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Historical Note and Scope and Content Note

Subject File

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Special Collections

KINGSTON CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH COLLECTION
1835-1968

MSG# 169

 

SERIES I

SUBJECT FILE

DATES
.75' (2 Boxes) 1835-1968

The records are arranged in one subject series.  It appears many materials were gathered during the 250th Anniversary of the church (1945).  Those interested in the Church’s past will find much information contained within the "History" folders in this Series.  These folders include information on former pastors, the Pettaquamscutt Purchase and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.  A 1945 letter from Mrs. Susan Bacon Keith to Carl Woodward regarding the history of the church building is also in the "History" folders.  The history of Kingston Congregational Church was celebrated in a 250th Pageant and the original 1945 narrative, menu and program survive. Newspaper clippings of this event, as well as others from 1934-1957, are included in the folder on publicity.  Many clippings are from the student newspaper, The Beacon, and the Providence Sunday Journal. (Dates include 1934, 1936, 1945, 1957).    

The financial, educational, pastoral and missionary stance of the church from 1944 to 1968 is discernible in the Annual Reports.  (Available years include 1944-46, 1950-52, 1954 and 1956-68).  The Constitution and By-Laws deal with the name, purpose, policy, property and committees of the Kingston Congregational Church.  The folder on Committee Officers and Reports includes information from the Loyalty Committee of 1944 and the Building Committee of 1960.  Directories provide names and contact information on some of the former church officials and members (from 1956-57, 1961).  Proposed annual budgets from 1945-47, 1958, 1960 and 1967are also in the records.  

Among the newsletters are copies of The Spire, Kingston Congregational Church’s monthly newsletter, are available from 1954-1963, but not all of the months are represented.  Programs of church services from 1921-1968 can be found.  Not all the services from each year are represented, but special programs such as one commemorating the Service of Recognition for Reverend John D. Beck, 1954, can be found.  The folder on sermons, vespers and hymns includes Thanksgiving vespers and hymns as well as examples of sermons given by Rev. Stephen Yale (1965) and Rev. Kenneth B. Wentzel (1968).  

The records are arranged alphabetically by type or subject of the record.  

BOX FOLDER FOLDER TITLE DATES
 1    1 Anniversary (250th) Pageant Narrative    Nov 2, 1945
  2 Anniversary (250th) Service Programs 1945
  3 Annual Reports  1944-1956
4 Annual Reports  1957-1962
5 Annual Reports  1963-1968
6 Budgets 1945-1967
7 Committees and Reports 1925,1944,1945,1955,1960, 1965
8 Constitution and By-Laws 1945, 1966
9 Directories and Membership Lists 1956-1961
10 History ca. 1944- 1945
11 History  ca. 1944- 1945
12 Men and Women in Military Service 1944-1945
13 Minutes/Agenda 1835-1900, 1960, n.d.
14 Newsletters  1936,1944,1954-1958
15 Newsletters  1959-1961
16 Newsletters  1961-1963
17 Newspaper Clippings  1934-1957
18 Programs of Church Services  1921-1953
19 Programs of Church Services  1954-1968
20 Rhode Island Congregational Christian Conference  Agenda/Annual Report 1934
21 Rhode Island Congregational Conference Minutes  1866-1905
22 Sermons, Vespers and Hymns ca 1950s(?), 1965,1968, 1967