NOTES ON THE PREPARATION OF A LOCAL CHURCH HISTORY. Joe D. Acker*

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1 Dr. Joe D. Acker's article is an introduction to the writing of a church history. Several points need emphasis. Without the wholehearted support of the pastor, a church historical project will seldom succeed. A history committee usually has more success than a single individual in enlisting the full support of the entire church. Writing of the history should be entrusted to one person, but that person's research and writing must be subject to review by both the history committee and a trained editor. Editing is a highly specialized task and does not necessarily accompany a college degree. That Is to say, a high school or college English teacher may not be an editor at heart and may not do the job as well as someone who has an eye for the most minute details. A special point of emphasis is the need for ample time in the preparation of the history. A centennial history might well require more than a year of full-time research and writing, and much more for the person who has never done any formal research in Baptist history and who may have to work on apart-time basis. The church that does not give the author ample time cheats itself out of a first-class history. Lee N. Allen NOTES ON THE PREPARATION OF A LOCAL CHURCH HISTORY Joe D. Acker* As a Baptist I have noted the deep preoccupation Baptists have with their history. Baptists and Baptist history go together. We feel that it provides insight to both present and future. The writing of Baptist history over the decades has suffered rather severely due to the lack of adequate resource material on the level of the local church. There are good histories of the beginning of Baptist life in the nation; there are some excellent studies on the diversity of the denominational structure and development of national and regional organizations. There are many good state Baptist histories including the Baptist histories of the state of Alabama. There are many excellent associational histories which deal with the movement of Baptist churches in the local association. The problem is that we do not have adequate local history, that is history of the local Baptist church. We claim to be primarily people of the local church and yet our historical efforts have concentrated not on the local church but on the combination of churches representing associations or conventions. In reality, the history of the local church must be the starting point of all denominational history. The local church is the foundation of the denominational structure; it represents the beginning point in our understanding of what happens throughout the denomination. Our approach to history has been much like the approach of school systems seeking to be accredited, whereby they put the best teachers in the high schools and put the uncertified teachers in the lower grades; and the teachers with the poorest preparation they put in the first grade. It should be just the opposite, for the foundation is the

2 important part. Unfortunately, as Baptists we have glorified the convention or associational history and have rather offhandedly dismissed the local church history. This tendency must be reversed, for the local church history is that history which gives the flavor, the temper, to history. It is that instrument which will indicate to the historian of the broader subject the real feelings of the people involved in the great movements which sometimes sweep the denomination. Therefore, local history must be emphasized and its writing must be upgraded. It is with this in mind that we approach the subject today: How to write a local church history. First consideration is given to the organizational structure in preparing a local church history. Second, the writing of the history, and finally the printing or publication of this history. There are three kinds of local Baptist history: first that which never gets compiled and written, second that which gets compiled and written but never printed and distributed and third, that which is compiled and written, printed and distributed. Naturally the aim of all historical effort on the local level is to bring to pass some printed and distributed presentation of the history of the church which will be used to further understand the church. Usually the church history which is compiled, written and printed will be produced by the church which has first an interested historianauthor, a supportive pastor, and a strong historical committee. Most churches have at least one person who has the interest and the desire to see the church history published. Most of those who fall into this group are willing to do the work themselves, that is, willing to pay the price in terms of physical and mental labor. Yet, this alone will not be sufficient for the publication of a good church history. The need for support from the pastor of the church shouldbe obvious. Few historians are of sufficient influence in the church to bring the full support of the church to their project. If the pastor of the church does not seem interested, then it is the first task of the author or would-be church historian to devise a means whereby the pastor will swing his support to the side of actively pursuing a church history. Most pastors can be persuaded as follows: first, show him how a history of a church could be utilized in reaching out to win others to the Lord. Show him that those who seek a church with a long and distinguished history identify with this kind of approach and will be more likely to join his church. Second, one might approach the pastor on this basis, that the historical aspect of the church will certainly lead up to the present day and with a good ending the pastor himself can certainly appear well in print. One might begin by going to the pastor with his camera and asking the pastor to pose for several different types of exposures with the understanding that at least two or three of these exposures will appear in the finished work Finally, if the appeal to his spiritual life or appeals to his vanity do not work, one may begin to make himself a nuisance to the pastor with the understanding that the pastor very clearly knows why this person is being a nuisance. Most pastors are rather insecure in many ways; therefore, a nuisance constitutes a threat. Most anything will be attempted in order to clear away a threat to the security of the pastor; therefore, by

