Cedarville University

Each year, during the month of January, Cedarville University celebrates Charter Day, a day to commemorate its founding on January 26, 1887. The five founders of then Cedarville College comprised a committee formed by the Reformed Presbyterian Synod to find a place to establish a Christian college for their young people and to obtain a charter from the state of Ohio to officially sanction and establish that college. Rehearsing the history of the university, two significant years brought times of crises, the first the year 1890, when the dream of the college almost died, and the second the year 1953, when the college itself almost died. Using important documents and depictions from the University Archives, this exhibit reviews that first crisis with a journey starting in 1887 when the founders obtained the charter to establish Cedarville College, to 1891 when a benefactor provided funds at a time when failure was imminent, to 1894 when the first classes were launched, and to 1897 when five graduates participated in the first commencement. Since that first graduation celebration, there has been a commencement at Cedarville every year, this year being the 126th, demonstrating God’s faithfulness to that early dream of the founders.

With the coming of the Protestant Reformation, the 15th and 16th centuries were religiously tumultuous in England and Europe with some of the struggle focusing on whether it was appropriate or not for the Scriptures to be made available in the common language for all to read. This conflict was most evident in England where in significant periods of the 16th century under the Roman Catholic Church, it was illegal to translate the Scriptures into the English language from Latin. There were times when it was illegal to read those illegal translations in public–or to own one. There were times when people were martyred for doing both. This exhibit of early printed English Bibles is intended to tell that story and recognize those who gave up comfort, safety, living in their own country, and in some cases their lives, to make sure that everyone would have the privilege of reading the Bible in their own language.

For centuries, prior to the invention of printing in the Western world, the text of the Bible was preserved in manuscript form. From the hand-copied manuscripts of the post New Testament and Medieval periods to the hand-copied Bibles of the early Reformation period, the text of Scripture was preserved by God to assure that the Words of God--his plan, principles, and purposes--would be accessible to man created in His image. This exhibit presents examples of manuscript portions of the Bible from the 1st to the 15th centuries, leading in 1455 to the production of the first printed Bible, the remarkable Gutenberg Bible, seen in the exhibit in facsimile form. Following that momentous event, the printed Bible could be distributed to the masses.

Each year, during the month of January, Cedarville University celebrates Charter Day, a day to commemorate its founding on January 26, 1887. The five founders of then Cedarville College comprised a committee formed by the Reformed Presbyterian Synod to find a place to establish a Christian college for their young people and to obtain a charter from the state of Ohio to officially sanction and establish that college. Rehearsing the history of the university, two significant years brought times of crises, the first the year 1890, when the dream of the college almost died, and the second the year 1953, when the college itself almost died. Using important documents and depictions from the University Archives, this exhibit reviews that first crisis with a journey starting in 1887 when the founders obtained the charter to establish Cedarville College, to 1891 when a benefactor provided funds at a time when failure was imminent, to 1894 when the first classes were launched, and to 1897 when five graduates participated in the first commencement. Since that first graduation celebration, there has been a commencement at Cedarville every year, this year being the 126th, demonstrating God’s faithfulness to that early dream of the founders.

With the coming of the Protestant Reformation, the 15th and 16th centuries were religiously tumultuous in England and Europe with some of the struggle focusing on whether it was appropriate or not for the Scriptures to be made available in the common language for all to read. This conflict was most evident in England where in significant periods of the 16th century under the Roman Catholic Church, it was illegal to translate the Scriptures into the English language from Latin. There were times when it was illegal to read those illegal translations in public–or to own one. There were times when people were martyred for doing both. This exhibit of early printed English Bibles is intended to tell that story and recognize those who gave up comfort, safety, living in their own country, and in some cases their lives, to make sure that everyone would have the privilege of reading the Bible in their own language.

For centuries, prior to the invention of printing in the Western world, the text of the Bible was preserved in manuscript form. From the hand-copied manuscripts of the post New Testament and Medieval periods to the hand-copied Bibles of the early Reformation period, the text of Scripture was preserved by God to assure that the Words of God--his plan, principles, and purposes--would be accessible to man created in His image. This exhibit presents examples of manuscript portions of the Bible from the 1st to the 15th centuries, leading in 1455 to the production of the first printed Bible, the remarkable Gutenberg Bible, seen in the exhibit in facsimile form. Following that momentous event, the printed Bible could be distributed to the masses.

This is a collection of paper-covered print publications in Special Collections at the Cedarville University Centennial Library. The collection encompasses a variety of materials, including booklets, pamphlets, leaflets, tracts, government documents, speeches, sermons, etc.

These images are from an exhibit in 2013.