The Marion E. Wade Center

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The Marion E. Wade Center The Marion E. Wade Center is a major research collection of materials by and about 7 British authors. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy L.

Wade Center promotes cultural engagement and spiritual formation by offering a collection of resources available nowhere else in the world. We emphasize the ongoing relevance of seven British Christian authors who provide a distinctive blend of intellect, imagination, and faith: C.S. Sayers, George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams. The Wade Center implements these goals by:

-Assisting scholars in their study of unique materials by and about these seven authors in order to generate new understandings;

-Sharing insights with a broader audience through our numerous programs and publications;

-Supporting artistic works inspired by our authors;

-Welcoming visitors to our museum. Check out the Wade Center's blog "Off the Shelf" at: wadecenterblog.wordpress.com

“An Autumn Bicycle-Ride” by Owen Barfield“The leaves, grown rusty overhead,Dropped on the road and made it red.The air t...
10/14/2026

“An Autumn Bicycle-Ride” by Owen Barfield

“The leaves, grown rusty overhead,
Dropped on the road and made it red.
The air that coldly wrapped me round,
Stained by the glowing of the ground,
Had bathed the world in the cosy gloom
Of a great, red-carpeted, firelit room;
It filled my lungs, as I rode along,
Till they overflowed in a flood of song,
And joy grew truculent in my throat,
Uttering a pompous trombone-note;
For this elegant modern soul of mine
Was warm with old Autumn’s rich red wine.”

Note: This poem was possibly written in 1919 and is transcribed from the typescript at the Bodleian Library (Barfield Papers, Dep. c. 1103).
https://www.owenbarfield.org/read-online/poetry/

Image: Photo by Fredrik Ivansson in Malmö, Sverige, Unsplash

The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College presents "IN WHICH Winnie-the-Pooh Visits the Wade Center: An Evening with ...
10/08/2026

The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College presents "IN WHICH Winnie-the-Pooh Visits the Wade Center: An Evening with Joe Sutphin and Kevan Chandler," a book signing by Joe Sutphin and Kevan Chandler on Thursday, October 22, 2026 at 7:00 PM in Bakke Auditorium.

Adapting classic works of literature into a visual medium that truly honors the original work is a steep hill to climb. In this talk, Joe Sutphin and Kevan Chandler share the story of how, as they set out to write a graphic novel adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh, they took to heart a simple request by a small boy named Christopher Robin, who asked his father to tell him and his bear a story, saying, “Could you very sweetly?" Join us after the talk for a book signing with Joe and Kevan! Winnie the Pooh the Graphic Novel and additional titles by the authors will be available for sale at the Wade Bookshop the evening of the event!

Joe Sutphin is an illustrator and cartoonist whose body of work includes the Wingfeather Saga, the Eisner Award-winning Watership Down: The Graphic Novel, and his re-envisioned classics, Little Pilgrim’s Progress and Little Christmas Carol. Joe lives in central Ohio with his wife Gina and five amazing cats.

Kevan Chandler is the author of several books, including The King’s Cadets and Little Joe with Joe Sutphin, We Carry Kevan, and The Hospitality of Need. He is also the founder of the nonprofit organization We Carry Kevan and speaks worldwide, sharing stories from his life about the intersection of friendship and disability. Kevan and his wife, Katie, love reading to each other… especially books about sustainability.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or [email protected].

Watch the livestream:
https://youtube.com/live/77hnZX-Qt58

REMINDER: The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Homecoming at the Wade | How to Read like C.S. Lewis: Lessons from the Lew...
10/01/2026

REMINDER: The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Homecoming at the Wade | How to Read like C.S. Lewis: Lessons from the Lewis Library," a lecture by Jim Beitler, Director of the Wade Center on Friday, October 2, 2026, at 1:00 PM in Bakke Auditorium.

The Wade Center is home to over 2,500 books from C.S. Lewis’s personal library. This talk explores what Lewis’s library reveals about how to read well and—in the spirit of Alan Jacobs’s "Breaking Bread with the Dead," Wheaton College’s 2026-27 Core Book—how to cultivate “a more tranquil mind.”

James E. Beitler (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is the Director of the Wade Center, the Marion E. Wade Chair of Christian Thought, and a Professor of English. His scholarship focuses on the rhetoric of Christian witness and writing as a spiritual activity, looking to C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, Desmond Tutu, and other exemplary communicators as guides for faithful practice. He is the author of Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church; Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words (with co-author Richard Hughes Gibson); and Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States. He is currently working on the collection Sites of Writing: Essays in Honor of Anne Ruggles Gere (with co-editor Sarah Ruffing Robbins) as well as a book project based on archival research conducted at the Wade Center. Beitler has taught a variety of courses at Wheaton, including Christianity and Fantasy, Lewis and Tolkien, Tolkien and Environmental Stewardship (co-taught with Kristen Page), Teaching Writing, Writing Chicago, Persuasive Writing, and First-Year Writing. He also teaches a course in the Wheaton College Summer Institute—the Makings of Middle-earth. He lives in Wheaton with his wife, Brita, and their boys, James and Arne.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or [email protected].

The Wade Center will have special open hours from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, October 3, in honor of Homecoming Weekend. St...
09/30/2026

The Wade Center will have special open hours from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, October 3, in honor of Homecoming Weekend. Stop by to tour the Museum, visit the Kilby Reading Room, stroll through Aslan's garden, and say hello!

