Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1959-1981 (Creation)
Extent
1.35 cubic feet
Name of creator
Biographical history
W. Maynard Sparks (1906-1999) was an Evangelical United Brethren bishop. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 1927, United Theological Seminary in 1930, and from the University of Pittsburgh in 1936. He was licensed as a Quarterly Conference minister in 1919, granted a license to preach in 1923 by the Allegheny Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and ordained by that conference in 1930. In 1931 he married Blanche M. Frank. Sparks pastored for sixteen years in western Pennsylvania and then elected Superintendent of the Allegheny Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1946. He served in this position until 1950. In 1950 he was elected to the faculty of Lebanon Valley College to serve as Assistant Professor of Religion. In 1958 he was elected bishop and assigned to the Western Area where he resided in Sacramento, California. Sparks later served in the Seattle Area. Sparks also served overseas in Sierra Leone (1961-1967), Germany and Switzerland (1965), and Brazil (1967). He was also a member of the Commission on Church Union. Sparks died August 17, 1999.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Bishop Sparks correspondence concerns Sierra Leone from 1966 until 1973. The oral history interview was conducted as part of the Center for the Study of Evangelical United Brethren History, Oral History Program. This program was part of the EUB Heritage Project. The interview was conducted by John R. Knecht on February 21, 1981, in Sacramento, California. There is one cassette tape with this interview as well as a twenty-one page typed transcript.
System of arrangement
The folders are arranged by record type and topic.
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
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Accession: 1975-013 Gift. Sparks, Bishop W. Maynard
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Portland Episcopal Area Records and Seattle Epsicopal Area Records
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, W. Maynard Sparks Papers, 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.
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
An interview release form is included with the oral history interview and can be found in the Collection Information Drawer.
Archivist's note
Prepared by Joseph Strausbaugh, Student Assistant and Mark C. Shenise, Associate Archivist
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Evangelical United Brethren Church (Subject)