Day 7, Archivisting

It's the Sabbath.  

As I lie in bed repeating my morning prayer "One thing have I asked of YHWH, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of YHWH..." (Psalm 27:4), I realize that I am already in God's house.  

I'm surrounded by seven bookcases of Bibles, Bible commentary, church history, Christian biography, and social commentary--and the apartment above Letha's is an Orthodox Jewish household, as are many in her complex of two-story colonial style buildings.  I feel blessed and holy just to be here.

Last night Letha and I were struck by the contrast in communication resources between 1975 and 2013.  We looked at the first Evangelical Women's Caucus newsletter (summer 1977), eight pages typed with one drawing and the EWC logo, copied onto 11 x 17 paper, folded and collated, mailed out to a few hundred people.  

In 2013 articles, news, and blogs are posted with color photos, art, and rolling banners on EEWC's website www.eewc.com--immediately available to thousands.  Letha's article ten days ago "There's More than One Christian View on Homosexuality" has now been viewed by over 987 people who spent an average of 8 minutes reading it.

Meanwhile, Letha keeps me posted on national and world news almost faster than my husband John does.  Texas abortion battles--Ohio--SF plane crash, where a passenger (@eunner) immediately tweeted to the world, "I just crash landed at SFO.  Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine.  I'm ok. Surreal."

Last night while we were sorting papers, Letha played from YouTube the Bill Moyers Frontline interviews in February with  Sandyhook parents.and also the concert with Francine Wheeler, Dar Williams, and Peter Yarrow singing.  Very tough to watch.  At 2 am we ate more German chocolate ice cream and went to bed.

Today we persevere and have much material in boxes, neatly filed and labeled--almost ready to go.  But Letha will have more to do after I leave, so family and friends will no doubt help her with the boxing and mailing

Visiting Letha To Work on Archives

I arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday for a wonderful week of laughing with Letha as we go through boxes of old EEWC files to sort materials for the Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship at the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, now part of Columbia University).  

Here's a link to the women and groups in these archives: 

http://library.columbia.edu/locations/burke/archives/awts.html    

Nancy Hardesty, Phyllis Trible, Letty Russell, Rosemary Radford Reuther, and Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz are among the women whose archives will eventually be available there.  

Problem: Letha is so busy doing the "Link of the Day" for EEWC's website and answering emails with blogposts and articles for her to edit that it's hard to focus on the archives.  

For example, Marg sent an email asking whether a comment on Letha's newly posted article "There Is More Than One Christian View on Homosexuality" should be allowed to appear or should be moderated down somewhat.  http://www.eewc.com/Articles/christian-view-homosexuality/  

A man had posted to Letha that because of her views, she's not going to heaven.  

Her answer to Marg and me: "That's not the first time I've heard that."  

Another problem: I arrived so tired after a red-eye flight.  I'm too old to keep doing that.

After I took a three-hour nap, Letha treated me to a dinner of fresh salmon, couscous, chopped broccoli, and salad.