News from the Congregational Christian Historical Society: Fall 2002

Return to Home 
Return to Fall 2003 Newsletter  

ISSN 0362-1510
Vol. XXVIII, No. 1

Table of Contents

Introduction
May 2002 Annual Meeting
Clerk's Report
Frederick L. Fagley Awards
Nathanael M. Guptill Award
Executive Secreatry/Archivist's Report
Financial Report
United Church of Christ Historical Council
CCHS 50th Anniversary Celebration

Introduction

Past (50 years of it), present (here and now), future (it’s up to you!)…

Your fall 2002 CCHS Newsletter has much to report – its May 2002 annual meeting in The Land of Steady Habits, its Jubilee celebration (Beantown, where it all began), and intimations of new leadership and programs. And enclosed, the annual CCHS member-ship letter seeking new supporters and renewals of present and past memberships. We are still inflation-proof! Individual memberships for 2003 cost only $25, organizational (church) memberships a mere $50. What does that get you? Read on….

May 2002 Annual Meeting

Hearing heard and having accepted the invitation “Come, o come [to] Immanuel…the Society assembled at Hartford, CT on May 20th, 2002, and after registration and a chance to greet old friends and make new ones, the meeting was convened with prayer and worship by the senior pastor of Immanuel Congregational Church (UCC), the Rev. Edward Horstmann, who extended a warm greeting to the Society in this, its visit to the church where pastor/theologian Horace Bushnell once held forth.

Clerk's Report

CCHS Vice-President Dr. Elizabeth Nordbeck then called the annual business meeting to order. She announced the resignation, due to the obligations of his new office at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, of CCHS President Dr., Charles Hambrick-Stowe. She spoke of the dedicated leadership which he had given to the Society, and wished him continued success in his new calling.

Society Clerk Rev. Allen Tinkham was called upon to give a synopsis of recent Society gatherings. He reviewed the activities of the 49th annual meeting, held at Beneficent Congregational Church (UCC) in Providence, RI in May 2001, and at the October 2001 meeting held at the First Parish Church (UCC) in Dover, New Hampshire.

Dr. Nordbeck then gave a progress report concerning planning and negotiations by the Congregational Library, the Historical Society, and the American Congregational Association regarding options as to future possibilities and new configurations in leader-ship – this in anticipation of Dr. Harold Worthley’s retirement at the close of 2003. (There will be changes in the pattern for all three organizations. Dr. Worthley currently serves as Executive Secretary/Archivist or ES/A of CCHS, Head Librarian of the Congre-gational Library, and Executive Director of the Association.)

In the absence of the Treasurer, Dr. Worthley offered the Society’s financial report for 2001 noting “we spent less than we took in.” Generally speaking, the Society has continued to operate within its budgetary expectations even though no new sources of revenue were discovered. It was moved, seconded and voted to receive the report as presented.

The ES/A then shared his interesting, enlightening, and inspiring report, at the onset noting that “Before its next annual meeting the Society will have completed a full fifty years of service, assisting churches and individuals by recommending and making available resources for the study of the Congregational “Way of the Churches.” He reminded us that the Fall 2002 meeting will be the official “Jubilee” of the Society, and will be observed on next October 28th in the place where it first met, namely, in Boston’s Old South Church. He described improvements being made in the Library at Congrega-tional House, chiefly, the installation of a modern climate-control system to improve temperature and humidity control, and the purchase of the microfilm archives of the Congregational Home Missionary Society and the American Missionary Association. He noted as present among us today Ms. Bridgette Kelly who has recently been appointed to the post of Archivist of the United Church of Christ, serving at the Cleveland head-quarters of the UCC. Finally, he shared an account of some of the activities he has undertaken on behalf of the Society. His report was received with praise and accepted with thanks and appreciation.

The 2002 Society budget was presented. It was moved, seconded, and voted as presented with the addition of a 3.5% increase in staff salaries (the staff being the Office Secretary). Dr. Nordbeck then moved that our worthy Executive Secretary/Archivist receive the same increase. Dr. Worthley was invited to leave the meeting, and in his absence it was so voted, as was the entire budget for 2002.

