Salvation Army (Durham) Library

The books cover all aspects of the Salvation Army, its history, principal characters - especially the Booths - its theology, studies on the bible, its social welfare concerns, its missionary and international work, its youth work, and its music and hymns. They feature copies of its The Warrior and All the world journals, and its year books etc.

The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation, founded by William Booth and his wife Catherine as the East London Christian Mission in 1865. Its founders sought to bring salvation to the poor, destitute, and hungry by meeting both their "physical and spiritual needs". It is now present in 131 countries, running charity shops, operating shelters for the homeless and disaster relief and humanitarian aid to developing countries. The theology of the Salvation Army is derived from that of Methodism, although it is distinctive in institution and practice. A peculiarity of the Army is that it gives its clergy titles of military ranks, such as "lieutenant" or "major". It does not celebrate the rites of Baptism and Holy Communion, following a doctrine otherwise typical of holiness churches in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition. The Army's purposes are "the advancement of the Christian religion ... of education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole". It has had a base in Durham, currently 48-49 Saddler Street, since the 1920s.

37 titles are in a straight numerical sequence, with the rest following the library's Dewey decimal classification.

Open for consultation.

Donated by the Durham Salvation Army in 2007 with additions in 2010.

Printed material is catalogued in Discover

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Collections (e-mail pg.library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Records of the Salvation Army UK Territorial Durham City Corps 1900-c.2005 are held by the Salvatiaon Army International Heritage Centre at William Booth College, Champion Park, London.