Showing 54 results

The papers contains file folders on various places, organizations, and people Ralph T. Templin associated with during his missions. There are five files while he was at Central State University. Eight files directly related with missionary work in India but there are a number of others also pertaining to the India Missions. Eight files on the Puerto Rican independence nationalist movement which Ralph Templin strongly supported. There are various amounts on information pertaining to the Peacemaker movement and a number of files on personal correspondence. The other folders are manuscripts and published works. Some files contain photographs and newspaper clippings. The last box of the collection contains three large copies of Templin's, "Farewell Address" at Clancey High School. Two of the copies are in English and the final copy is in Sanskrit.

The material in this collection represents Mueller's work from his first years as a pastor in the Evangelical Association to his retirement from the Episcopacy of the United Methodist Church (1921-1975). The earliest manuscripts include sermons and addresses (1921-1975). The rest of the collection consists of correspondence (1941-1973), photographs (1962-1976), addresses (1921-1975), articles, and clippings (1921-1975). The most sustained record of Mueller's work begins in the 1940's with Mueller's election as Executive Secretary of Christian Education. The collection continues with records from his episcopal leadership, his presidency of the N.C.C., and his involvement in the negotiations for the Uniting Conference in 1968.

The majority of the papers are in two bound volumes of handwritten sermons from 1859 to1867 preaches at the Fayetteville MECS church. Next is a bound book containing his 1896 published drama, In the Wilderness or A Romance of Christianity. In the same folder, the researcher will discover a fragment of the same script possibly published in 1870. A single letter dated January 30, 18(7?) requesting a new appointment for the Ozark church. Finally, Hammett appears in a copy of an 1896 State of Washington civil libel suit decision.

This collection primarily documents the work and ministry of the Evangelical Church's annual conferences and local churches from the middle nineteenth century to the middle twentieth century. To a lesser degree there are records that reflect the ministry of the general church as well. There are other records that pertain to filial denominations such as the Evangelical Association, United Evangelical Church, Church of the United Brethren in Christ (United Brethren Church), and the Evangelical United Brethren Churches are also found in this collection. Leedy was an avid collector of church related information so that the topical landscape of this collection is broad enough to cover information ranging from local church ministries and histories to denominational theological beliefs and social concerns. Most of the paper records center on church work in the Ohio region though not to the exclusion of other geographic areas within the continental United States and Germany. All in all this collection provides a nice overview of the diversified life within the Evangelical tradition and is an excellent resource for those who wish to understand more fully the Evangelical Church's historical influence within the ongoing traditions of United Methodism.

The Roy Stinson Smyres Collection documents the life of a person and his family whose multifaceted ministerial career exemplifies a dedication to United Methodist Church work in the twentieth century. This dedication is well documented through a variety of record types within the collection. Smyres kept an ongoing journal (1914-1990) and date books (1913-1990) that reveal his intimate experiences as a missionary, minister, and family member. The journals from his missionary days discuss the ongoing work of the mission as well as documenting Smyres' trek across West Africa in 1919, as well as other related trips. Additional entries record interviews with missionaries and indigenous people alike. Also included are discourses and reflections on sociology, anthropology, theology, politics, and life in general.

The date books list mundane things such as financial expenditures, appointments, etc. Some of the entries are in shorthand. The correspondence between Roy Smyres and his family, friends, and colleagues are just as illuminating as the journals, date books, and images. Most of these letters were collected by Nell Smyres and were given to Roy after her death.

While in Africa, Smyres made it a point to write home at least once a week whenever possible. Roy saved copies of letters that he wrote home while serving as a missionary to Africa, which is the reason for some duplication from Nell's files. A few letters were written on the back of older ones for economy. His early pen name to his family was Bud. Record types include correspondence, Christmas letters, and postcards. There are a few letters between Roy and Esther's children with each other which due to the lack of volume were incorporated into Roy's sub-series. Roy's earlier letters (1914-1929) contain personal observations on student life at Northwestern, mission work, missionaries, cannibalism, and "frontier justice" in Africa. These letters also document formal and casual reports from the mission field, photography, and hand-drawn diagrams of architectural features of mission buildings in the Congo.

