This is a small group of the Commission’s minutes and reports. Of note is a 1931 report by Frank Gavin on the condition of the Church in Europe and the Middle East, which was filed with the Committee on Ecclesiastical Relations as it was then known.
Advisory Commission on Ecclesiastical RelationsRecords documenting the domestic and foreign operation and program of the offices and agents of the Board of Missions, including entities with loose reporting relationship or funded directly by the Board of Missions. Some Board of Missions fonds and records may have been processed with a continuing body of records or a similar function of a National Council successor unit, or even with a continuing Executive Council entity. Some notes indicate that archivists arranged early records in large groupings for convenience (cf.., introductory notes for RG 45 and RG 50).
Non-serial records in print or other media have been generated by a number of program support units with the aim of distributing news, information, and promotional or messaging content, mostly in support of its evangelism and missionary work, but to connect leaders an membership with newsworthy stories. It includes operational records and pictorial representations, motion pictures, transparency slides, audio and video recordings, and after 1995 website records, e-records, digital publications, and digital video recordings. (See also EP Official Documents, Published Media, and Records-in-Print Collection.)
Correspondence, minutes, reports, publications, and photographs primarily document the time period when the Rev. Franklin D. Turner served as Coordinator for Black Ministries. Also included are some early photographs dating back to 1946.
Coordinator for Black MinistriesThe records relate to the reorganization of Christian education under the National Council beginning with the phase that retained some of the self-governing aspects of the Church’s board structure. The administrative records include minutes, reports, surveys, correspondence, financial statements, and printed matter. Of note is a significant amount of documentation relating to an annual index of Episcopal Camps and Conferences, including questionnaires, leaflets, brochures, and correspondence as well as two film series including Here and Now and Going on from Here, along with production records. Reports, minutes, transcriptions, and correspondence that document the various aspects of the Department’s work among youth round out the collection.
Department of Christian EducationThis collection consists of periodicals that were created for leaders in the field of Christian education as well as students and parents and covers two periods with a noticeable gap: 1927-1947 and 1953-1982. The publications provide guidance and leadership in the field and also serve as a forum to unify discussion and exchange current ideas on education.
Department of Christian EducationRecords in this collection reflect the administrative and programmatic oversight activities of the national Episcopal Church entities responsible for education and lay Christian formation between 1920 and 1971. Though the collection is small, it covers a wide array of topics in Christian Education, including: curriculum development; continuing education; the Christian Nurture series; the Seabury series of Sunday school materials; departmental reorganization; and Christian education in various overseas regions. The materials include correspondence, minutes, reports, articles, audio tapes, and printed matter such as publications, articles, and addresses.
The correspondence includes material from the 1920s (when the unit was known as the Department of Religious Education) directed to the first Executive Secretary, the Rev. John Suter; there is then a gap, with the next group of correspondence beginning in the early 1950s. The 1970-1971 correspondence offers a good overview of issues faced in the period when there was no staff officer in charge of religious education.
A 1957 report titled “Review of Activities, Department of Christian Education, Protestant Episcopal Church” presents a comprehensive look at what the Department had accomplished up to that point and what it sought to accomplish in the future.
Department of Christian EducationMostly correspondence and some financial records make up this set of records, which dates from 1941 to 1951, excluding the period from January of 1947 through November of 1948. They capture an important record of the activities of the Episcopal Church in China during World War II and during the last days of its work in the early 1950s. The correspondence contains far more than a record of financial transactions, since Allen wrote detailed letters recording the events taking place in China. There is some correspondence with the Bank of China, 1941-1944.
Department of FinanceThe records of the Deputy for Anglican Relations comprise correspondence, meeting files, and printed materials from the office of the Rev. Charles A. Cesaretti, who was appointed Deputy to the Presiding Bishop for Anglican Relations by Bishop Browning, beginning in 1986. The majority of the files document meetings and official functions that Cesaretti attended around the world. Included are reports, correspondence regarding planning and travel logistics, sharing of funding among ACC members, and internal commentary touching on documents and statements proposed by other Anglican partners which sometimes reveal serious theological rifts in the global Communion.
In addition, an interfaith conference on disarmament and an inter-religious trip to the USSR, as well as records of Bishop Desmond Tutu’s installation and correspondence and meeting files for the Churches’ Emergency Committee on South Africa are included.
Deputy for Anglican RelationsThe records of the Division of College work document the Church’s work in college and university communities around the United States. Budgets and grant awards, and photographs constitute the unique records in this group. The photographs depict students, faculty, clergy, and lay leaders at conferences and gatherings in a variety of settings, as well as church buildings and interiors at various colleges and universities around the United States.
Division of College WorkA category of records that includes executive-level planning and management of Domestic Mission offices, staff and activities. It may include policy documents, budgets and staffing decisions, planning documents, and reports to the Presiding Bishop, Council, and General Convention bodies. (See also AR PB 02 Administration, Administrative Officers, and Canons for overlapping areas of domestic program coordination).
A category that distinguishes the establishment of foreign mission churches and the missionaries sent by the DFMS, including personnel records generated on individuals engaged in work outside the United States and in Episcopal Church provincial jurisdiction. The records document recruitment, training, and placement of DFMS missionaries or representatives, mission volunteers, and others engaged in evangelism or service work abroad or in technical assistance to others in jurisdictions beyond the United States. The records also frequently contain abundant personal information on individual experiences in foreign service.
The Dominican Republic records contain correspondence, reports, photographs, and pamphlets documenting the efforts of the Overseas Department of The Episcopal Church in the Dominican Republic from 1902 to 1964.
Dominican Republic MissionRecords of offices and staff engaged in the Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interreligious relationships, including meeting records of Episcopal and Anglican dialogues, consultations, and covenanted agreements; conversations with faith traditions, work with ecumenical organizations such as the NCCC and WCC, on-going work with full communion partners, and operational files.
This fonds documents the work of Ecumenical Officer Peter Day in representing the Episcopal Church on various external Christian bodies engaged in consultation on common liturgical and social matters, as well as discussions of unity. Of particular note are the Episcopal Church's files on the Consultation on Church Unity (COCU). Correspondence, reports, newsletters, articles, questionnaires are also found in the records.
Ecumenical Office