Roger L. Connelly Sermon Collection Project

Calling all Theology, Preaching, History, and Library Nerds!

I have a big project under way, and I need your help! Very recently 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.

To keep up with the status of the project, visit the Roger L. Connelly Sermon Collection Project blog. The blog is currently under construction, but you can view PDFs of the sermons as they are scanned via the "Sermons" tab.