An early iteration of the Georgia Baptist Historical Society organized in LaGrange in 1878 sought room in the fourth-floor library of Mercer University’s Main Building in Macon (now the R. Kirby Godsey Administration Building) in which to store historical materials. Rev. Washington Lafayette Kilpatrick began collecting Southern Baptist Convention annuals, minutes from numerous associations and the state convention, books by Georgia Baptist authors, and files of the Christian Index and other periodicals. This nascent collection remained at Mercer long after the society died out, following the university library into the Carnegie Library building (now Hardman Hall) in 1907 and then the Stetson Library in 1965. University Librarian Charles H. Stone and the Committee on Baptist History of the Georgia Baptist Convention revived interest in the collection during the 1940s and 1950s, and a new Georgia Baptist Historical Society began work in 1964. The society designated Mercer as the depository for its growing collections, and these along with the earlier materials eventually known as the Georgia Baptist Historical Depository. Dr. Spencer B. King was curator from 1964 to 1967, and Mary Overby held the position from 1967 to 1994. The collection moved again onto the third floor of the new Tarver Library building in 1990. These Georgia Baptist materials, together with the Mercer University records and special book collections, now make up the Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives Department of the Tarver Library. The department is usually referred to as Archives or Special Collections.