The African travel accounts tell of the dangers of living in the jungle. Family matters are sprinkled throughout the correspondence. Most of the letters are addressed to Smyres' immediate family. Correspondence from 1930 to 1949 focuses on teaching, church work in Ithaca, and the beginning of a cooperative store in Ithaca - the first of its kind in that city. Roy was greatly interested in politics and peace issues.

Smyres' early work for the mission board is discussed here as well. The letters dating from the 1950's and early 1960's revolve around his continued work for the mission board, trips, publishers, and family. Included in the mission board correspondence was his involvement with the Advance Program.

After Smyres' retirement, the correspondence documents voluntary mission work in India, the Vietnam War, and other peace issues. Subjects found in correspondence from 1970 to 1992 document articles that Smyres published, speaking engagements, ministerial activities, work for the Religious News Service, and global trips. Also during this time period family issues are recorded which include the death of his first wife, Esther, and his second marriage to Mary Fraley, and extended family events. There are social and political remarks about Vietnam, peace, The Human Needs and Security Bill of 1984, El Salvador, the Lebanon conflict, opposition to the United States government appointing an ambassador to the Vatican, and the Persian Gulf War. Most of these letters were written to government officials who had a direct influence in these issues. Another aspect of this correspondence involves his photographic commissions and subsequent loans of images to publishers and missionaries.

Esther Smyres' correspondence ranges from 1920 to 1968 with the bulk of the letters dated from 1920 to 1937. Though not as voluminous as Roy's, they do illustrate in some detail the domestic work in a missionary home as well as documenting a spouse's missionary work in the Belgian Congo. There are casual references to African geography and society. Later correspondence documents Esther's work as a school teacher, her various travels, local church work, and family. Another value of Esther's correspondence is that they often fill in points of information that Roy leaves out of his correspondence of the same time. This is especially true during their years on the mission field and ministry in the local church. Most of the correspondence is directed to Mary Hannah Brown Smyres and Nell Smyres. Mary Fraley Smyres correspondence dates from 1972 to 1980 with bulk dates of 1973 to 1975. Most of these letters relate to family events and friends. Nell Smyres incoming and outgoing correspondence documents her early childhood, college life, family news, trips, and theology.

Some of the letters are from Roy and Esther's children and grandchildren, who express their embracing of Pentecostalism and faith healing. The last group of letters is from Roy's parents. Recipients of these letters include their children as well as extended family. Topics include family news, missionary work, spirituality in the church, and theology in general.

Mary's correspondence ranges from 1911 to 1947, with the bulk of the correspondence from 1919. Luther's correspondence dates from 1916 to 1920, with the bulk of the letters from 1919-1920. Family records are general in nature and revolve around four people: Roy, Esther, Nell, and Joan Smyres. Joan was Roy and Esther's daughter-in-law who died of cancer at an early age. Joan's sub-series documents her funeral.

The rest of the material reflects the childhood, marriage, and careers of Esther and Roy. Nell's records contain her Master's Thesis written at Ohio Wesleyan on the expansion of Christianity in Russia. Nell also collected reports written by her nephew, Eugene Stockwell, a missionary in Africa.

The Writings Series contains manuscripts (1917-1990), sermons (1929-1966), prayers (1937-1988), and publications (1939-1987) authored by Roy Smyres. Included in this section are two books that Roy wrote: Thoughts of Chairman Smyres, and his autobiography. Both these volumes were published in the late 1980s. Other publications include articles and photographs. The sermons (1929-1966) illuminate a variety of topics including missions, politics, theology, liturgy, world communion, cooperatives, and stewardship. Formats include radio and children sermons as well as pulpit sermons. Some of the sermons are in shorthand. The prayers relate to the various aspects of Smyres' ministry within the church. Smyres' professional life in the ministry of the church revolved around three sub-series: local church, annual conference, and the General Board of Global Ministries. Local church records contain worship bulletins and miscellaneous church papers. Annual conference records contain reports and ephemera.

