Electronic Resource Project: The goal of this project is to provide electronic access to Fellowship records and information. A major step in this process occurred in September, 1993, when Jim Jarnagin and Glen Bell drove to 529 Wrightwood from Houston, Texas in a Suburban loaded with computer equipment. Despite bad gas that necessitated repairs, they delivered their cargo and installed the new system: 66MHZ 486DX2, 16MB RAM EISA Bus, Stealth video accelerator, 1.2 GB hard drive, large tower case for expansion, 17" SVGA monitor, HP scanner, and all necessary software, such as Windows 3.1 & OmniPage Professional for optical character recognition. 

The first use of the equipment involved scanning in the photographs from IC93 for the photo album of attendees. As time allows, we will begin scanning in all past General Council and Executive Committee minutes and then use FolioViews software to create Info Bases for easy information access. The new equipment is also providing the capability and incentive to network the computer system and integrate office procedures so they become more efficient. 

Special thanks to the individuals whose extra financial contributions have made this project possible. Thanks also to Jim Jarnagin who has donated his time and expertise in assembling and installing the equipment and software, and to Glenn Bell for his assistance. 

Resource Guide: The revised and updated Resource Guide for Secondary Works of The Urantia Book was distributed at IC93. The new edition had over 40 new entries. We hope that the Guide continues to be a useful resource for students of The Urantia Book for discovering the many study aides and Urantia related materials that are available.

Special thanks to Matthew Block for managing the production, Cece Forrester and Carolyn Kendall for help in editing and Nancy Johnson for typesetting.

Oral History -- Six years ago the TDA passed a resolution that the General Council accepted. It called for the "...compilation of an oral history from early readers, to the end that a sense of the problems and excitement of those days can be preserved."

During the past year little progress has been made in interviewing former members of the Forum. As an alternative to the interview process, SPC is working on a letter to send to "forurnites" which explains this project and solicits their assistance. Their contributions could consist of old records, a written narration of their experience in the Forum, and/or consent to a personal interview. These materials would become part of the Archives library. During the past year, SPC also contributed to the production of a videotape of interviews with Meredith Sprunger concerning the origins of The Urantia Book.

Archives Lib -- The purpose of this ongoing project is to collect information that will provide a historical record of past and present activities of the Urantia Movement. The library will include organizational records, records of individuals who have had historical involvement with the Revelation, and periodicals, publications, and any materials related to the Movement. We hope that people will consider donating their materials to The Fellowship.

Resource Library -- This ongoing project is intended to build a library to assist current and future students of the Revelation in their religious study. Materials include reference works of the world's major religions, sources that portray human knowledge at the time that the Urantia Papers were indicted (early 1930's), and materials that may have been used for the concepts presented in the Papers.

During the past year, several significant developments have affected the library. First book shelves where purchased and installed in the small room next to the entrance at 529. This area is now the Fellowship Library! Second, as Matthew Block has been discovering source materials that appear to have been used in the compilation of The Urantia Book; he has obtained duplicate copies of many of these books for the library. Third, Stuart Kerr, a long time reader and current president of the Connecticut Fellowship, has willed his extensive collection religious books and Urantia Book related materials to The Fellowship. We have the beginning of a great Resource Library!

Maybe you can help. Do you know of a library oriented database program that we could use to record, categorize, and label the materials that are being accumulated? Please let a member of SPC or the office staff know.

Committee Membership -- Of course none of these projects could continue without the efforts of many volunteers. Special thanks to the members of Special Projects Committee and the many others who have assisted. THANKS!

Committee Members

Tony Finstad

Cece Forrester

Barbara Kulieke

Lee Smith

Larry Watkins

Adjunct Members

Ticky Harries
Larry Mullins
Ken Raveill
Bill Rocap