How does someone choose to open their door to a stranger and invite them inside knowing that very act carries the threat of death for them and perhaps for their entire family? For the Reverend Jeanne Audrey Powers, the challenges raised by the Holocaust are constant companions and with great sadness she knows that she herself might be unable to open the door. It is not a pleasant realization. Like an uncomfortable sermon speaking the word of truth, the Holocaust continually challenges her -- and us -- to consider and live out the implications of our faith.

The Jeanne Audrey Powers Holocaust Studies Collection, the result of one woman’s wrestling with the implications of those horrible events, is a generous gift of over one hundred titles, effectively doubling the Spencer Library’s Holocaust related holdings and providing a significant resource of materials for United Theological Seminary and the upper mid-west region. Reverend Powers’ Minnesota roots and her connections with United through past students make the Spencer Library a natural choice for her and like all retiring pastors she wants her books to “…go to a good home.” We thank her for this gift and welcome the collection to its new home in the Spencer Library.