| Custodial History | Professor Harold W. Turner assembled the collection on New Religious Movements in Primal Societies, coining the word PriNRMS. His experience of such a movement in Africa led him to wonder whether it was happening elsewhere. The subject became his research interest since 1956, throughout his academic career. On his retirement, he donated the collection to the Selly Oak Colleges Library, where he set up the Study Centre for New Religious Movements in Primal Societies, with himself as its first Director. During this time, together with many volunteers, he continued to add new materials to the collection. In 1997 the Collection moved into the Orchard Learning Resources Centre, and the Centre is now part of the University of Birmingham's Department of Theology, called Research Unit for New Religions and Churches |