they've
always been fascinated by William Carey. Called the father of modern
missions, Carey is something of an enigma, according to Noonkester,
because information about him is difficult to come by. However, the
two men got on the Internet last July and began acquiring materials
related to him. That effort has resulted in the Center for Study of
the Life and Work of William Carey, accessible through the Internet.
"When this project was conceived last summer," Noonkester
explained, "we had no idea where it would take us."
"A lot of
information has not been dealt with effectively," Crockett added.
"We want to make it available for anyone interested in studying
William Carey. So far, we've made quite a few of the current
resources available on the website."
Noonkester is professor
of history and interim dean of the School of Arts, Humanities, and
Sciences, and the son of former William Carey College president J.
Ralph Noonkester. Crockett is professor of religion and philosophy
and vice president of institutional effectiveness and planning.
The website was officially announced in March and contains
many of the resources obtained for the center. About 60 percent of
the material has been acquired through the
Internet. Other
information has been donated or bought through bookstores.
So far, acquisitions include rare books, maps, articles,
portraits, and artifacts. When someone logs on to the website, they
don't view only the text from the books and articles. They see
images of actual pages.
"We decided to put what we have up on
the web," Noonkester said. "Most institutions are very proprietary
about their holdings. We want to democratize the study of William
Carey."
William Carey was a cobbler and a minister in England
before going to India as a missionary. He died there in
1834
"We'll probably never acquire the materials related to
Carey's life in England," he continued. "They're very protective
about him there. However, we do believe we can put together a fairly
large amount of information about Carey's life in India. So far
we've been pretty successful."
Noonkester and Crockett agree
that acquiring information has been very time consuming and
demanding, between keeping track of on-line auctions, setting up the
website, and scanning the documents themselves to
upload.
"Since we began the project," Crockett admitted,
"it's taken on a momentum that surprised both of
us."
Internet users from all over the world have logged on to
the site since it became available. Recently, the Asian Studies
Monitor gave it a 5-Star "Essential" rating, the highest they award.
The website is located at
http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/index2.html.
In the future, the
center will be housed on the second floor of Carey's new learning
resources center, where visitors will be able to view items on
display. The building currently is in the planning stages of
development. --30-- (BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library
at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: LEADING THE STUDY OF THE
LIFE AND WORK OF WILLIAM CAREY and THE IMAGE OF WILLIAM CAREY
CAPTURED PENNING ONE OF HIS MANY CRITICAL WORKS.
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