3 making oneself into a sufficient pest, the pastor might very well be persuaded to support the work. Of equal importance is a historical committee for the church which will give guidance in two ways.. First it should give its support to the writing project, that is, encouraging people to submit material to the writers, securing records for the writers and helping to prepare the manuscript in general. Secondly, the committee should take responsibility for seeing that the history is placed in print. This should not be the duty of the writer. The reason for this is obvious. In most cases where there is no committee, and the writer undertakes the project simply as a personal labor of love, the writer is placed in the embarrassing position of trying to sell his own work to the church. This should not be. The committee should undertake the full responsibility of seeing to it that sufficient money is raised for printing cost and for publication and distribution and sales of the book. Naturally, the writer will have the privilege of dispensing copies of the book which is a privilege most authors enjoy, but it is a rare writer who would enjoy the responsibility of selling all the copies of the book. Let this be the responsibility of the committee. The second broad area has to do with the writing of the manuscript, and sources of information. The obvious place to begin a church history is with any material which might have been compiled and printed about the church. Previous brochures or histories should be consulted but should not constitute the basis of the written material which the current work will cover. Then the writer should go to the minutes of the church. Every effort possible should be made to obtain the full run of minutes for the church. Particularly if the minutes are old and handwritten the writer should be very careful that he thoroughly familarizes himself with the style of handwriting so that he does not miscopy those matters which he finds in the early minutes. Usually it is more a matter of deciphering than reading and extreme caution should be used in copying old minutes to be sure that it is copied exactly. Also, one needs to understand that many of the minutes were kept by church clerks who did not really care for their jobs. Often the minutes will not be accurate; many of the membership lists will not be accurate. People will still be listed as members of the church who have long been deceased. Care must be taken that the information received from the minutes is accurate. One should carefully check the minutes for such items as decisions on financing and building, pastors, any statement concerning doctrine or belief of any kind which might add flavor and understanding to the history. From the church minutes, the writer will want to obtain certain lists to be included in the writing of the book. It is a good idea to have at least these lists: first, the pastors; secondly, licensed ministers or minsters ordained and licensed by the church, ordained deacons of the church and if possible a membership list which will include the date the person joined the church and the date of his decease or transfer out of the church. One should consider bulletins and newsletters as an important source and the minutes can be checked against these. Besides local material another source should be the associations' record. Again an integral part of the history of the church is the relationship with the

4 other churches in the association. Particular care should be noted in the officers of the association, checking for pastors or members of the church who held office in the association. This information should be included in the finished product. Another excellent source of local information are county newspapers or local town newspapers. The weekly newspapers published in the 1800's and the early 1900's in most of the counties of the state contain very long items about the churches and their activities and often contain extensive articles on decision or disruption or disagreement in the churches. It would be unfortunate if this rich source of Baptist historical material were left untapped. The writer should also check on other histories of the area in which the church is located. A county or city history will usually include some information about the various churches. Additional sources might be the state Baptist papers, especially if indexed. If the church is very old, previous state histories might include a list of churches. Finally, the author should with care and discretion ascertain information from those who have been participants in thedevelopment of the church down through the years. One of the most useful sources of information on the lives of pastors will be the people who knew them and followed their careers. Certainly one would want to include in the history of the church any notable achievement for which a former pastor received recognition. In writing the work it should be noted that there are many different styles of writing, but a local history should contain a narrative. Certainly there should be lists. The writer should strive to achieve a balance of narrative part and in factual data in the lists. The writer should include some useful details which might provide for those interested in genealogical or historical research basic facts, elsewhere difficult to ascertain. As far as the writing style of the narrative is concerned, one would want to do the very best he knows how and then utilize the best resources possible to bring his style into publishable form. The most useful bit of information I might add here is that there are many people who, for the opportunity of doing something for their friends or for reasonable fees, would be more than happy to carefully go over the manuscript before it is submitted to a printer or publisher, to edit it in terms of writing style, grammatical style and spelling. An English teacher in the local high school or junior college in the state or someone with experience in editing or preparing copy for print, is usually a good source for this kind of help. The writer should be aware that he does not attempt to persuade others to accept the manuscript as he wrote it. One seldom sees his own mistakes in writing style or grammatical structure. The final subject which we should like to cover very briefly is the publication of the finished products. As stated before, this should be the responsibility of the committee: the historical committee of the church. Here the committee should be aware of the distinction between a publisher and a printer. A printer will simply take the manuscript presented and set it in type and print the pages, bind it and return it to be sold. A publisher on the other hand will attempt to edit the manuscript, to put in in saleable form, and to make it more digestible as far as public consumption is concerned. He will attempt to make the format of the book as attractive as possible while at the same time

