Elmer T. Clark Papers

Identity elements

Reference code

US NjMdUMCG 554

Name and location of repository

General Commission on Archives and History

Level of description

Collection

Title

Elmer T. Clark Papers

Date(s)

  • 1938-1966 (Creation)

Extent

6.0 cubic feet

Name of creator

Clark, Elmer Talmage
(1886-1966)

Biographical history

Elmer Talmadge Clark (1886-1966) was a pastor, newspaper correspondent, editor, publicity manager, missionary secretary, and church historian. He joined the St. Louis Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1909 and served pastorates in the St. Louis area. During World War II, he was a correspondent for the New York Tribune. In 1918 he became publicity and promotion director for the Missionary Centenary, a movement which raised more than fifty million dollars for home and foreign missions. He also served in a similar capacity for the Christian Education campaign.

After those campaigns Clark became editorial secretary of the Board of Missions and editor of World Outlook. In 1948 he was elected executive secretary of the Association of Methodist Historical Societies (AMHS). At Oxford, England, in 1951, he was elected secretary for the Western Hemisphere of the World Methodist Council (WMC).

Clark founded and edited World Parish, the bulletin issued jointly by these two organizations. In 1952 he resigned his office in the Board of Missions and moved to Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, to carry on the work of the AMHS and the WMC and to ensure the construction of the World Methodist Building. In 1961 he became secretary emeritus of the WMC.

Clark was editor-in-chief of The Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury, wrote twenty-seven mission study books, thirteen volumes of The Missionary Year Book, numerous articles, and helped compile the Encyclopedia of World Methodism.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

The Elmer T. Clark Collection reflects Clark's work as a writer, editor, and church historian. Record types include essays, articles, manuscripts for books, correspondence, and a collection of promotional materials -- posters, pamphlets, booklets -- for the Missionary Centenary in 1918. A few personal records, such as correspondence and wills, and an audiotape of an interview between Clark's wife, Mary Alva Clark, and Ellen Lasely are included as well. The Essays and Articles series contains a subseries of addresses delivered by various speakers at the Aldersgate Session of the General Missionary Council, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1938. Clark and the other editors on the Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury publishing project corresponded with several outside researchers. That correspondence is included in the collection.

System of arrangement

This collection is arranged by series and subseries.

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

There are no restrictions regarding this collection.

Physical access

Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

Detailed use restrictions relating to our collections can be requested from the office of the archivist at the General Commission on Archives and History. Photocopying is handled by the staff and may be limited in certain instances. Before using any material for publication from this collection a formal request for permission to publish is expected and required.

Languages of the material

  • English

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    Notes element

    General note

    When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, Elmer T. Clark Collection, United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey. Do not make use of the item's call number as that is not a stable descriptor.

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    Archivist's note

    Prepared by Morris Davis, Manuscripts Processor, Myeongho Cha and Lindsay Richardson, Student Assistants, and Mark C. Shenise, Associate Archivist

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