Vice President Richard Taylor presented the nominations for officers and Board members for the coming year. Dr. Nordbeck was elected the Society’s new president. Others chosen were Rev. Richard Taylor (as Vice President), Rev. Allen Tinkham (as Clerk), Rev. Dennis Knight (as Treasurer), and Dr. Harold Field Worthley (as ES/A). For Members of the Board At-Large for terms of three years each, the following were chosen: Rev. Larrimore Crockett, Rev. Margaret Gifford, Rev. David King, and Rev. James Haddix. The business meeting was then adjourned.

The program for the day included two addresses. The first, “Wilderness, Paradise, and the Real Deal: Congregationalists West of the Ohio Valley” was given by Dr. Randi Walker. The second, “Most Emphatically a New World: Horace Bushnell and the American West” was offered by Dr. Robert Schneider. Between these excellent presentations there was a “walkabout” held, featuring the beautiful meeting house and
the adjoining property which is currently being renovated to house elements of the church’s outreach program. Rev. Horstmann was our able guide.

After an excellent lunch the Fagley Awards for Local Church History were announced as was the Nathanael M. Guptill Award for Regional Church History – a full account of the winning entries is given below. The day’s events concluded with some suggestions and helps for local church historians by the ES/A.

Respectfully submitted Allen F. Tinkham, Clerk

Frederick L. Fagley Awards

Named for one many consider the founder of CCHS… the Frederick L. Fagley Awards were created to recognize unusually meritorious publications in the field of local church history. Usually if not always an element in a congregation’s celebration of a significant anniversary year, these booklets come in all shapes and sizes, differing in formats and approaches to the challenge of telling the stories of particular congregations, some of them oldtimers, some newcomers. The judges have the unenviable task of selecting from among many excellent submissions those they feel would best serve as models to inspire local church historians whose turn at producing the story of their churches has not yet come round. This year’s judges were Rev, David King and Rev. Arvel Steece.

King introduced the winners in the category: Churches with less than 350 Members.

First Place was taken by The History of the First Congregational Church of Royalston [Massachusetts], written by Virginia E. Asel. This book was an unusually well-researched study, drawing on a multiplicity of sources, organizational records and diaries to flesh out what otherwise might have been a bare-bones list of ministers, deacons/esses, and meeting-houses. What Ms. Asel has accomplished is an account which takes the reader inside the life and times of a small country parish, and helps one understand the ups and downs of the church’s life as its pastors and people lived it. For example, she tells the story of how the determination of one layman broke down the custom that divided the seats in the meeting-house, “men on the south side, women on the north side,” by insistently sitting with his new bride (his third!) on the distaff side of the building. Another tale reveals how a temperance man argued (contra the precedent set at Cana) for turning the communion wine into water. A revival era heresy trial, the bene-volent work of the women’s organizations in times of local and national crisis – one keeps turning the pages, not sure what lies ahead for Royalston’s Congregationalists but confident the author will discover yet another local drama to keep the story interesting and indeed, inspiring.

Second Place among the smaller churches was awarded to The Granite Church by John Kirby, Jr. and Wayne E. Jacobson (the saga of The Church of Christ Congregational of Stony Brook, Connecticut). This study of the architecture, building and history of an unusual meetinghouse (now a century old) informs without smothering readers with Kirby’s architectural expertise. Jacobson for his part excels in the telling anecdote and the trenchant observation. For example, the section of Stony Creek Church’s organs and music is accompanied by a sketch of “congregational singing after the Reformation.” Color illustrations make the description of the church windows come alive as words alone could never do. For all the emphasis on architecture, the human face of the con-gregation comes through with perfect clarity.

Steece then took the floor to report on Churches with More than 350 Members.

