This collection includes the sermons, teachings, addresses, writings, notebooks, and accounting records of United Brethren Bishop Cyrus J. Kephart. The bulk of the collection are his sermons, that while undated, may have come from during the period when he served as pastor in Iowa and Ohio, 1878-1913.. His teachings and addresses, due to the subjects and audiences being addressed, appear to have been written while serving as Bishop of the United Brethren Church's Southwestern District from 1913 to 1925. Other writings include his studies and possible drafts of his publications.

A great deal of the work, biography, and family life of John Talbot Gracey is contained in this document. Gracey wrote a great deal of sermons in his life, many of which exist in this document. Some of these are completely written out, while some are still in outline form. Also included are many newspaper and magazine articles written by Gracey about various aspects of his life. There are articles about mission work, about other religions, and about his own Christian faith. The majority of these would have been published in a Christian newspaper or magazine, such as The Methodist.

Much of Gracey's missionary life is documented, from articles written about his experiences to notes he took while on different mission trips, to photographs of mission work. Gracey had many journals, some of which can be found in this collection.

As for his biography and family life, there are correspondences between Gracey and different members of his family. Some of his wife's writings are included in this collection, as well as responses to her work. Also included is information about his daughter Ida's missionary work in China. An interesting thing to note is the copy of marriage licenses from his wife Annie's father during his pastorate. This provides a bit of family history for the Gracey household.

This collection contains the sermons of C. Willard Fetter. The original collection contained nearly one thousand sermons. However, the first two hundred folders were donated by Fetter to United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. The remaining collection of nearly seven hundred sermons is located at the United Methodist Church Archives.

Fetter's sermons document his ministerial career from 1941 and 1990. Fetter placed each sermon in a folder on which he noted the title and sermon number. On most of the sermons, he also noted the date and location where he preached the sermon. The majority were preached in Akron and Dayton, Ohio, from the late 1940s to the early 1970s.

Most of the sermons are typed. A few are handwritten. Many contain draft, revision, and alternate copies. Fetter kept news clippings and articles that supported or related to a sermon. These clippings and articles have been photocopied onto acid free paper and kept with the sermon. In addition, church bulletins from the service in which a sermon was preached are included in the folder.

The first folder of the collection contains a typed index to the sermons. This index is organized in numerical order. Fetter assigned a classification number to each sermon. His classification scheme allowed him to organize his sermons by topics.

Regular sermons are numbered one to five hundred. The first two hundred of these sermons are located at United Theological Seminary. Church-theme sermons are labeled in the five hundreds. Sermons on stewardship are found in the six hundreds. Sermons on communion themes are numbered in the seven hundreds. Advent sermons are found in the eight hundreds. The nine hundred series contains Christmas sermons. Lenten sermons begin at one thousand. The eleven hundred range contains Easter-theme sermons. Sermons on topics of the Christian home are found in the twelve hundreds. The thirteen hundreds contains mission-theme sermons. Holiday sermons are in the fourteen hundreds. Some of his holiday themes are on Armistice Day, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Election Day, and Labor Day. Sermons commemorating special days such as Reformation Day, Children's Day, Youth Sunday, Boy Scout Sunday, Pentecost, Anniversary Day, Thanksgiving are numbered in the fifteen hundreds. Finally, special sermons begin in the sixteen hundreds. These sermons include high school, college, and seminary graduation addresses, funeral sermons, and a memorial tribute to John F. Kennedy.

One folder contains fifteen pamphlet versions of Fetter's sermons. The pamphlets were published by the First Evangelical United Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio. Some of the pamphlets correspond to typed sermons in the collection, and small tabs of paper inside the front cover indicate the stack location of that sermon. Other pamphlets do not correspond to any sermon in this collection.

The last box of the collection contains a card catalog Fetter used to organize his sermons. The cards contain the sermon title, scripture reference, and sermon number. All the cards have been arranged alphabetically.