Special collections of the Caven Library include the McKay Educational Resources collection, the Walter Allum Preaching Library and Rare Books Collection.

The McKay Educational Resource Centre

A continuing resource for students, primarily in the Christian Education concentration at Knox College. This collection specializes in materials, both books and audio visuals, relating to Christian Education, particularly curricula used by the Presbyterian Church in Canada as well as audio visual resources to support Knox College courses. This collection continues to be part of the Ewart Library legacy.

For many years, Ewart College provided training for women, and later men, for full-time service in mission work, both overseas and in Canada, and in social ministries and Christian education. In 1991, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada amalgamated Knox and Ewart Colleges, after which time much of the Ewart Library collection was integrated into the Caven Library. In cooperation with the McKay Education Resource Centre, Caven Library continues Ewart’s collecting emphases as they related to Christian education.

The Walter Allum Preaching Library

Established in honour of The Rev. Dr. Walter Allum by Knox Presbyterian Church, Dundas, is aimed at encouraging excellence in preaching for Knox and TST-wide students. Containing hundreds of sermon recordings and lectures directly related to preaching and related topics, this special collection provides a diversity of contemporary preaching voices and sermon models for students.

The Rare Books Collection

This collection dates back to 1497. The majority of this collection is seventeenth and eighteenth century works with an emphasis on Protestant reform literature and includes many valuable first editions. These books are housed in the University’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.

Materials for this collection provided by: Caven Library, Knox College