5 attempting to be as economical as possible. He will also usually help to sell the work. The church history committee must determine whether or not they need a publisher or printer. The decision should be based on the resources available to the church. If the writer of the history has utilized all of the available resources including high level grammatical consultation, experienced editorial help, perhaps some experienced printing and publishing advisement, then a printer will do. If, on the other hand, the writer and the committee have simply attempted to put together the best they knew how and are not sure about the format of the work, then they need a publisher who will work with them, advise them how to rewrite and redesign and redo the material and mold it into a form which will be a credit to the subject matter. The committee will then want to assess the time element involved. If the material goes to a printer then in a reasonably short time it should be back. If a publisher is to be used then the committee must allow a much greater length of time for the completion of the work. The final item that I should like to mention is this one vital element of time. It took a long time for the church to make a history; it takes time to write a good local church history; it takes time to prepare it; it takes time to print or publish it, and it will take some time to sell it. Patience is advised. Advance planning, including plenty of time, is the wisest move that a church history committee can make. If I were to leave one piece of lasting advice with you, it would be simply this: plan well in advance of the time that you anticipate distribution and sales of the history. It is far better that the books spend six months wrapped in boxes awaiting that great anniversary date, than that they should not appear on the scene until six weeks after the anniversary has past. 'Mr. Acker is Librarian at Albert E. Brewer Junior College, Fayette, and has served as pastor of churches in that vicinity. (Dr. Acker is president of SRP Electronics, Inc., Fayette, AL, and resides in Fayette. He received his undergraduate degree from Samford University, the Th.M. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the M.S. from Louisiana State University, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama. He is author of several articles on Baptist history in Alabama.) What information goes into a church history? Dr. Hackley has listed more than a score of ideas that can be incorporated into a church history. Study this list carefully before beginning, marking out any items that obviously do not apply (such as number 13, change of location, or number 19, change of name). During research go back occasionally and review the list to see if you are being sensitive to all of the information that you are reading. Special attention needs to be directed to suggestion number 16, sidelight or anecdotes. Watch for human interest stories. Use them to illustrate general trends or special conditions in the church. Such storms make history interesting and will keep the reader going. They can also be the vignettes needed for the church pageant or tableau. You might use one, without the punch line, as a teaser to promote interest in the history prior to publication.

6 A special point for emphasis: watch carefully for the first mention of an activity. This may not be the founding date, but it will tell you that by that time the activity had been undertaken. Scrutinize the church budget closely for the appearance of WMU programs and organizations and for new methods of accounting for funds from Sunday School and WMU. Lee N. Allen SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE HISTORY OF A BAPTIST CHURCH Dr. Woodford B. Hackley This is, of course, just one person's opinion, but it might serve as a point of departure for others. It would be a rare case indeed where all of the suggested material could be found, especially in the case of a very old church, and where the early records have been lost. 1. The background of the church: a. the community - source of the settlers, e.g., settled by Scoth-Irish from Pennsylvania or emigrants from eastern Virginia, etc. b. the first Baptist preachers who preached in the community, including a biographical word or two about each. c. the "ancestry" of the church, the mother church, the grandmother church - as far back as you wish, or can, go - but by all means the "mother" church. 2. Organization as a "distinct" church - date, presbytery, number of charter members and their names - their occupations would be of interest. 3. Articles of faith, covenant, constitution - not likely to be found, if original records are lost. 4. The first pastor - a short biography - his background, term of service, his contribution to the church, etc. 5. All later pastors listed with terms of service, and short, uniform sketches suggesting their contributions - positive and/or negative - and any events of significance during their service. 6. Lists of the officers of the church, deacons, trustees, especially the first ones in each case, (include, if possible, terms of service). 7. Dates of the beginning of all church organizations:. Sunday School, W.M.U., B.Y.P.U. (B.T.U.), etc. with at least the first officers listed in each case. 8. The district associations to which the church belonged with dates. Lists of delegates of the church to the associations, and any committee memberships or special contributions of the delegates to the associations' work. Any queries from the church to the association and t the answer given by the association.

