Church History Meeting in Hong Kong


Brother Turley(left) and Brother Neilson(right) at Wan Chai Chapel

Charles Yip
Hong Kong Church History Administrator

Brother Richard E. Turley Jr. (Assistant Historian) and Brother Reid L. Neilson (Managing Director-History Dept) Came to Hong Kong on 15th April. They visited Kam Tong Hall and the peak where dedication took place in 1947.

They met with missionaries in the afternoon and members in the evening to explain the current efforts of the church history department.

Brother Neilson stressed the importance of keeping records. It’s a commandment from the Lord that we keep records. The church has a church history library building and also a Church History Museum. Both are open to the public. A slide presentation of early documents and church history library facilities was given. These included personal journal entries, letters and photos etc. Although acquiring artifacts and documents may be free; preserving them is very expensive, therefore they have to be selective in their collection efforts. Members were encouraged to keep journals and family history for the benefit of
future generations.

The meeting included an intermediate hymn by the New Territory Stake Choir and a question and answer period. Digital format of the historic documents will be available online June 2011. Best way of preserving documents is to store them away from sunlight, fluorescent lamps and heat. Best location in the house or flat is near the internal wall. i.e. where both sides of the wall are away from the sunlight. Digital formats on hard disk drive will have to be replace every 3 years or so.

In between the meetings they also interviewed four persons. These were : Yip Koon Wing, Leung Cheung Wing Yung, Liu Ko Wai Fun and Chan Fok Wai Fun.

The interviews were recorded and will be kept in the church history library for future use. ■