Roger L. Connelly Sermon Collection Project Blog

In case you haven't already checked it out, I have started a new blog where I will be posting my progress and the curiosities I have encountered while scanning and archiving my great-grandfather's lifetime of sermons (for more info on that, see the "Roger L. Connelly Sermon Collection" tab at the top of this page).

Please take some time to check it out, if you get the chance.

"Facts" About Fallout Protection

In rifling through some of my great-grandpa's old sermons, I found one delivered at Williamsville United Methodist Church (the church where I grew up) dated December 9, 1945—just a few short months after the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan—entitled "Atomic Power." In the sermon, my grandpa preaches about the need for kinship and unity of humankind, so that such a catastrophic event might never take place again.

Many of his sermon folders include supplemental materials in them—presumably materials that he used in various sermon illustrations. Included in this folder was a government-published pamphlet entitled, "Facts About Fallout Protection," published April 1958 by the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. I hope you are as amused by its antiquated "facts" and illustrations ("Radioactivity Is Nothing New!: The Whole World Is Radioactive!") as I was.

Fallout Pamphlet

Calling All Theology/Preaching/History/Library Nerds!

My great-grandparents:
Roger L. Connelly and his wife, Mildred.

I have a big project under way, and I need your help! About a week ago, I was bequeathed the entire collection of sermons from my great-grandfather's preaching career (he was a United Methodist pastor). They take up about three large file cabinet drawers, and are variously written and typed. To help preserve them, I am planning to make digital scans and electronic transcriptions of each sermon. However, this would be at least a couple years of work for me alone (and I'm about to begin working on my master's thesis). I'm looking to my online community of friends to help transcribe my grandfather's sermons. Many hands make light work, and even if just 10 friends pitch in and help transcribe, we can have the entire collection done in no time.

If you're interested, please click this link to send me an email and I will in turn send you digital scans of however many sermons you think you could handle transcribing (probably best to limit it to no more than 3 at a time), as well as a sample transcription with formatting guidelines. There will be no pressure—get it done in your own time when you have a few moments to spare.

I can't offer any money in exchange for your help (I'm a student, after all). However, in return for your work, you will receive written credit once the sermons are compiled into a book. Plus, that whole bit about treasure in heaven. Yada yada.

Thank you all so much for reading, and thanks in advance for being willing to help out with this huge project.