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Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta, Inc. records

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.MSS1253

Scope and Contents

This collection contains records from the Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta, Inc., its predecessors, and internal committees that aided in the council's ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. There are administrative documents such as minutes, rosters, and newsletters; financial records, such as ledgers; event planning documents, such as programs; committee planning documents; yearbooks; correspondence; and newspaper clippings. Administrative yearbooks highlight yearly activities and are arranged in the order they originated. Also included are records from a closely associated organization, Men and the Religion Forward Movement.

Dates

  • 1890-2003, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.

Biographical / Historical

In 1879, The Atlanta Preachers’ Meeting was founded to serve community in Atlanta, Georgia, as a unified group of Black and white Christian preachers. In 1957 they published the Minister’s Manifesto under a new name, the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta; the manifesto was statement calling for calm and reason amid violent reactions to the integration of public schools in the South. The following year, after white supremacists bombed The Temple on Peachtree Street, a second statement, signed by more than 300 Atlanta area clergy, was published. Later they changed their name to the Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta, Inc. Included was The Evangelical Minister’s Association of Atlanta because it had similar interests and goals, namely, to provide “justice, reconciliation, and want” in addition to advocating for “collaboration among all Christians throughout the Atlanta region.”

Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta, Inc. initiatives include the Christian Emerging Help Center (CEHC), employment assistance, mental health services through Anchor Transitional Housing Center, and Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta. The annual prayer breakfast they host was “Atlanta’s first large-scale, public sitting-down-together of the races to eat.” Communities they work with include Black and Chinese American and other immigrant populations.

Extent

13.88 linear ft. (26 document cases, one half document case, and two oversize boxes)

Language

English

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by titles supplied by staff.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 2003, with subsequent additions

Bias in Description

As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information. We choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, and bias is reflected in our descriptions, which may not accurately convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materials. Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment. In working with this collection, we often re-use language used by the former owners of the material. This language provides context but often includes bias and prejudices reflective of the time in which it was created. The Kenan Research Center’s work is ongoing to implement reparative language where Library of Congress subject terms are inaccurate and obsolete.

Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or descriptions, please let us know by emailing reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.

General

MSS 1253 contains what was MSS 686.

Processing Information

This collection was processed in 2023.

Title
Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta, Inc. records
Subtitle
ahc.MSS1253
Author
Sara Matthews
Date
May 2023
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

Contact:
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Atlanta GA 30305
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