Chapter 7—Filing System
The importance of a filing system to any speaker or writer is best
demonstrated, not by what Mrs. White said about it, but by what she
did about it. The following three quotations were not written by her,
but taken from her biography. The first two were written by her son,
W. C. White, the third by her grandson, Arthur White
.
Ellen White’s writings were filed and indexed during her Aus-
tralian years—For some months Sister Peck has devoted a portion
of her time to sorting, filing, reading, and indexing all of Mother’s
manuscripts within our reach, and Mother has been looking over her
old diaries and manuscripts that were never copied on the typewriter.
In these she finds many precious things that are being copied, filed,
and indexed with the rest.—4BIO 451
.
Ellen White was dependent on her files in her ministry to the
church—As we find new material from the file and add to the chapters
that have already been prepared and passed upon, and reread these
amplified portions to her, she seems to enjoy going over them anew.
This perfecting of the manuscript is slow work, but very interesting;
and we are hopeful of the outcome.—6BIO 419
.
A careful filing system is what makes Ellen White’s writings
readily available today—First, the typewritten copies of manuscripts
and letters brought from America and those produced in Australia
were sorted out by years. Then the general manuscripts were sep-
arated from the letters. Manuscripts were placed in chronological
order and numbered serially. Letters were sorted out alphabetically
and then numbered in sequence. These were punched at the top and
filed in “Shannon” file drawers. This formed the basic E. G. White
manuscript file as it stands today. From that time on, as the materials
were copied they were given file numbers. This put the letters in
chronological order. The record books started by Miss Peck, while
valuable and still used occasionally, have been superseded by more
comprehensive records that better serve the work of the White Estate.
[52]
A subject index was made of the manuscripts and letters on four-by-
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