Collection, Multimedia, Mixed Materials.

The Resource Marion County Bible Society collection, 1823-1859

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Summary: This collection includes materials from the Marion County Bible Society and Indianapolis Sabbath School Union ranging from 1823 to 1859, including an Indianapolis Sabbath School Union pupil accounts book during 1827 to 1828; questions for a Bible class; the system of rules from the committee of religous instruction, probably for the governing of the sabbath schools (1827); annual reports from the superintendant of the Indianapolis Sabbath School Union and its board of directors (1824); a missionary roll for the Marion County Sabbath School (1829); accounts of the history and statistics of attendance at the sabbath school for 1823-1847; financial accounts from the 1820s, with information such as the number of Bibles sold; an attendance booklet circa 1820s; and a list of names, probably the founders of the Indianapolis Sabbath School Union as Isaac and Rebekah Coe are the first names. The account records from 1827 to 1834 include those kept by the society's agent, Samuel Merrill (1792-1855). The records also include the Indianapolis Sabbath School Union Society (1824-1844), with names of students and the board of directors. The sale of Bibles record lists the purchaser, number of Bibles or testaments, price, and date

Biographical or historical data: The Indianapolis Sabbath School Union, the city's first Sunday school, was founded on April 6, 1823 by Dr. Isaac Coe, the first college-trained physician to practice in Indianapolis, Indiana. Coe served as the superintendent of the sabbath school.The organization met above the shop of Mr. C. Scudder for the first three months, befor emoving to the original location of the First Presbyterian church, when it was founded in July, 1823. The society was later associated with the Indiana Sabbath School Union, a branch of the American Sabbath School Union, which was founded in Charleston, Indiana on August 2, 1826.The Marion County Bible Society, affiliated with the Indianapolis Sabbath School Union, was one of six societies in Indiana, which were sections of the American Bible Society, founded in 1816. Their mission was to supply Bibles to anyone at cost, if they could afford to pay, and for free if they could not. Sources:Items in the collection.Esarey, Logan. A History of Indiana, vol. 1. (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1918), 325-326."100th Anniversary of Founding of the First Sunday School in Indianapolis, Friday, April 6." Indianapolis News, March 30, 1923, 25. Accessed January 5, 2015. http://www.newspapers.com.

Context

Context of Marion County Bible Society collection, 1823-1859