First Place was assigned to That Church with the Tower; Highlights of Our History, 1851-2001, the subject being the First Congregational United Church of Christ of Portland, Oregon. Say what one will about committee productions, this book maintains a high level of quality and continuity, and makes excellent use of photographs as well. Among the roster of ministers one notes in particular George H. Atkinson (who served here from 1863 to 1872), a pioneer of Congregationalism in the Northwest, and Raymond B. Walker (pastor from 1929 to 1959), one of the architects and promoters of the United Church of Christ. The sesquicentennial bulletin includes a hymn written for the church’s centennial, “Under Thy Guiding Hand, O God” by Harold Saxe Tuttle to the tune “Duke Street.” Donald J. Sevetson’s anniversary sermon, “When We Were Very Young,” treats of Atkinson and his work, drawing largely on the 157 letters he sent back to the Ameri-can/Congregational Home Missionary Society between 1848 and 1876.

Second Place was deservedly won by A Celebration 1901-2001, 100 Years in the Life of the First Reformed United Church of Christ, [Lexington, North Carolina] whose author was Katherine F. Skipper. The founding pastor, John Calvin Leonard (b. 1867, d. 1940) served this congregation for 39 years and left the church a great legacy of records, while the books he authored are a treasure house for historians and genealogists. Skipper takes the church’s story by decades, in each chapter introducing the general cultural context before centering in on the life and work of the church during those ten years. Ministers and leaders are given each their due; projects are completed and problems resolved. Sons of the church who entered the ministry are recognized, and finally there are reflections of some of the current members regarding the influence of the church on their lives.

Third Place was taken by Hillcrest Jubilee History; a Book of Remembrance and Dedi-cation 1951-2001, the anniversary book created by the people of Hillcrest Congrega-tional Church of Pleasant Hill, California. Chapters are topical: Ministers, Worship, Music, Christian Education, Lay Leadership, Fellowship Times, Outreach, “Special Things,” Rambling Remembrances, Saints and Angels Behind the Scenes, and Anniver-sary Reflections. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs of people taking part in a variety of church activities.

A special commendation was awarded to The Miracle on Fifty-Seventh Street written by Dr. Mildred J. Armstrong, which told the story of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Congregational (UCC) of Chicago, Illinois. This non-anniversary history tells of strong leadership exercised through a succession of durable pastorates, and does right by the church’s lay leaders as well. In sum, Miracle holds a mirror up to nature in relating the story of a 20th century urban Afro-American church as it empowers its people and serves the wider community.

Nathanael M. Guptill Award

Rev. James Haddix was then invited to present the Nathanael M. Guptill Award, named for a former Minister of the Connecticut Conference and President of CCHS, now living in retirement in North Carolina. The Guptill Award was created to recognize regional or territorial histories which the Society’s officers consider to have made a noteworthy contribution to Congregational historiography. Haddix announced that the Guptill Award for 2001 was given to Granite and Grace; Essays Celebrating the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the New Hampshire Conference United Church of Christ, edited by Charles E. Clark and Elizabeth C. Nordbeck. And that completes the awards for 2001!

Executive Secreatry/Archivist's Report

The Executive Secretary/Archivist’s report to the Annual Meeting went like this…

Countdown! Before its next Annual Meeting, this Society will have completed a full fifty years of service, recording and lifting up resources for study of the Congregational “Way of the Churches.” Formal observance of CCHS’s Jubilee will take place October 28th, 2002 at the place where it all begun – Boston’s Old South Church. Please put this day on your calendar, so that you can be part of that goodly celebration!

That was the happy news. The sad news is that the Society has received and accepted the resignation of its president, Charles Hambrick-Stowe. Charlie’s new duties as head of the Doctor of Ministry program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary have made it impossible for him to carry the Society’s torch at this time. All of us wish him well, knowing his boundless enthusiasm for the Society’s mission will still be voiced as he finds opportunity in the midst of an increasingly busy and demanding career.