The General Board of Global Ministries sub-series documents Smyres' work in DOM Committee material, reports, gift programs, IDOC International records, Advance Program Support Funds, Central America, financial records and journals, treasurer codes, notebooks, and newsletters. Roy created and collected maps that attest to geographic areas that he served or visited. The African maps are of special interest to those researchers whose historical focus is either missions or the Belgian Congo political boundaries during his years as a missionary. The hand-drawn maps are especially enlightening. The largest series in the collection contains Smyres' photographic images. These images are the spotlight of the collection. His photographic abilities and style were sought out by a number of religious organizations. Record types include glass lantern slides, 35 mm slides, negatives, photographs, and contact sheets. Geographic areas include countries from each of the populated continents as well as Oceania.

The images cover a vast array of topics too numerous to list. In some instance's Roy kept log books that identify certain images with corresponding narrative via his unique cataloging system. It should come as no surprise that family images are in abundance as well.

This accession contains the sermon and travel notes of Sylvanus C. Breyfogel. There are also several notebooks, letters, reports and eulogies. The writings include addresses, articles and sermons written by Breyfogel. There are several note cards and posters advertising the Bishops lectures and a program from a centenary celebration. This accession also includes some legal documents and financial records.

This collection contains items related to the Karl E. Anderson family. The bulk of this collection are Karl Anderson's diaries which are dated 1897-1905, 1914-1915, 1924, 1926-1927, and 1929-1934. The diaries contain information about his daily experiences and religious observations. Other records include sermons and writings which are in outline format (undated), notes from which Anderson preached (undated), and a poem (undated). There are also several biographical materials (1931-1970) in this collection. Dorothea Anderson's materials of creative writings (undated) are located in a single folder. These items are mostly plays and articles on Indian mission subjects.

There is also a folder of letters and articles (1933- 1945) by or about Bishop William F. Oldham. This includes correspondence from Oldham and a copy of his funeral service bulletin. Oldham was the subject of a 3,000 word biography written by Emma Anderson. Helen Rieger Emmerson has a manuscript (1970) on the history of the Lisbon, Iowa, United Methodist Church. This piece covers the time period when Anderson pastored the church. In addition there are two photographs: one of the General Committee of the Foreign Mission Board from November 1913, and a second picture of the General Executive Committee of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society in October 1923. The two artifacts in this collection include a Bidar metal vase (undated) with a copy of a legend and a woven straw tray (undated).

The largest amount of material consists of sermons. The sermons range in date from 1933 until 1993, with revisions of previous sermons as late as 1996. Sermons were arranged either alphabetically or topically. The topics generally deal with special events such as the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi, VE Day, VJ Day and funerals. There are also notes and reference material which he used to write the sermons. Also included are his orders of worship, or bulletins, and copies of the prayers he used in worship or collected. There is also correspondence, poetry and biographical information on Christman in these papers. The biographical material deals with his childhood, his seminary days and his ministry and family. There is also reference material used in his sermons and in his historical writings for the Northeast Jurisdictional newsletter.

This collection is comprised mainly of Walter L. Crowding's prayers, sermons, a few newspaper clippings, and an oversized photograph. The prayers and sermons contained within this collection span the whole of his time in ministry.

This collection contains materials relating to Clymer's life after his college days at Asbury. The earliest records are correspondence, addresses/sermons, and the graduate papers from the 1940's. Clymer's correspondence, the largest quantity of the record types in the collection, covers every year from 1942 through 1993, except for about ten years between the mid-1950's and 1967. Clymer's collection of addresses, sermons, and lectures is the next largest group of records, and dates from the early 1940's through the late 1980's. The collection also contains copies of some of Clymer's publications. The original accession contained copies of his books and books in which he was a contributor, as well as articles in widely circulated journals. These have been removed and transferred to the Methodist Library, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. The collection also contains various clippings, programs, pamphlets, reports, and photographs.