The Discipliana Collection

Dr. C. C. "Charlie" Ware, founder of the Discipliana Collection, epitomizes the intertwining of college and church. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he served churches in Louisiana, South Carolina, and in Greenville, North Carolina. In 1915, Dr. Ware returned to North Carolina to become the Registrar of Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) and also served as corresponding secretary of the North Carolina Christian Missionary Society. This joint employment continued until 1926 when he became a full-time secretary of the convention. However, Dr. Ware's college connection did not end.

He wanted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Society in 1927 with the publication of a history of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in North Carolina. His new (1920) publication of The North Carolina Christian had begun to raise awareness of and interest in the history of the church. A few years later, Dr. Ware formed an historical commission at the 1924 convention of the church in Dunn to anchor this project in the life of the church. He ferreted out numerous documents and books, received donations for binding and other expenses, and he made regular reports of his acquisitions and further needs. In 1927, the History of the Disciples in North Carolina appeared. Then, he published a pioneering biography of Barton Warren Stone in 1932. Numerous other shorter publications followed in the decades of the '40s to the '60s. The new building program in the post war years allowed the "Ware Collection" to be housed in the Barton W. Stone Memorial Room in the new Hardy Library on campus.

Dr. Ware retired from his position in the church in 1952 and devoted the remainder of his life to the collection. He knew the location of all the items housed in the collection, and he aided many in their research. When Dr. Ware's health failed, he left Wilson in 1967 for the care of the Florida Christian Home in Jacksonville, Florida. The collection was stored in a house on Lee Street until the late 1970s when it was moved to the third floor of the former library (now the School of Education, Hardy Center). Then began the long process of cataloging and preserving the many books and documents. It was later moved to Hackney Hall, and then, finally, to its current home on the third floor of Harper Hall (main administration building) on the Barton College campus.