On Sabbath, April 17, 2004, at 3:00 pm the dedication of the new Center for Adventist Research took place on the first floor of the James White Library at Andrews University.

The Center for Adventist Research combines the resources of the Adventist Heritage Center and the Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office at Andrews University and seeks to promote an understanding and appreciation of the heritage and mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its holdings date from before the Millerite period of the 1840s to the present, and encompass items from around the world, among them well over 30,000 books and theses, about 30,000 other text materials, and 12,600 microforms.

Periodical resources include more than 20,000 volumes of English and non-English SDA titles. With nearly 2400 different periodical titles, which include 800 current titles from around the world, it is the finest and most complete collection of its kind in existence. In addition there are large numbers of official church publications and records, personal papers collections, e.g., from William Miller, sound and motion recordings, photographic materials and images, artifacts and memorabilia, and rare materials and other collections. One of these collections is the Suhrie Bible collection, that includes a William Tyndale New Testament, several Torah scrolls, reproductions of the Gutenberg Bible and the Codex Vaticanus, and a copy of Bishop James Ussher’s Chronology, to name but a few of the titles.

As a Branch Office of the White Estate, the Center contains extensive resources for Ellen G. White studies. The collection of unpublished letters and manuscripts of Ellen White consists of extensive original copies (many with Ellen White’s handwritten interlineations and signatures) as well as photocopies of over 50,000 typewritten pages covering the period from 1845 to 1915. The White Estate Document File consists of more than eighty-five drawers filled with thousands of topically arranged folders, containing articles, correspondence, term papers, etc. on Ellen White and Adventist history. In addition, researchers have available Ellen White’s office and family correspondence, as well as various research aids, such as the Ellen G. White Biographical Index and the Question and Answer File which contains answers to many questions asked over the years.

The dedication service included a brief history of the Center by Larry Onsager, dean of the Andrews University Libraries, remarks by Niels-Erik Andreasen, president of Andrews University, on the value of the Center for the university, and a brief survey on the value of the Center for the world church by James R. Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate. Patricia Mutch, vice president for academic administration led out in the dedication reading and George R. Knight, professor of church history at the Theological Seminary, offered the dedication prayer. Following the dedication service, participants were invited to view the exhibits and tour the Center.