Manuscripts Collection

Interdenominational

Organizations

Church Women United in Greater Minneapolis. Records, 1924-1990.
Histories, membership directories (1935-1986), and scrapbooks (1945-1990) of an ecumenical organization of Protestant women and, later, Catholic and Jewish women, in the Twin Cities (Minn.). The organization was affiliated with the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. The records document the organization's participation in World Day of Prayer, the Meals on Wheels program, and May Fellowship Day, among other ecumenical and social welfare activities.

Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. Records, 1922-1989.
Subject files, minutes, reports, membership and committee data, financial records, correspondence, newspaper clippings, subject files, and similar materials documenting the activities of a voluntary association of Protestant and Orthodox churches in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area organized to work together for the welfare of the community and to foster cooperation among the area's many Protestant churches. The Minneapolis Church Federation was organized in 1927 from a merger between the Minneapolis Council of Churches and the Council of Religious Education, and in 1951 the organization assumed its present title. The collection includes administrative files of the council and of its divisions and departments. Units represented in the collection include Christian Education/Educational Ministries, Indian Work, Social Ministries, Ecumencial Relations/Faith in Dialogue, Social Services/Chaplaincy Services, and Women organizations. The collection also includes records from the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council of Churches, an overarching organization facilitating communication with other area church councils. Within the records of each of these units are found minutes, correspondence, and subject files. Materials on the following activities are found in records of the education units: Christian youth council, ecumenical youth encounter, life and leadership schools, Protestant committee on scouting, weekday church schools, and vacation church schools. Other substantive files concern the council's women's organization (1927-1985); the ecumenical movement, especially relating to Catholic participation and to Christian-Jewish relations; children and young adult programs; the Council's activities in the area of civil rights and race relations; and the provision of chaplains and other religious services to prisons, nursing homes, and other institutions.

Greater Minneapolis Interfaith Fair Housing Program. Records, 1946-1989 (bulk 1959-1965).
Correspondence (1948-1989), minutes (1950-1965), corporate and financial records (1959-1966), newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and subject files (1948-1989) documenting the activities of a nonprofit association organized in 1959 to encourage the support of religious groups in promoting desegregated housing in the city of Minneapolis, and largely funded by the Christian Council for Social Action of the United Church of Christ. It was dissolved in 1965.

Interfaith Religious Census (Minneapolis, Minn.). Rrecords, 1958-1960.
Tabulation sheets and summaries, by federal census tract, of a census of religious affiliations of the population of Minneapolis and its suburbs, sponsored by the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches and conducted by Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, and Jewish groups throughout the area. The census was conducted on a single day, September 13, 1959.

Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Council of Minnesota. Records, 1978-1987.
Articles of Incorporation (1982); bylaws, agendas, minutes, and financial reports (1981-1985); correspondence (1978-1987); membership applications; address and phone lists; liturgical material (1976, 1980-1987); newsletters; event announcements; and flyers related to a Twin Cities (Minn.) organization composed of several religious groups ministering to the gay community.

Ramsey County Sunday School Association. Association records, 1915-1948.
Minutes, financial reports, and correspondence of the association (1915-1943) and its successor, the St. Paul Council of Churches (1944-1948), organized to promote Christian education of children, training of teachers, and cooperation among St. Paul's Protestant clergy.

Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. Records, 1903-1994 (bulk 1943-1994).
Minutes, reports, correspondence, financial records, surveys, newspaper clippings, brochures, and similar materials documenting the activities of the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (St. Paul Council of Churches, 1943-1962) in the areas of religious education, social services, human rights and social activism, and the ecumenical movement. The collection also includes records from its predecessor, the Ramsey County Sunday School Association, as well as a number of other related organizations. Records of the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC) consist primarily of "log books," a chronological series of volumes/files (1943-1994) containing compiled minutes from the board and general assembly meetings, as well as other committees and departments for each year. In addition to the broad outline provided by the log books, the collection includes more in-depth records for the Christian Education Department (later known as the Division of Educational Ministries) during its most active period from the mid-1920s through the 1960s. The Weekday Church Schools, inaugurated in 1924 to provide released time religious education to public school children, are particularly well-documented.

United Ministries in Higher Education (Minneapolis, Minn.) Organization records, 1926-1977.
Minutes of meetings, correspondence, historical information, newsletters, reports, financial United Campus Christian Fellowship, predecessor of the United Ministries in Higher Education, on several college and university campuses in Minnesota. Similar files pertain to three groups active in the formation of the United Campus Christian Fellowship: the Pilgrim Foundation (Congregational), the Wesley Foundation (Methodist), and the Westminster Foundation (Presbyterian).

Individuals

Leo Treadway's records related to the gay rights movement in Minnesota, 1971-95.
Leo Treadway was involved with numerous secular and religious organizations dedicated to the advancement of gay rights and human justice issues. The collection documents the internal operations, management, and finances of the organizations as well as the political and religious issues they focused on. Topics include civil rights legislation, violence and hate crimes, acceptance of homosexuality within the major religious denominations, AIDS, and organized efforts to restrict the gay and lesbian community's growth and visibility.