he recent discovery in a New England home of additional copies of letters written by Ellen White--some signed and in their original, handwritten envelopes--has underscored an important truth about the history of Adventism: We know in part because we don't have all the parts. Author Barbara Tuchman once reminded us that "history is made by the documents that survive," and it has become increasingly clear in the past 30 years that our understanding of the Adventist past is corrected, adjusted, and made more useful to the modern church every time long-lost or forgotten letters and papers are uncovered.

Many Adventists privately own or know of the whereabouts of letters, journals, or memorabilia associated with the founders and pioneers of this movement. Correspondence bearing the signatures of James and Ellen White, John Loughborough, Stephen Haskell, Anna Knight, Uriah Smith, John Harvey Kellogg, the Serna family, Kate Lindsay, and A. G. Daniells still rests in shoe boxes and desk drawers as enduring testimony to the ways in which God used them to inspire, organize, and equip His remnant people. Adventist families kept these pieces of the past because of a connection they sensed to men and women in whom the Spirit of God burned brightly, who saw their own times with clarity, and who sacrificed enormously.

If you or those you love hold just such a connection to the church's past, here are several things you might consider doing:

1. Review. Carefully inspect the documents you have been given or collected. Are they originals? Do they carry the names you recognize? Is there material in them that could be of value to the wider church or help us understand an obscure chapter in our past?

2. Preserve. Letters, papers, or journals a century or more old are frequently in very fragile condition, and require special care and handling to maintain both their value and their message. Store any documents you may have in clean, dry containers. Open them sparingly and with gentleness: old bindings easily crack, and folded letters can fall apart in your hands. Don't attempt repair yourself, especially with tape or glue.

3. Evaluate. Most of us need the assistance of a trained person to help us understand the value of old documents. You may want to contact the helpful staff of any of the Adventist heritage or research centers listed at the close of this piece for assistance in surveying the materials you hold.* They will help you learn about the age, uniqueness, and potential value of your documents in adding to our understanding of this movement's past.

4. Share. Many of these same heritage and research centers offer creative arrangements for historic materials to be displayed on loan or made available to researchers. In some cases facsimiles can be made for use at these centers that allow others to study and learn from your documents.

5. Donate. If you sense that the materials you hold would be best preserved and used in a library or archive collection, consider making a gift of the document(s) to one of the centers listed. Your gift will be gratefully acknowledged, and will greatly help Adventist scholars and students who are committed to remembering and learning from the ways in which God has led His people.

It is mission-mindedness, and not nostalgia, that should make us open up the past. The lessons God wished His people to learn a century ago--about righteousness by faith, education, health, race relations, and lifestyle--are often just as fresh and necessary today. As we see our continuing challenges--and our mistakes--more clearly, we will find renewed confidence in the Lord, who promises to be with us until time shall be no more.

*The Ellen G. White Estate, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904, (301) 680-6540 (branch offices are located at Loma Linda University, Andrews University, Oakwood College, and research centers at 15 international sites); The Office of Archives and Statistics, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904, (301) 680-5022; The Center for Adventist Research, James White Library, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104, (269) 471-3209; The Department of Archives and Special Collections, Del E. Webb Memorial Library, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350, (909) 558-4942; Oakwood College Archives and Museum, 7000 Adventist Blvd., Huntsville, AL 35896, (256) 726-7249.

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Bill Knott is an associate editor of the Adventist Review.