Student Christian Movement in New England Records

The papers provide valuable and relatively complete documentation of the changing format and concerns of Christian work among students in New England over a period of more than three decades. Each decade had its burning issues - the World War, civil rights, labor problems, the Vietnam War - and student response to the issues of their time is clearly evident both in the material produced by local college groups and in the programs of the SCM as a whole. Extensive correspondence documents, for example, student involvement in civil rights work through donations of time and money to Southern causes and through the formation of the Northern Student Movement, which was designed to aid minorities in the North. Another long-term project of the Student Christian Movement in New England provided support for the oppressed Student Christian Movement of Brazil.

The SCM in New England was not a highly centralized organization, and its archives came to the Library in no recognizable order. Detailed or sketchy records were kept, depending on the SCM staff person maintaining the files. The first series, COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS AND COUNCILS, includes material related to the administrative and policy-making units of the Student Christian Movement in New England. These committees generally had both adult and student membership and their names and number varied with the changing concerns of the Movement. The second series, COLLEGE FILES, reveals an interesting picture of the variation and relative strength or weakness of Christian groups on campuses throughout New England. The third series, CONFERENCES, contains information related to the various annual and one-time conferences and retreats which were perhaps the most vital activity of the SCM in New England. Included in this series are the records of the Legislative Assembly, later known as the Annual Representative Assembly, which gathered delegates from all member campus groups to assess and plan the work of the Movement.

The fourth, fifth and sixth series--PROGRAM MATERIALS, HISTORICAL REPORTS, and PUBLICATIONS--provide the clearest documentation of the specific issues which involved the SCM in New England during its years of existence. The RELATED GROUPS of Series VII refer to the various agencies and denominations which cooperated in the work of the SCM Folders labeled "University Christian Movement" document the formation and early activities of the SCM's successor.