That was the sad news. The good news is that CCHS Vice-President Elizabeth Nordbeck has agreed to let her name be put in nomination for the Society’s presidency. There can be but few among us who have not met Beth in one of her many guises – scholarly historian, inspiring teacher, gifted administrator, antique-r (but not antiquarian), - I also know her as one of the guiding lights of a reorganized and reinvigorated American Congregational Association (ACA), the parent since 1853 of The Congregational Library at Boston’s 14 Beacon Street, where CCHS’s office staff hang their hats.

The words carved over the door at 14 Beacon Street read “Congregational House,” and in passing I would remark that the ACA is moving to improve both its century-old physical plant (to meet modern safety and convenience standards) and to expand the direction and liveliness of its witness to historic and contemporary Congregationalism. The present Librarian will retire in a mere year and a half, and his successor(s?) will divide his current list of responsibilities somewhat differently, a step which may impact CCHS’s post of Executive Secretary/Archivist. In another area, consideration is also being given to creating a Visitors Center in the building, separate from although related to the Library, the better to tell the Congregational story to confirmation classes and to the touristing general public.

A major project which affects CCHS even more directly: this coming summer modern climate control systems will be introduced into the Library, the better to preserve the documents on which the Society bases its research and its service to historians. Forty years ago, the ACA had created a Rare Book Room, complete with what was then a state-of-the-art air conditioning unit. Alas, after thirty years the AC unit began to function less and less effectively. Now, with the new mechanicals in place, climate control will be extended to the entire library premises, providing the fine-tuned control of temperature and relative humidity needed for the survival of all the precious records and books stored on the Library’s shelves.

One other project of mutual benefit to CCHS and the Library: on a challenge from the Librarian, the ACA Board took a leap of faith, spending $54,000 to purchase (at a 33% discount) the microfilm copies of the archives of the American/Congregational Home Missionary Society and the American Missionary Association. (At least a third of that cost was defrayed by special gifts made by Association members.) The Library (thanks to the influence of the late Dr. David Stowe) already owned a microfilm copy of the files of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, as well as the original records of the ABCFM’s Prudential or “Golden Rule” Committee (“They who control the gold make the rules”) and a sizable accumulation of ABCFM published annual reports and tracts. Also already on the Library’s shelves were the archives of the American/ Congregational Education Society, the New West Education Commission, the papers of the National/General Council of Congregational/Christian Churches, the newspapers and journals issued by the denomination, conference and association reports, and an immense collection of local church publications. Now that the AHMS and AMA records are on board, suddenly you realize that the Library is fast becoming (in Beth Nordbeck’s phrase) “one-stop shopping” for anyone, scholar or amateur historian, who wishes to study facets of Congregationalism’s interior life and its contributions to the development of American institutions and culture.

As for the Historical Society, operating on a much more modest budget, CCHS made its own venture of faith a couple of weeks ago, purchasing a new computer to replace one several generations old, which was threatening to euthanize its own memory circuits. That was $1,800 well spent, and it is incidentally the only major office equipment purchased by the Society within the past thirty years (the old computer had been a second-hand gift to CCHS). The new installation operates the mailing lists of both the Society and the Library/ Association, repaying in kind for the rent-free office space CCHS has received from the ACA these many years.

During the past twelve months, Society and Library staff have completed accessioning the twenty-five large cartons of books bequeathed to 14 Beacon Street when the ABCFM Library at New York’s Interchurch Center was dismantled. The Library’s Archivist has processed three large and complex sets of local church records, a toilsome but necessary job. Sad to say, a fourth set of local church records had to be entirely discarded, for so carelessly had their caretakers stored them that they were rain-soaked, ignored too long, and then completely infested with mold, ruined beyond any possibility of reclamation.

Many of you attended the May 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society at Providence’s Beneficent Congregational Church where two extraordinarily powerful papers investi-gated topics centering on “Congregationalism and Race.” A second public meeting at Dover, New Hampshire’s First Parish Church on October 29th was held the day after the New Hampshire Conference’s successful Bicentennial Celebration at Durham. There the Society was treated to presentations by the authors of the essays which appeared in the Conference Bicentennial Book, Granite and Grace.

