bMS 654

Kinston, North Carolina. Unitarian Universalist Church of Kinston. Records, 1914-1996

Summary Information:

  • Call Number: bMS 654
  • Title: Kinston, North Carolina. Unitarian Universalist Church of Kinston. Records, 1914-1996
  • Repository: Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
  • Quantity: 3 boxes

Administrative Information:

  • Acquisition Information: This collection was donated by Carol Simmons in 2008.
  • Access: There are no restrictions on access to this collection.
  • Processing Information: This collection was processed by Christopher Hoffmann in 2009.

Historical Note:

The Universalist message was first preached in Kinston, North Carolina, by the Rev. Dr. Daniel Bragg Clayton, and later by the Rev. Thomas Chapman, who came to North Carolina in 1903. A Mission Circle history found in the church cornerstone states that the Kinston Universalist Church was officially organized on April 3, 1910, under the direction of Willard Bodell, the church's first minister. A church profile history from 1985 states that the church was organized in 1908, and that the Rev. Bodell was hired by the congregation in 1910. On June 13, 1913, ground for the church was broken on a lot at the corner of McLewean and Lenoir streets. The cornerstone was laid on February 2, 1914, and the church was completed in September of the same year.

Beginning in 1920, the church began collecting books, and opened Kinston's first free library with a collection of over three thousand books. On September 2, 1941, a fire caused considerable damage to the church, which was repaired over the course of the next year. In 1947, a three-room annex to the church was built, and a parsonage followed in 1956. The original church served until 1981, when the congregation decided that the space was too large and expenses were too high for their dwindling membership. The church was sold to the McLewean Street Church of Christ, Inc., and from 1981 to 1983 the congregation met in local restaurants. In 1983, the congregation bought a church in a residential neighborhood at 1517 West Road. By 1994, the congregation had fallen to twelve members, and the church officially closed on November 12, 1995. The church was sold, and all assets were placed in a trust with the Thomas Jefferson District of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Arrangement:

  • Series I. General church records
  • Series II. Clerk's records and Board of Directors' records
  • Series III. Financial records
  • Series IV. Sunday school records
  • Series V. Historical material

Scope and Content:

The bulk of the material in this collection consists of administrative records. These records include reports and meeting minutes of the Board of Directors; financial records; Sunday school records; church constitution and by-laws; and church correspondence. The collection also includes historical material such as church profiles and histories, photographs of church members and groups c. 1916-1993, Mission Circle records, and newspaper clippings.

Container List:

Series I. General church records

  • bMS 654/1 (1) Constitution and bylaws, 1974-1987
  • bMS 654/1 (2) Annual meetings materials, 1990-1994
  • bMS 654/1 (3) Church correspondence, 1988-1991
  • bMS 654/1 (4) Church correspondence, 1989-1995
  • bMS 654/1 (5) Unitarian Universalist Association annual report, 1990
  • bMS 654/1 (6) Register of members, 1942-1991
  • bMS 654/1 (7) Member lists, 1972-1989
  • bMS 654/1 (8) Mission statement and staff position proposals
  • bMS 654/1 (9) Yoked ministry: Kinston and Wilmington, 1986-1989
  • bMS 654/1 (10) Kinston and Greenville negotiations, 1990
  • bMS 654/1 (11) Hospitality and operating guidelines, undated
  • bMS 654/1 (12) Church evaluations, 1969, 1993-1994
  • bMS 654/1 (13) Congregational surveys
  • bMS 654/1 (14) Congregational growth materials, 1986-1991
  • bMS 654/1 (15) Church of the Larger Fellowship: Small Congregations Resource Center, 1989-1990
  • bMS 654/1 (16) Church of the Larger Fellowship, 1989-1990
  • bMS 654/1 (17) Guidelines for minister complaints, 1992
  • bMS 654/1 (18) Cynthia Edson, contracts and agreements, 1986-1990
  • bMS 654/1 (19) Shelter Neck survey, 1992
  • bMS 654/1 (20) Conference at Shelter Neck, 1994
  • bMS 654/1 (21) Sermons and order of service, John R. Uhrick, 1981-1991
  • bMS 654/1 (22) Social Responsibility material, 1990
  • bMS 654/1 (23) Ministerial search committee material, 1976-1990
  • bMS 654/1 (24) Pulpit committee/Ministerial search committee minutes, 1967-1978
  • bMS 654/1 (25) Mission Circle, Universalist women, 1935-1949
  • bMS 654/1 (26) Kinston clubs and organizations, 1964-1965
  • bMS 654/1 (27) Brochure, orders of service, 1920-1995
  • bMS 654/1 (28) Annual report, September 10, 1946
  • bMS 654/1 (29) Annual reports, 1955-1957
  • bMS 654/1 (30) Closure recommendations, 1994-1996

