Materials can be included in a special collection like ours for many reasons.
- Some items are here due to their provenance [where they came from]
- Others because they are very rare [scarce or very limited production]. The Center does serve as the holder of the Rare Materials Collection for the Andrews University James White Library
- Some have been acquired because of unique publishing characteristics or publishing history
- Some items are here because they have marginalia from an important person or that is otherwise important
- Others are here because they form an important part of a larger collection
- Many of the works are here simply because the Center is an archive of all that is published by or about the Seventh-day Adventist Church and related groups. This reason alone causes us to collect much of what we have here.
In all cases, it is important to note that materials found in the Center for Adventist Research are important to the research and teaching programs of Andrews University, and for understanding Adventist history. Please see our Collection Development Policy for more details.