In 2009 the world Baptist movement will celebrate its 400th birthday. In 1609 the first Baptists-religious refugees from England-met in the backroom of an Amsterdam bakery to read and study the Bible together. John Smyth baptized himself and then Thomas Helwys and others to form the first Baptist-minded congregation of the modern period. From this small movement of early Baptist believers, the worldwide movement of Baptists has grown.

Each of the Baylor libraries is mounting Baptist-related exhibits in 2008-2009 to observe the 400th anniversary of Baptists. The Texas Collection is pleased to exhibit six of the paintings from the Texas Baptist series by Dallas artist Erwin Hearne in the Guy B. Harrison Reading Room. Postcards of Texas Baptist churches are in the small wrap-around cases leading into the reading room, and the Keeth Exhibit Case will feature 19th century Baptist imprints and documents during summer and fall 2008, and 20th century items during spring and summer 2009.

The First Baptist Church in Texas

Elder Daniel Parker, antimissionary Baptist leader and advocate of "Two Seedism" (doctrine that since the time of Adam mankind has been the bearer of two seeds, divine and diabolical), organized the Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church at Lamotte, Illinois, with seven members in 1833. He circumvented the ban of non-Catholic churches in Texas by immigrating the church. On January 20, 1834, the new church held its first conference within the bounds of Austin's Colony. The Pilgrim Church, near Elkhart, was the oldest Primitive Baptist church in Texas in 1986.

Baylor University owes its founding to Robert E. B. Baylor, James Huckins, and William Milton Tryon, who in 1841 organized an education society in the Texas Union Baptist Association with the purpose of establishing a Baptist university in Texas. Baylor was chartered by the Republic of Texas on February 1, 1845, and was opened in 1846 at Independence. The painting shows Baylor standing at the far end of the table, with Huckins seated to his left and Tryon writing in the name of the school. Anson Jones, president of the Republic of Texas, is in the foreground, with Kenneth Anderson, president of the Texas Senate, waiting to sign the charter, and John M. Lewis, speaker of the Texas House. A facsimile of the charter is displayed as well.

Baylor School of Law

Baylor's School of Law dates its founding to April 2, 1849, when the university's board of trustees accepted fellow trustee Abner S. Lipscomb's offer to "deliver a series of lectures on the science of law." Lipscomb, an associate justice on the Texas Supreme Court, and R. E. B. Baylor, a founder of the university and judge of the state's Third Judicial District, delivered lectures pro bono since both were trustees. On March 3, 1857, the trustees established a Law Department and appointed Baylor, associate Supreme Court justice and later chief justice Royal T. Wheeler, and Washington (Texas) attorney William P. Rogers as law professors. Sessions were held in the College building. Of the thirteen students who enrolled in the first session of the law department, seven completed two sessions and received their Bachelor of Laws degree in 1858 along with six others who had entered as advanced students.

The painting depicts Judge Wheeler lecturing to a group of law students. Seated to his left is Judge Baylor; John Sayles who joined the law faculty in June 1858 stands behind Baylor. A portrait of Lipscomb who died in November 1856 hangs on the wall. Seated on the front row to Wheeler's right is Thomas Jefferson Brown, who received his degree in 1858, and became Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court in 1911.

William L. Moore of Crockett, whose 1859 diploma is exhibited here, was a member of the second graduating class.

Rufus C. Burleson, president of Baylor at Independence from 1851 to 1861, surveys the male campus-(l-r) Tryon Hall, Houston Hall, Graves Hall, Burleson Domicile, auxiliary dormitory, and Creath Hall-on Windmill Hill.

From 1978 to 1982 block excavations of the male campus site were conducted. The precise location and orientation of the three major building and Burleson Domicile were determined from the work. During the late 1990s the project for developing Baylor Park on Windmill Hill was conceived. Four acres of the original male campus site-2.578 acres from the estate of the late Esther Klatte of Independence, and two smaller tracts along the north end of the park from David Wolff and Michael Shoup- were transferred to Baylor University in January 2001. A plan for managing the cultural resources at Baylor Park on Windmill Hill was developed, and on March 25, 2006, the park was dedicated.

The map of Independence shows the locations of the male campus (green) and the female campus (purple).

George Washington Baines (foreground) was named editor of The Texas Baptist in January 1855 with J. B. Stiteler, a professor of natural science at Baylor University, as assistant editor. Baines later agreed to serve as president of Baylor University for a year (July 1861-June 1862), declining a longer term for health and other personal reasons. He was the great-grandfather of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States. Stiteler resigned his teaching position early in 1856 for reasons of health and died on Christmas Day that same year at the age of thirty-four. The painting shows Baines and Stiteler reading copies of the April 4, 1855 issue of The Texas Baptist. An original copy of that issue is also displayed.

During the Civil War, more than 140 men who had attended or taught at Baylor University served in the Confederate Army. The recruits included: •B. H. Carroll (1858-1861) - pastor of First Baptist Church, Waco (1871-1899) and founder of Baylor Theological Seminary (1905) which became Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1908) where he served as president until his death in 1914 •Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross (1855-1856) - governor of Texas (1886-1891) and president of Texas A&M University (1891-1898) •Stephen Decatur Rowe - the university's first graduate (1854) Confederate troops were granted use of the facilities for barracks and left the buildings "floorless, windowless and roofless," burning everything that would burn. The octagonal-shaped "Burleson Domicile," built by Rufus C. Burleson in the mid-1850s, was also used as military quarters.