Series II. Clerk's records and Board of Directors' records

  • bMS 654/1 (31) Clerk's book: contains lists of church officers, annual business meeting minutes, board of directors meeting minutes, 1952-1956
  • bMS 654/1 (32) Clerk's book: contains annual business meeting minutes, board of directors meeting minutes, order of service from installation of Rev. Donald C. McMillan, 1956-1964
  • bMS 654/1 (33) Clerk's records, 1964-1969
  • bMS 654/1 (34) Board of directors meeting minutes, 1971-1980
  • bMS 654/1 (35) Board of directors meeting minutes, January 19, 1979-May 1, 1983
  • bMS 654/1 (36) Board of directors meeting minutes, March 11, 1982-March 1, 1987
  • bMS 654/1 (37) Board of directors meeting minutes, April 5, 1987-September 4, 1988
  • bMS 654/1 (38) Board of directors meeting minutes, October 2, 1988-August 12, 1990
  • bMS 654/1 (39) Board of directors meeting minutes, September 1, 1990-August 14, 1994
  • bMS 654/2 (1) Board of directors meeting minutes, September 11, 1994-November 12, 1995
  • bMS 654/2 (2) Board of directors material, 1990-1991

Series III. Financial records

  • bMS 654/2 (3) Deeds, sale records of McLewean Street church, 1913-1983
  • bMS 654/2 (4) Church bell freight records, 1948
  • bMS 654/2 (5) Contract and specifications for parsonage, May 1956
  • bMS 654/2 (6) Insect damage inspection, 1517 West Road, 1983
  • bMS 654/2 (7) Insurance policy, 1994
  • bMS 654/2 (8) Blank budget forms
  • bMS 654/2 (9) Vanguard fund records, 1991-1994
  • bMS 654/2 (10) Signature authorization papers, 1994
  • bMS 654/2 (11) North Carolina extension minister program financial records, 1991
  • bMS 654/2 (12) Bills, donations, 1980s-1990s
  • bMS 654/2 (13) Treasurer's reports, 1986-1995
  • bMS 654/2 (14) Records, reports, 1987-1994
  • bMS 654/2 (15) Budget information, 1985-1995
  • bMS 654/2 (16) Budget reports, 1988-1991
  • bMS 654/2 (17) Dues book, 1947-1955
  • bMS 654/2 (18) Ledger: collections, expenses, financial reports, 1913-1946
  • bMS 654/2 (19) Ledger: collections and expenses, 1919-1936
  • bMS 654/2 (20) Ledger/Roll book: includes annual business meeting minutes, collections records, some expenses, and member lists, 1919-1942
  • bMS 654/2 (21) Ledger: receipts and expenses, 1945-1960
  • bMS 654/2 (22) Ledger: receipts and expenses, 1982-1989
  • bMS 654/2 (23) Secretary's roll books, 1953-1967
  • bMS 654/2 (24) Ledger: collections and expenses; records of closure, sale of church property, investment records, 1976-1996
  • bMS 654/2 (25) Ledger: assets, receipts and expenses, 1981-1986

Series IV. Sunday school records

  • bMS 654/2 (26) Ledger: Sunday school/services collections and expenses
  • bMS 654/2 (27) Sunday school ledger, 1919-1921
  • bMS 654/2 (28) Sunday school ledger, 1941-1956
  • bMS 654/2 (29) Sunday school beginner's class roll books, 1947-1963
  • bMS 654/2 (30) Sunday school adult class roll books, 1946-1960
  • bMS 654/2 (31) Sunday school junior class roll books, 1950-1967
  • bMS 654/2 (32) Sunday school, nursery, kindergarten, senior high roll books, 1953-1967
  • bMS 654/2 (33) Sunday school record book, 1956-1961

Series V. Historical material

  • bMS 654/3 (1) Kinston Daily Free Press, May 26, 1947
  • bMS 654/3 (2) Photograph, heavily damaged
  • bMS 654/3 (3) Tar Heel Universalist, heavily damaged
  • bMS 654/3 (4) Universalist Leader, January 31, 1914, heavily damaged
  • bMS 654/3 (5) Women's National Missionary Association certificates, 1921 and 1925
  • bMS 654/3 (6) Church profile, 1978: Kinston postcards and brochures; church introduction including survey, salary package, photographs and description of parsonage
  • bMS 654/3 (7) Church profile, 1978: newspapers
  • bMS 654/3 (8) Church profile, 1985: introduction, salary package, photographs, and church newsletters
  • bMS 654/3 (9) "Out of the Past" photograph album
  • bMS 654/3 (10) "From Our Past" photograph album, 1 of 2: photographs, newspaper clippings, correspondence, orders of service
  • bMS 654/3 (11) "From Our Past" photograph album, 2 of 2: photographs, newspaper clippings, orders of service
  • bMS 654/3 (12) Flyers, orders of service, 1990-1991
  • bMS 654/3 (13) Yearbook and directory: First Universalist, Woodington Universalist, Pink Hill Universalist churches, 1932
  • bMS 654/3 (14) Newspaper clippings, 1964-1995
  • bMS 654/3 (15) Member lists, historical material, including history of Mission Circle, documents found in annex cornerstone, 1914-1947
  • bMS 654/3 (16) Miscellaneous historical material, 1970s-1980s

 

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