Church Women United in Missouri, Papers, 1948-1976 (C0282)

.8 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

Papers of the state chapter of a national Christian women’s ecumenical organization affiliated with the National Council of Churches. Includes constitutions and bylaws, minutes, annual and triennial reports, lists of officers, financial statements and budgets, correspondence, official histories, programs, proclamations, publicity materials, photographs, and clippings.

DONOR INFORMATION

The papers were donated to the University of Missouri by Church Women United in Missouri on 19 June 1984 (Accession No. 4578).

ORGANIZATIONAL SKETCH

In 1943 several Missouri women’s church groups formed an interdenominational Christian association called the Missouri Council of Church Women (MCCW), a direct response to the birth of the national United Council of Church Women in 1941. By decade’s end, the group had begun a number of charitable and missionary activities, assumed responsibility for such statewide events as World Day of Prayer, and initiated a program of annual assemblies.

The MCCW changed its name to United Church Women in Missouri (UCWM) in 1952, taking its cue from the national group, and in the next few years adopted further measures pioneered by the parent organization: UCWM became a department of the Missouri Council of Churches in 1957 and began publishing The Missouri Church Woman in 1960. During the 1960s, UCWM engaged in projects of social concern related to race relations and migrant welfare, working with Women in Community Service and Missouri Associated Migrant Opportunity Services, Inc., two affiliated groups.

In 1966 UCWM once more followed the lead of the national organization by taking the name Church Women United in Missouri with the avowed purposes of avoiding confusion with the United Church of Christ and of symbolizing a new emphasis on ecumenism. The organization also moved toward more autonomous relations with the Missouri Council of Churches, the autonomy turning to independence with the latter’s dissolution in 1983.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

These papers are the gleanings of scrapbooks kept by official historians rather than systematic office files and are not a complete record of the Church Women United in Missouri. While there are considerable gaps in some areas, the material overlaps enough to provide a fairly intact picture of the organization. Most complete are the organizational histories that cover the group’s formative years in the 1940s to the mid-1960s. Also present is general information regarding topics related to women, religion, race relations, and various social problems of the mid-twentieth century in Missouri.

Materials are arranged either by type of document or event and then chronologically.

FOLDER LIST

f. 1 Constitutions and bylaws, 1955-1965.
f. 2-3 Minutes, 1960-1962. Executive committee, board of managers, and annual assembly general meetings.
f. 4-11 Annual reports, 1958-1967. Report years run from April to April. Reports for 1962-1963 and 1963-1964 are not present. Includes report of Columbia chapter for 1961.
f. 12-13 Triennium reports, 1970-1973. Follows policy adopted in 1967 shifting from annual to triennial assemblies. Covers years from 1967 to 1973.
f. 14 Lists of officers, 1959-1967. State officers and presidents of local chapters.
f. 15 Financial statements and budgets, 1962-1965, n.d.
f. 16 Correspondence, 1954-1965. Mostly form letters relative to organizational events and other activities.
f. 17 Official organizational histories, 1953-1966. Written at tow to six year intervals, these histories cover the formation of local interdenominational women’s church groups in Missouri at the turn of the century, their coalescence into the Missouri Council of Church Women in the 1940s, and events, policies, and name changes in the following decades.
f. 18 Annual assemblies, 1948, 1952-1966. Agendas and programs for religious services and other events.
f. 19 May Fellowship Day, 1950-1957, 1966. Program from various participating Missouri churches.
f. 20 World Community Day, 1948-1976. Programs and announcements from participating Missouri churches.
f. 21-22 World Day of Prayer, 1952-1976. Programs, proclamations by Missouri governors, and 1961 “Register of local Committees and Churches Participating in the 75th Anniversary of the World Day of Prayer.”
f. 23 Programs for miscellaneous events, 1957-1967.
f. 24 Tenth Annual National Assembly, Kansas City, Missouri, 1964. Speeches, announcements, programs, and invitations.
f. 25-26 Miscellaneous, 1955-1975. Includes 1955 Girl Scout “Service Record Book for the God and Community Award,” calendars of events in the early 1960s, publicity and promotional materials, items from local branches, 1965 brochure for “Assignment: Race” project, 1966 “Tribute to Mrs. C. Roy (Jessie) Rudolph,” and 1968 report from Missouri Associated Migrant Opportunity Services, Inc.
f. 27 Miscellaneous materials from other organizations, 1957-1967. Programs, fliers, and newsletters.
f. 28-29 Photographs, 1949-1966. Publicity shots of officers, conferences, workshops, and missionary activities.
f. 30-34 Newspaper clippings, 1949-1967.

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at The State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

Subject

Folders

Image

Abbott, George H., Mrs.

29

y

Armstrong, Marjorie

28

y

Blacks--Missouri, 1940s

28

y

Blacks--Missouri, 1960s

29

y

Blazer, Howard

29

y

Christian unity

1-34

 

Church architecture, Japan, 1950s

28

y

Church Women United in Missouri

1-34

y

Girl Scouts, Kansas City, Missouri

25

 

Hotels, Missouri, St. Louis

28

y

Interdenominational Council, Kansas City, Missouri

17

 

Interior decoration, Hotels, 1940s

28

y

Kansas City Council of Church Women

17

 

Migrant labor, 1960s

25

 

Missionaries, Christian

28, #3,4

y

Missionary Federation, Kansas City MO

17

 

Missions, Christian

1-17, 30-34

 

Missouri Associated Migrant Opportunity Services, Incorporated

25

 

Paternoster, Ira G.

29, #7

y

Pigg, M. Leon

29, #6

y

Price, Walter B.

28, #7; 29, #1, 6

y

Race relations, 1960

25, 27

 

Religion, Missouri

1-34

 

Rudolph, Jessie

25

 

Schauer, John W.

29, #7

y

Schroer, Gilbert W., Mrs.

28, #3, 4

y

Sheraton-Jefferson Hotel, St. Louis

28, #1

y

Sonnenday, Margaret

28, #7; 29, #1

y

St. Louis Council of Church Women

17

 

Stevens, Alois

29, #6

y

Students, Foreign

1-16

 

Students, Foreign, 1960s

29, #5

y

Wilson, Kirby

29, #1

y

Women in Community Service (Organization)

1-17, 25

 

Women's clothing, 1950s

28, #2

 

Women's Missionary Federation, St. Louis

17

 

Women's Social Missionary Union, St. Louis

17

 

Women--Societies

1-34, 28, 29

y

Younkin, Frank

29, #6