How the White Estate makes compilations

Over the years, the White Estate has produced many compilations. During the first decades after Ellen White’s death, compilations were made on topics that Ellen White had desired to publish. One of these was a book on the Christian home. Thus her trustees prepared for publication The Adventist Home (1952) and Child Guidance (1954). Compilations are also made on topics requested by various departments of the General Conference or publishing houses. ^{37Ellen G. White Estate Board Minutes, September 10, 1944; Collins, “Compilations,” 4-6; Merlin D. Burt, “How Ellen White Did Her Writing” (class outline for GSEM 534—Issues in Ellen G. White Studies, Andrews University, 2012), 114, 115.}UEGW 124.1

To produce a representative compilation, as free as possible from any personal biases, the compiler(s) group together statements based on Ellen White’s own emphasis. The collected material is then divided along the line of her emphases, placing them in a reasonable order. The number of statements on a given topic is often so large that the compilers must either limit the book to representative statements or provide all available statements on the topic. The compilers usually opt for completeness, which has sometimes resulted in a multivolume compilation. An example is the two volumes of Mind, Character, and Personality. The White Estate makes only essential grammatical adjustments and places any supplied words in brackets to distinguish them from the original text. Clarifying explanations are placed in a footnote or in the appendix, and a reference to the original source is provided. The final compilation is scrutinized by a reading committee to eliminate any misrepresentations of her thoughts, teachings, emphases, and intentions. Because it is the goal to make available Ellen White’s counsel on a given topic in a comprehensive, representative, and unbiased manner, it has been the custom to give full credit to her by refraining from listing the names of those who participated in the compiling work. ^{38Ellen G. White Estate Board Minutes, July 2, 1945; Collins, “Compilations,” 5-7; Burt, “How Ellen White Did Her Writing,” 116, 117.}UEGW 124.2