In the wake of the September 11th tragedy, the annual meeting of the UCC Historical Council was cancelled, and to date no notice of another meeting has been given. At the last Council meeting in the Fall of 2000, its portfolio was designed to cover “History, Theology and Identity,” with the further suggestion that the size of the Council might be reduced from its current membership of twelve (three from each Society; six chosen at large by the UCC Executive Council). We were saddened to learn of the resignation of UCC Archivist George Hing but gladdened to be advised that a successor has been found, Ms. Bridgette Kelly, who is here with us today and who plans to visit Society head-quarters in Boston tomorrow.

In addition to expediting CCHS’s public meetings, the Boston office sent the annual notices (on behalf of itself and its Evangelical and Reformed sibling society) to all local churches (CCCC, NACCC, and UCC) approaching quarter-century anniversaries in 2002, and provided a variety of services and information to thirty or more of those which requested special assistance. CCHS’s Fall 2001 Newsletter and membership appeal was composed, printed, and mailed on schedule.

The ES/A spent one day at United Congregational Church in Holyoke, MA, assisting its historians in determining how best to handle their documents, the records of four local churches having become one archive after a series of mergers and federations. A similar visit was paid on another day to a Congregational church on the Bay State’s South Shore, but what was accomplished is uncertain, for during my hours there a procession of fore-warned church fathers and mothers paraded through the workspace, each in turn claiming that this or that batch of documents, because personally meaningful, must be forever retained! (Even photographs whose subjects no one could identify!)

A “Suitcase Seminar” for a dozen local church historian/archivists was presented in Danvers, Massachusetts and individual church officers and historical committees were counseled as best we could by mail and telephone regarding specific archival and publishing problems. Special attention was paid to the First Parish Federated Church in South Berwick, Maine in anticipation of its 300th anniversary celebration, for my father served as that church’s pastor in the 1930s and early ‘40s. It was an honor to be asked to give the tri-centennial sermon there, and a pleasure to return after sixty years absence to the place where I spent my boyhood.

The year now past brought the usual requests for genealogical and historical information.
We heard from churches in twenty-six states stretching from Maine and New Hampshire to Oregon and Washington, from Iowa and Utah to Arizona and Florida, and from Puerto Rico, Canada, and parts of the British Isles. Sketches of ministers’ career lines were in frequent demand, and so were explanations of New England’s dual system of church and parish. Anniversary churches were eager to have every-fifth-year printouts of their 19th and 20th century yearbook entries, as well as copies of sermons written and hymns sung about the time of their congregations’ birth.

Once again, I thank you for the privilege of serving the Society. I owe a large and con-tinuing debt of gratitude to Barbara Worthley who sees that all our legal and financial obligations are met to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our other less august creditors, and who takes care of a host of details on days like today. The staff of the Congregational Library help out in times of mass mailings, the Library’s Archivist collaborates helpfully when an issue or activity arises that involves interests and projects shared by both organizations, and the officers and directors of CCHS furnish ideas (and sometimes speakers) for the Society’s meetings and suggestions for improving its services. To one and all of them, many thanks on behalf of CCHS’s clients, and most certainly, my thanks as well. One person gets the credit, but many hands truly make the work light and de-light-ful for your Executive Secretary/Archivist.

