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Personal papers of A. J. (Abram Jacob)  Metzler, consisting of sermon outlines, correspondence, subject files, and audio recordings. Records of Metzler's travels and work abroad are included, as are his published articles, his files on congregations he pastored, and a biography of him along with family records.

This collection is divided into the following series:

(1) Sermon Outlines, 1927-1983

(2) Correspondence and Subject Files, 1826, 1919-1993

(3) Audio Recordings, 1956-1996

(4) Photographs and Video Recordings, 1882-1991

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.