Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1946-1968 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
9.50 Cubic Feet
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Alvin J. Beachy was born 9 July 1913 near Salisbury, Pennsylvania, the 11th child of Bishop Moses M. Beachy and Lucy Miller Beachy. His father, originally Old Order Amish, founded the Beachy Amish Mennonite Church. Alvin attended the Messiah Academy for two years, and completed his high school studies in 1938 at age 24. He enrolled at Bluffton College in 1939 and completed his bachelors degree in 1943 (he actually completed his final course work at Illinois State Normal School, having moved to Illinois to accept a pastorate). From 1946 to 1949 he continued his studies at Hartford Theology Seminary, completing his BD degree with honors in 1949. He continued working on his master’s thesis at Hartford, completing his STM degree there in 1952. His thesis examined the Amish community in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. In 1956 Alvin chose to continue his education and enrolled in Harvard Divinity School, from which he received his ThD in June, 1961. His dissertation was on the concept of grace in the radical reformation.
While still a student at Bluffton College, Alvin began to serve his first congregation, the First Mennonite Church, Normal, Illinois, 1942-46. While at Hartford Seminary he pastored two congregational churches: Canton Center Congregational Church, Canton Center, Connecticut, 1946-49 and Bolton Center Congregational Church, Bolton Center, Connecticut, 1949-50. While completing his masters thesis at Hartford, he moved to Ohio and became pastor of the First Mennonite Church, Bluffton, 1950-56; and returned to the congregational fold while at Harvard, ministering to the First Congregational Church, Somerville, Massachusetts, 1956-60. His final pastorate was at the Zion Mennonite Church, Souderton, Pennsylvania, 1960-68.
In 1968 Alvin joined the faculty at Bethel College, teaching religion and theology, and worked at Bethel until his retirement in 1978. He had earlier taught briefly at Bluffton College in 1953 and summer, 1965. Beachy was also active in various denominational and community groups. His files contains a lengthy account of negotiations to spend a sabbatical year teaching at Eastern Mennonite College in the mid-1970s, but no documentation of that year was found (obituaries and other documents indicate he did teach at EMC).
A number of articles by Beachy were published in the Mennonite Quarterly Review and Mennonite Life, and he edited the book, Worship as Celebration of Covenant and Incarnation, (Faith and Life Press, 1968). His dissertation on the Concept of Grace in the Radical Reformation was also published.
Alvin married Vera Clouse in 1942. They had two daughters, Brenda (Ray), born 1947, and Debra, born 1951.
He passed away in 1986 and grave side services took place May 30 at the Hoffnungsau Cemetery. A memorial service was held the same afternoon at Bethel College Mennonite Church.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The bulk of the collection consists of sermons Alvin preached at the various congregations he served. While some are typed and some handwritten, almost all are verbatim manuscripts, not outlines or notes. Almost all clearly identify when and where the sermon was preached. He also saved some of his class notes from Hartford and Harvard, but very little from Bluffton and nothing from Messiah.
The collection contains no family or personal materials other than a couple folders of correspondence, mostly related to the Vietnam War. Nothing was found related to his experience growing up Old Order Amish or the family’s transition to Beachy Amish; unless he mentions this during oral history interviews in box 8.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
unprocessed
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
open for research use
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- First Mennonite Church (Bluffton, Ohio) (Subject)
- First Mennonite Church (Normal, Ill.) (Subject)
- Hartford Theological Seminary (Hartford, Conn.) (Subject)
- Zion Mennonite Church (Souderton, Pa.) (Subject)