Manuscripts Collection
The Saint Paul Area Council of Churches, originally known as the Ramsey County Sunday School Association, was first organized in 1906. As the early name suggests, the group's original mission was to coordinate and sponsor Christian education and leadership training for children and adults in the St. Paul area. Beginning with the Leadership Training School, the Lay School of Religion, and the Vacation Church School Institutes in 1916, the Association soon offered an extensive program of classes for all ages. The Weekday Church Schools were inaugurated in 1924 to provide released time religious education to public school children and soon became the association's signature program. At its height in the 1940s, the classes enrolled close to 2,000 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in St. Paul public schools.
While the Weekday Church Schools continued to maintain a high profile through the 1960s, by 1943 other programming and functions had expanded so greatly that the board felt the name of the organization no longer adequately reflected its purpose. A new corporation, the St. Paul Council of Churches, was formed. In addition to its role in providing Christian education opportunities, the new Council focused on interdenominational activities and the promotion of the ecumenical movement as well as a strong commitment to social services in the community. Prompted by the growth of the metropolitan area, a final name change in 1962 brought it to its current title, the St. Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC).
A separate organization, the St. Paul Lutheran Council, was formed in 1945 to play a similar role for the Lutheran churches. For a quarter of a century it worked alongside the SPACC providing parallel services, including its own weekday church school program. Ultimately, however, it merged into the larger SPACC, finding by 1971 that it was unable to garner enough support in the Lutheran community alone.
By 1988 the SPACC described itself as "a cooperative ministry uniting over 150 member congregations . . . in service and ecumenical witness" and providing a broad range of services including direct pastoral care and social services to persons or groups with special needs, assistance to congregations, and education and advocacy for social change. Programs included chaplaincies in adult and juvenile corrections centers, police chaplaincy corps, the department of Indian work, hunger relief, and support for neighborhood clusters of congregations and clergy, as well as addressing other community needs.
Minutes, reports, correspondence, financial records, surveys, newspaper clippings, brochures, and similar materials documenting the activities of the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (known from 1943-1962 as the St. Paul Council of Churches) 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.
The records of predecessor and related organizations include materials from the St. Paul Lutheran Council (1945-1971), the Ramsey County Sunday School Association (1926), the Council of Churches of Saint Paul (1920-1926), the Minister's Union (1903-1913) and the Twin Cities Metropolitan Church Council (1968-1994). Among these organizations, the St. Paul Lutheran Council is most extensively documented. Records from this group cover the period from its inception to its demise and merger with the SPACC in 1971 and include minutes, reports, correspondence, program flyers, and other miscellaneous departments and committees. The files from the Weekday School Department, which the Lutheran Council considered its most important program, are of particular interest and provide insights into the group's relationship with the SPACC and other church councils then in existence.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
The following related items are separately cataloged in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society
Ramsey County Sunday School Association (Saint. Paul, Minn.). Association Records, 1915-1948.
Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. Department of Indian Works.
Saint Paul Area Council of Churches.
Saint Paul Area Council of Churches.
Saint Paul Area Council of Churches.
Saint Paul Area Council of Churches.
St. Paul Council of Churches.
St. Paul Council of Churches. Annual Reports.
St. Paul Lutheran Council.
Twin Cities Council of Churches. Educational Ministries Division.
Accession number: 15,281
Processed by: Lara Friedman~Shedlov, September 1996; July 2002
Catalog ID number: 09-00041879
The Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC) records document the organization's administration and governance, as well as its activities in the areas of religious education, social services, human rights and social activism, and the ecumenical movement. Records consist primarily of correspondence, minutes, reports, and related papers, but also include financial records, curriculum materials, surveys, clippings, brochures, and a scrapbook, as well as an extensive collection of photographs of St. Paul area churches.
More than two thirds of the SPACC records consist of log books compiled by the Council. These volumes or groups of files are comprised primarily of minutes and memoranda for each department or committee for a particular year from 1943/44 through 1994. While all years include records from the board of directors and general assemblies, the other units represented changed with the structure and focus of the organization. Earlier years contain a great deal of material from the weekday church schools and other education programs, while in later years "Educational Ministries" is a smaller department among many represented, including Indian Work, Women's Chaplaincy, Social Concerns, and Ecumenical Singles, as well as a much more complex administrative structure with separate personnel, long range planning, and various financial committees and departments. Because the log books span the life of the Council from its incorporation to the 1990s, they provide a useful outline of its changing roles and priorities.
The collection includes a significant body of records for the Christian Education Department (later known as "Educational Ministries") during its most active period from the mid-1920s through the 1960s. The weekday church school program is particularly well-documented, including committee minutes, reports, correspondence, curriculum materials, and school worship service materials, as well as a small group of photographs.
Includes brochures and other promotional material from the program's early years.
Includes weekday religious education committee minutes, reports, correspondence, and other miscellaneous materials.
Includes material reflecting the Council's opinions and discussions regarding the place of religious education within the public school system.
Includes shots of teachers, students, and classroom scenes.
Includes correspondence, minutes, reports, flyers, and other miscellaneous materials.
Finance related materials, which include finance committee minutes, and audit reports, provide a fairly comprehensive financial picture of the Council from the 1950s through the 1990s. Also in this series are minutes of the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches Foundation, founded in 1965 to "hold and manage funds entrusted to it for the religious, charitable, benevolent and educational purposes" of the SPACC.
The executive directors' files provide a snapshot of several units of the organization during the late 1950s through the 1960s. While some files are from slightly before and after his period of service, the materials in this series come primarily from the files of Rev. Harold C. Bradshaw, executive secretary from 1959-1968. The series is particularly rich in materials documenting the Council's role in race relations and civil rights efforts of the period.
Includes slides submitted to the Council by St. Paul area churches and synagogues for an "armchair tour" of religious congregations in the area, along with a folder containing descriptions of slides submitted by each congregation. Not all the slides originally submitted and described by the congregations were retained by the Council. The description sheets are an excellent source of historical and factual information about the congregations and their buildings.
Records from this group document the organization from its inception in 1945 to its demise and merger with the SPACC in 1971. Organized as chronological files, the materials include minutes, reports, correspondence, program flyers, and other related papers from assembly meetings, board meetings, the Weekday School Department, Training School, Auxiliary, finance, Lenten services, fellowship, and hymn sings, as well as other miscellaneous departments and committees. The files from the Weekday School Department, which the Lutheran Council considered its most important program, are of particular interest and provide some glimpses into the group's relationship with the SPACC and other church councils then providing released time religious instruction.