REMINDER: The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Good Words for Good Work," an evening with Andrew Peterson, singer-songwri...
09/22/2026

REMINDER: The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Good Words for Good Work," an evening with Andrew Peterson, singer-songwriter, author, and founder of the Rabbit Room, on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 7:00 PM CT. Words have great power to shape the way we think. In this talk, Andrew will discuss three words from J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Wendell Berry that have recalibrated his heart’s compass over the years. The in-person lecture is sold out, and the livestream link below will be available for viewing during the night of the lecture only.

Andrew Peterson is a singer-songwriter, author, and founder of the Rabbit Room. Andrew has released more than ten records over the past twenty years, earning him a reputation for songs that connect with his listeners in ways equally powerful, poetic, and intimate. As an author, Andrew’s books include the four volumes of the award-winning Wingfeather Saga, which have sold more than a million copies, along with his creative memoirs, Adorning the Dark, and The God of the Garden. He’s also an executive producer of the Wingfeather Saga Animated Series, which is currently in production on its third season with Angel Studios. In 2008 Andrew founded the Rabbit Room, a nonprofit organization based in Nashville, Tennessee that nourishes Christ-centered communities by cultivating and curating stories, art, and music.

Free livestream of the event available the night of the event only:
https://youtube.com/live/_o4sGeWOM-Y

For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or [email protected].

The Wade Center wishes you a very Happy Hobbit Day! Today celebrates the joint birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Joi...
09/22/2026

The Wade Center wishes you a very Happy Hobbit Day! Today celebrates the joint birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Join Tolkien fans in the celebration and do something extra "hobbity" today.

HAPPY TOLKIEN WEEK! Tolkien fans around the world celebrate the week containing September 22 – “Hobbit Day” (the birthda...
09/20/2026

HAPPY TOLKIEN WEEK!

Tolkien fans around the world celebrate the week containing September 22 – “Hobbit Day” (the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins) as "Tolkien Week." Second breakfast, reading from Tolkien's works, and good fellowship are all great ways to observe the event. How will you be celebrating this week?

The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Homecoming at the Wade | How to Read like C.S. Lewis: Lessons from the Lewis Library...
09/16/2026

The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Homecoming at the Wade | How to Read like C.S. Lewis: Lessons from the Lewis Library," a lecture by Jim Beitler, Director of the Wade Center on Friday, October 2, 2026, at 1:00 PM in Bakke Auditorium.

The Wade Center is home to over 2,500 books from C.S. Lewis’s personal library. This talk explores what Lewis’s library reveals about how to read well and—in the spirit of Alan Jacobs’s "Breaking Bread with the Dead," Wheaton College’s 2026-27 Core Book—how to cultivate “a more tranquil mind.”

James E. Beitler (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is the Director of the Wade Center, the Marion E. Wade Chair of Christian Thought, and a Professor of English. His scholarship focuses on the rhetoric of Christian witness and writing as a spiritual activity, looking to C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, Desmond Tutu, and other exemplary communicators as guides for faithful practice. He is the author of Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church; Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words (with co-author Richard Hughes Gibson); and Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States. He is currently working on the collection Sites of Writing: Essays in Honor of Anne Ruggles Gere (with co-editor Sarah Ruffing Robbins) as well as a book project based on archival research conducted at the Wade Center. Beitler has taught a variety of courses at Wheaton, including Christianity and Fantasy, Lewis and Tolkien, Tolkien and Environmental Stewardship (co-taught with Kristen Page), Teaching Writing, Writing Chicago, Persuasive Writing, and First-Year Writing. He also teaches a course in the Wheaton College Summer Institute—the Makings of Middle-earth. He lives in Wheaton with his wife, Brita, and their boys, James and Arne.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or [email protected].

The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Good Words for Good Work," an evening with Andrew Peterson, singer-songwriter, autho...
09/09/2026

The Marion E. Wade Center presents "Good Words for Good Work," an evening with Andrew Peterson, singer-songwriter, author, and founder of the Rabbit Room, on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 7:00 PM CT. Words have great power to shape the way we think. In this talk, Andrew will discuss three words from J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Wendell Berry that have recalibrated his heart’s compass over the years. The in-person lecture is sold out, and the livestream link below will be available for viewing during the night of the lecture only.

Andrew Peterson is a singer-songwriter, author, and founder of the Rabbit Room. Andrew has released more than ten records over the past twenty years, earning him a reputation for songs that connect with his listeners in ways equally powerful, poetic, and intimate. As an author, Andrew’s books include the four volumes of the award-winning Wingfeather Saga, which have sold more than a million copies, along with his creative memoirs, Adorning the Dark, and The God of the Garden. He’s also an executive producer of the Wingfeather Saga Animated Series, which is currently in production on its third season with Angel Studios. In 2008 Andrew founded the Rabbit Room, a nonprofit organization based in Nashville, Tennessee that nourishes Christ-centered communities by cultivating and curating stories, art, and music.

Free livestream of the event available the night of the event only:
https://youtube.com/live/_o4sGeWOM-Y

For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or [email protected].

On September 2, 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien passed “Into the West.” He shares a grave with his wife, Edith, and the tombstone b...
09/02/2026

On September 2, 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien passed “Into the West.” He shares a grave with his wife, Edith, and the tombstone bears the names “Beren" and "Lúthien” beneath their names, referencing two characters in one of Middle-earth’s greatest romances.

Photo: Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford, May 2018. Taken by Laura Stanifer.

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351 E Lincoln Avenue
Wheaton, IL
60187

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+16307525908

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