Librarian Botticelli exhibits kindness, patience to Southwestern community

Patient and kind are words used to describe Jill Botticelli, librarian and archivist at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and instructor of history at Texas Baptist College.

Botticelli grew up in a Christian home that moved from Fort Scott, Kansas, to Wellington, New Zealand, where her parents began serving as missionaries when she was eight years old. Botticelli lived in New Zealand until she was 17 years old.

As a child, Botticelli was engrossed in Christianity as she described her childhood environment as a “ministry home” where she was surrounded by the Word.

“I came to Christ as a young child at age five and I didn’t really know much else rather than being a Baptist,” Botticelli said.

Botticelli credits her upbringing in a Baptist home as to why she enjoys a particular branch of church history.

“It’s probably the reason I have such a love for Baptist history,” said Botticelli. “Because it is my history, you know?”

After leaving New Zealand at age 17 and graduating high school, Botticelli went to Arlington Baptist University in Arlington, Texas, and later became the librarian at the institution.

“I have worked several secular jobs, but I worked for many years at Arlington Baptist University,” said Botticelli. “I worked in their business office and then became the librarian there. The bulk of my career has been at Arlington Baptist University.”

Jill Botticelli became the archivist at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2015. In addition to her responsibilities as the institution’s archivist, Botticelli also serves as the librarian of the Fort Worth-based seminary.

Through her youth, Botticelli did not care much for history, but grew to love it during her adult years when she joined the staff at Southwestern Seminary in 2015 and “that love of history really started to blossom,” she said.

After she became the archivist at Southwestern Seminary, Botticelli began to take courses in Baptist history.

“As I began taking these courses in Baptist history, I just found that I am really passionate about telling the story of people that have shaped our legacy,” said Botticelli. “I think it is really important and the Bible even tells us that. It shows how often God calls Israel to look back at what He has done for them.”

While working as the archivist, Botticelli has had the opportunity to visit various history classes and show students pieces of history. To Botticelli, this is one of the most important aspects of her job.

“I have a lot of storytelling elements that bring together the worlds of library and archives with the classroom,” said Botticelli. She explained that “showing students physical objects” adds “an extra element to the story they are hearing.”

Botticelli said the items she brings include a document written by the reformer, Martin Luther, and a copy of the Geneva Bible that the “Pilgrims would have brought with them to the new world.”

Botticelli uses the artifacts in the Southwestern Seminary archives to help students make connections to the curriculum they are learning in the classroom.

Being able to help students understand the resources and to make historical artifacts accessible to them from the library and archives is another aspect of her role that Botticelli enjoys because “when there is a student and a light just kind of goes off, and you can see it in their eyes that they get it,” said Botticelli. “These resources that we have in the library, or this historical content that we have, is accessible to them, and they can explore it.”

Botticelli treats helping students as a main aspect of her job and students recognize this. For one Doctor of Philosophy student, Kyle Scott from Butler, Alabama, Botticelli went out of her way to assist him.

“When I started doing some research more intentionally at the library, I needed some resources I wasn’t sure the library had,” said Scott. “Right before the Southern Baptist Convention, a busy time for Southwestern staff, she set aside 20-30 minutes to go through what resources were available, what we could order, and what was unavailable.”

Scott added that as he left the library that day, Botticelli told him to let her know if there was anything else she could do for him because she was “personally invested” in Scott as a student.

Botticelli and Scott are both students in Doctor of Philosophy programs and are both studying church history as their concentrations.

“Since we’ve been in doctoral programs together, we connected over church history and have grown in our friendship throughout the years,” said Scott. “I have benefitted from that relationship professionally as she is just a top-notch librarian, but she blends professionalism with a deep care for students who come to the library for resources.”

Scott said he has seen Botticelli go through some of the toughest times imaginable, including when her husband passed away from cancer in the fall of 2021. Though they were dark times, Scott was encouraged by how Botticelli exhibited “a lot of hope and peace despite how hard it was.”

“If there was anything I could do to highlight Jill, I would say that she is a model of Christ’s likeness,” said Scott. “Despite the things that happen around her, she’s still alive, she still cares, and she still serves.”

Botticelli’s kind personality not only affects the students on campus but the staff as well.

Hannah Waymack, help desk coordinator in Campus Technology at Southwestern Seminary and a student pursuing the Seminary Studies for Student Wives Certificate from Acworth, Georgia, said she knows Botticelli “primarily from her making requests to campus technologies, but also from when she guest lectured for about half of a class period last semester.”

Waymack said that Botticelli helped the seminary wives understand more about the library’s resources in a way that they were able to relate to since they might not have had the same orientation experience as their husbands.

“She is very patient and very kind,” said Waymack. She added that Botticelli “wants to make sure that she’s not being a burden, but rather that she is making your day better in the way that she interacts with you.”

Botticelli often posts on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, from her account handle @jillbotticelli. Her account name is “Antiquarian Seminarian,” and she often shares posts of historical dates and occasions in Southwestern Seminary’s history.

Beginning in the spring semester of 2024, Botticelli will be teaching history classes at Texas Baptist College. She hopes to continue to bring history alive for all of the students she encounters.

Botticelli has also recently become engaged to Ted Cabal, professor of philosophy of religion at Southwestern. Botticelli said that it “was a challenging journey, but the Lord has been good” to her.

“The Lord has allowed me to experience joy again, which is wonderful,” said Botticelli on her recent engagement.

Botticelli continues to serve Southwestern and add to its history through the work she does, all while showing patience, kindness, and encouragement to everyone she encounters.