Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2003-11-26

A collection of 1,000 titles of Christian missionary biographies will be dedicated at Samford University Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 2 p.m.

The Marla Haas Corts Missionary Biography Collection is a gift to Samford by President Thomas E. Corts in honor of his wife and in appreciation of her service to Samford. The collection was first assembled in 1999 with a nucleus of volumes from the Cortses’ personal collection, garnered from their international travels, and has been added to since. It includes biographies of Christian missionaries such as Lottie Moon, Albert Schweitzer, and others both familiar and less well known.

Presentation of the collection to the University will be in the Hudnall Library of Harwell Goodwin Davis Library. The public is invited.

During the same ceremony, Samford will dedicate a painting of Albert Schweitzer and Johann Sebastian Bach to hang in the library. The painting, a gift to the University from Dr. and Mrs. Corts, was completed in 2000 by Nashville, Tenn., artist Connie Erickson as a theme for a symposium entitled “The Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach.” The original oil painting symbolizes the interrelationship of the arts, and how great ideas and beautiful music are often intertwined.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.