7 9. The ministerial sons of the church, incuding their licensing and ordination, with the dates, and short sketches of their careers. List of licensed ministers of the church, who were never ordained. 10. Meetings of the district association held at the church, including any significant actions taken at these meetings - any important movements started, and any interesting or unusual occurrences. 11. Periods of exceptional prosperity and growth in membership, or declines; any splits in the church, with reasons. 12. Any noteworthy or especially fruitful protracted meeting, with names of ministers participating, and appropriate statistics (and, of course, dates). 13. Any change of location of the meeting house (church building), with reasons. Also, any unusual features of the meeting house (houses), or any interesting stories involving same. 14. Any catastrophes, such as loss of building by fire and circumstances, or destruction - or misuse - of building in war. 15. Any military or secular history involving the church; e.g. used as a hospital during the Civil War, or Patrick Henry made a speech there, etc. 16. Sidelights, or anecdotes - serious, instructive, or humorous. All of these have a place - they add life and interest to the history. 17. Outstanding benefactors of the church. Exceptionally useful members and colorful members (this is treading on touchy ground and must be handled circumspectly). 18. A table giving periodic reports on membership, say every 10, 20, or 25 years, would be informative and effective. (The necessary figures could with little effort be obtained from the district associations' minutes). 19. Any change of name of the church. 20. Missionaries who have gone out from the church. 21. Relations of the church with other denominations in the community. 22. Miscellaneous. Most churches have very probably had experiences - significant or insignificant - which might not be easy to classify, but yet would add an interesting and very readable section to their histories (this section could be the catch-all for human interest items). A concise, meaningful and readable history of your church can serve a real purpose both for your church and for others. The above suggestions provide a basis for a fairly comprehensive story of a church and its

8 contribution to the community and beyond. If the history of your church has not been written, why not write it? If the above "menu" does not meet with your approval, make up a menu to your own liking, but WRITE YOUR HISTORY! Every year that passes makes the gathering of material for your history that much more difficult. Dr. Hackley is Curator Emeritus of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia. (Dr. Hackley has died since this article was originally published.) WRITING ALABAMA BAPTIST HISTORY: USING THE BAPTIST HISTORICAL COLLECTION Elizabeth Crabtree Wells and Shirley Lynn Hutchens* The Baptist Historical Collection, sponsored by the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission and. located in the Special Collection Department, Samford University Library, holds a wealth of resources for persons researching church and associational history. These tools for research and writing are varied. They include church records, association records, convention annuals, books, periodicals, and more. In addition to the items one might traditionally use in such a project, the collection houses other sources. Oral histories, manuscripts and diaries of pastors and laymen, state and local histories, newspapers, and biographies await the writer. Information about the county, region, state, and nation helps place congregations in the total historical perspective. The collection, open to the public, is ever growing and changing. For more than thirty - years, preserving and collecting denominational history and heritage has been a primary goal and reason for existence of the collection. The treasures deposited there by many individuals, churches, and institutions allow the researcher a wide variety of sources and choices as to what and how he will write. The Special Collection Department also houses many other collections in addition to materials related to specific Baptist historical materials. CHURCH RECORDS Church records are the primary source for writing a church history. Records of over seven hundred Alabama churches are available for study and review in Special Collection. Church records containing rules of decorum, date of constitution of the church, listing of charter members, minutes of conference (business) meetings, -financial records, and membership rolls provide a chronicle of a church's history. Writers of church history who have access to complete records are fortunate. In Special Collection, we often hear: "Our church records burned," "Our records have been lost," or `Our records aren't complete." The innovative and diligent writer will do in-depth research to compensate for missing or inadequate church records.