Respectfully submitted, Harold Field Worthley, ES/A

Financial Report

contact us if you wish to see the financial report

United Church of Christ Historical Council

Back in business after two long years…

the United Church of Christ Historical Council (as many of its members as could respond on short notice) arrived in Cleveland on October 18th, to regroup and reflect in the Council’s mission. Among the several issues at hand, it appeared that for the time being, the Council would be constituted in the same representative fashion as before – three delegates from each of the historical societies, and six appointed at large by the UCC’s Executive Council. Rev. Richard Taylor agreed to serve as chairperson. Association General Minister Edith Guffey, Archivist Bridgette Kelly, and representatives of the denomination’s communications and publication arms were in attendance, and responded helpfully to the Council’s concern for continuing education of the people of the United Church in the rich church histories which flowed into the denomination in 1957. The improvements in recording accurately and keeping up-to-date the career lines of UCC ministers were explained and applauded. The mechanism for the financial support of the two historical societies was reviewed. Finally, suggestions were offered for the Council’s presence at General Synod XXIV (Minneapolis) next summer and for possible themes for General Synod XXIV in 2007 (the 50th anniversary of the United Church of Christ). The meeting concluded with a tour of the UCC Archives, led by Archivist Kelly.

CCHS's 50th Anniversary Celebration

October 28th, 2002 – The Order of the Day – Great Jubilation!-

What else but jubilation (“expressions of great joy”) on this, the fiftieth birthday of the Congregational Christian Historical Society?! The place was Boston’s Old South Church, where Interim Pastor Carl Schultz led devotions, and President Elizabeth Nordbeck welcomed the Society back to the place of its birth.

Business was kept to a minimum: the annual meeting minutes were read, a minor correction made, and accepted. The President up-dated the assembly on plans for leadership at 14 Beacon Street in the wake of ES/A Worthley’s retirement (December 2003): two persons would be sought, one to have general responsibility for the building and programs, and the other to be responsible for the Library and its staff. The second individual would probably carry on the Library’s working relationship with CCHS. The members of the Society were invited to submit names for persons who might be con-sidered for these positions.

Treasurer Dennis Knight reviewed the overall financial position of the Society, noting that expenses were up, mainly due to the unavoidable purchase of a new computer and printer. There was a discussion of time lines as to income and expected expenses. In order to meet any possible shortfall, it was moved, seconded and voted that if necessary to meet the Society’s obligations, money might be transferred from the Smith Barney Account to the operating budget.

The Executive Secretary/Archivist reviewed the current situation which has presented the Congregational Library and the American Congregational Association (his other employers) with exciting new opportunities and him with new demands. He spoke of the steady stream of inquiries addressed to the Society by church committees and individuals (from twenty-eight states, Puerto Rico, England and Japan, in just the past five months!) and admitted that research time was at a premium because of administrative duties which could not be postponed. Nonetheless, to date all requests for assistance have been filled (if somewhat breathlessly). The ES/A’s report was received with appreciation.

ES/A Worthley and Treasurer Knight then presented the preliminary budget for 2003. The general consensus was that the budget for 2003 should be held to pretty much the same level at which it stands in 2002, minus the cost of the new computer.

Office Secretary Barbara Worthley was thanked for creating the pictorial historical dis-play depicting “personalities and moments of moment” in the Society’s history. It was announced that the Society has been invited to hold its May 2005 Annual Meeting at the First Congregational Church of Burlington, VT, the year of that congregation’s two hun-dredth birthday. To date, no other bids for meeting sites have been received.

CCHS was then treated to two eloquent addresses. Honorary Vice President the Rev. Dr. Arvel M. Steece, who had attended the very first meeting of the Society and most of its gatherings since 1952 spoke about “The Congregational Christian Historical Society at Fifty: Embarrassment or Opportunity?” He reminisced about the organization’s birth and development and recalled the persons who founded and shaped the Society, most of them now gone from among us. His recollections were well received. After a delicious lunch, Old South’s recently retired senior minister, the Rev. James Crawford, revisited three great cultural and political movements that most present had witnessed making a strong impact on the life of the churches they served and attended. Under the title “Boston and Its Communities of Faith,” Crawford spoke of the odyssey of urban mission and the troubling issue of race, of the decisive decade of the sixties and its impact on the churches’ identity and the mediation of their message, and of the progress of women’s liberation and its impact on “God talk.” Perceptive, by turns witty and serious, Crawford proved an apt guide through a complex and critical period of recent history.

Then the Society adjourned, ready to begin its next fifty years of service to the idea of “the Congregational Way” and its heirs.