Identity elements
Reference Number
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1910-2017 (bulk 1936-1986) (Creation)
Extent
14 cu.ft. (39 boxes)
Name of creator
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The papers of Charles Radford Lawrence and Margaret Morgan Lawrence document Charles’s activities as a sociologist, professor, civil rights activist, and President of the House of Deputies of The Episcopal Church. The archive contains lectures, sermons, addresses, correspondence, photographs, audio recordings, news clippings, and awards and honoraria from 1936 through 1986 with some earlier collected works and photographs. Margaret Lawrence’s work and research, which centered on the long-term effects of racism on the health of black families, is also featured in the collection.
Arrangement
Series 1. Biographical, 1936-2017
Series 2. Professional, 1940-1986
Series 3. Episcopal Church Service, 1967-1986
Series 4. Correspondence, 1938-2003
Series 5. Lectures, Addresses, Articles, 1945-1996
Series 6. Subject Files, 1922, 1942-1986
Series 7. Margaret Morgan Lawrence, 1924-2009
Series 8. Collected Material and Ephemera, 1916-1982
Series 9. Audio/Visual, c.1910-1985
Conditions of access and use elements
Access conditions
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
Technical access
Rights and permissions
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Languages of the material
English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related records and archives
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
- Abstract: Charles Radford Lawrence II (1915-1986) was a longtime Church leader, social activist, and educator. From 1948 until his retirement in 1977, he worked at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York as professor of sociology and chairman of the Department of Sociology. His active involvement in the Church began in 1952 when he became the vestryman and senior warden for Saint Paul's in Spring Valley, New York. Sixteen years later, he became the first black senior warden for New York's historic Trinity Parish. Lawrence served as a Deputy to General Convention from 1967 to 1985, attending eight conventions. In 1976, he became the first African American, and third lay person, elected President of the House of Deputies in the House's 191-year history. Lawrence served as a member of a number of General Convention committees, commissions, and boards. His most influential appointment was as Chairman of the House of Deputies Special Committee on the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood and Episcopate. Both Lawrence and his wife, Dr. Margaret Morgan Lawrence, were influential in the study of race in America. Margaret's work centered on the long-term effects of racism on the health of black families, particularly children. In addition to her career as a world-renowned psychologist and psychoanalyst, she served as chief of the Developmental Psychiatry Center for Infants and Young Children and their Families at Harlem Hospital in New York until her retirement in 1984.