9 Reading the records of a neighboring or mother church will often reveal significant facts. For example, 1826 records of Old Salem Baptist Church, Mexia, Alabama, state: "[The Church] agreed that Brother Ellis receive and baptise persons at the new meeting house on Limestone Creek in behalf of this church." Limestone is now First Baptist Church, Monroeville, and members observed their 160th anniversary in November ASSOCIATION RECORDS Association records are excellent sources of church history information. Serious efforts to collect and preserve association records has been a priority of the Special Collection Department since its inception in Available for research are more than 7,500 Alabama minutes, the most comprehensive collection on record. Association records generally record the proceedings of the annual meeting. Significant church data can be gleaned from a careful study of association minutes. When a church joins an association, the body presents a petitionary letter and sometimes there will be a phrase, "newly constituted." Statistical tables provide a wealth of historical information on churches and individuals: pastors, clerks, treasurers, Sunday School superintendents, delegates (messengers), and membership statistics. Memorial and obituary tributes provide biographical information about pastors and other prominent association workers. THE ALABAMA BAPTIST AND OUT-OF-STATE BAPTIST PAPERS The Alabama Baptist and its predecessors with variant tides, 1843 to present, are available. News about preachers, churches, associations, local and state events, as well as candid items reviewing doctrinal disputes are recorded in the pages of The Alabama Baptist. To facilitate the use of the paper, detailed indexes are available for issues , and 1958 to date. Use of that weekly denominational paper should be a high priority for researchers.. In addition to our own state paper, we have extensive runs of forty-nine (titles) out-of-state Baptist newspapers. These can be useful for obtaining biographical information on pastors who have moved from Alabama and those coming to Alabama. STATE CONVENTION ANNUALS The Alabama Baptist State Convention Annuals, 1823 to date, are available. The Annuals, indexed for , record meeting proceedings. Since 1905 associations are listed with individual churches and include statistical details. A listing of ministers withaddresses provides information as to where a pastor is serving in a particular year. Death dates are often included in convention annuals. MANUSCRIPTS Manuscript holdings are an important segment of the resources available in Special Collection. Holdings include papers of several early

10 convention leaders: James H. DeVotie, Basil Manly and William Carey Crane. These papers provide data about early churches and people in Alabama and in the Southern Baptist Convention. The results of the 1908 Survey of Alabama Baptist Churches give information about churches constituting dates, charter members, kind of buildings; etc. Another valuable collection is the American Sunday School Union Papers, The papers chronicle development of Sunday Schools, often citing dates when work was started, funding, membership, and so on. PRINTED EPHEMERA Extensive vertical files for churches, associations, and people are preserved. These include clipping, church anniversary programs, historical sketches, and biographical information on ministers. Papers prepared by students of Dr. James H. Chapman are among the contents of the vertical file collection. PUBLISHED BAPTIST HISTORIES Perusing published church history can give the writer ideas about format, printing, and so on. In addition, biographical facts and related information can be obtained from published histories. An attempt is being made to secure a copy of each published Alabama church and association history for the Special Collection. ORAL HISTORY Oral history is an innovative way to gather the history of a church, an association, a community, and/or any individual. The interviews, housed in the Baptist Collection, tell the story of leaders and lay persons, church members, laborers and professional. The transcribed interviews give a personal perspective that written history does not always reflect. Researchers are encouraged to use these interviews that are already in file and learn the techniques of conducting and recording oral history interviews in order to save the special heritage of their own church or area and make such information available for future researchers. SECULAR NEWSPAPERS Special Collection has numerous Alabama newspaper holdings. These are rich in church news and should be consulted by Baptist researchers. ALABAMA HISTORY Special Collection has as a part of its collecting policy the development of an Alabama history collection. Included in the collection are county, city, and state histories that provide historical data about Baptist churches and the membership of those churches. BAPTIST HISTORY

11 Writers of church history should be aware of the importance of historical developments among Baptists. Special Collection houses a comprehensive collection relating to the Baptist denomination. Materials are available that will bring issues and events into perspective. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA Always a challenge to the writers of Baptist history is the collecting of biographical information on pastors. Several publications are available for this purpose: Lasher, Graham, Ramond, Wilks, Cathcart, Sprague, and Hayes. Another source of such information is census records. These records provide data concerning pastors and members of the congregation of the church. PHOTOGRAPHS A collection of photographs has been assembled in the Special Collection Department and includes churches, pastors, individuals, baptismal scenes, convention scenes, and so on. Capabilities for reproducing photographs from books, The Alabma Baptist, and other materials, are available in the department. HOWARD COLLEGE/SAMFORD UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES Many of the pastors of Alabama churches attended Howard College (now Samford University). Some information about the students is available from student records and campus publications that might be helpful to church historians. MICROFILMING As already stated, recorded in the pages of church records is much of the history of a church and its people. Every church should preserve historical documents on microfilm. The Alabama Baptist Historical Commission, in cooperation with Samford University Library, provides a simple and efficient microfilm procedure without charge to the church. For additional information, contact personnel of the Special Collection Department, Samford University Library, telephone (205) The mailing address is Special Collection Department, Samford University, 800 Lakeshore Drive, Birmingham, Alabama Mrs. Wells is the Special Collection Librarian, Samford. University, and Mrs. Hutchens is Research Assistant in Special Collection.