The collection includes clippings that pertain mainly to the union of the Methodist Church, a eulogy for Lawson, program for "Judge Lawson Day" at the Liberty Methodist Church, opinions of the Court of Appeals, court decisions, and an original signed copy of the opinion of the Judicial Council of the Methodist Episcopal Church South on the matter of the unification of Methodism. The collection also includes several booklets and periodicals; an October 1932 edition of the newspaper Christian Standard, Volume 7 of The Methodist Layman for 1930, a June 1956 edition of the Missouri Methodist, a 1939 edition of the Christian Advocate and several other booklets discussing Methodism. There are many letters, to and from Martin E. Lawson, photographs, a biography of the judge and ephemera concerning the fifth and sixth Ecumenical Conferences.
Lawson, Martin EmertThis material contains general administrative files from the World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries. The material holds Division minutes both of the various committees and of the staff, correspondence with Bishops, and with missionary institutions around the world. In addition to administrative functions there is information on the overseas educational institutions, autonomous church developments, building programs, and the Crusade program, and other scholarships from the World Division. This material holds a variety of administrative and support information as well as information about the general programs of the World Division. There are structural and design blueprints for mission site buildings from around the world are in the Blueprint series. Records dealing with the work of the Evangelical Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in modern day Dominican Republic are located in two series. Gift processing, legal program, and Property deal with records related to gifts, financial bequests and property held by the Division. Editorial decisions and committee oversight are found in the New World Outlook series. The Office of Edwin Fisher and of Ralph Diffendorfer contain records related to their work; Fisher as a director of the work in several geographic regions and Diffendorfer as the director of the World Division during the 1930s and 1940s. Subject files contain general correspondence reflecting the various programs of the World Division. In addition to material relating to the general programs and functions of the World Division there are also records pertaining to autonomous church developments among the former mission sites, funding of churches, reports and training of missionaries, and reactions to critics of the Division's programs.
United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries. World Division