United Ministries in Higher Education Records
Collection
Call Number: RG 104
Scope and Contents
These records complement other holdings at the Yale Divinity Library, including RG 54: Archives of the New England Commission for United Ministries in Higher Education (1967-1974), RG 64: Archives of the National Campus Ministry Association, and RG 62: Records of the Danforth Study of Campus Ministries, as well as the archives of various student Christian movements. The constellation of these various record groups provides opportunity for study of the complex mix of ecumenical and denominational efforts at religious work on campuses in the U.S.
The Correspondence and Office Files of Series I and Organization and Policy Records of Series II are interrelated, with the chronological filing sequence of Series I running from 1962 to 1989 and Series II divided into four subsections: Annual Reports (1966-1985), Minutes (1964-1994), Legal and Policy Documents (1964-1992), and Personnel records (1962-1991). Records predating the formation of United Ministries in Higher Education relate to the body out of which it evolved.
Series III, Program Files and Reports, provides substantive documentation of the programs initiated and supported by UMHE, including the Health and Human Values project, Task Force on the Generational Process, and so forth. These program files are complemented by the Publications of Series IV, which address a wide range of issues related to ministry in higher education, and the State Commissions records of Series V. Financial records are available in Series VI for the years 1979 to 1986.
Material collected in Series VII documents various organizations related to the work of the UMHE, including the United Campus Christian Fellowship, out of which UMHE evolved.
Series VIII comprises records of the Christian Faith and Higher Education Institute, a program of UMHE. These materials were added in 2010 by H. Lynn Jondahl, who was Director of Resources and later Director of the Institute. The Christian Faith and Higher Education Institute operated from 1962 through 1971 with financial support from the American Baptist Church, the Protestant Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the United Presbyterian Church. Several other denominations were involved in the program and policy of the Institute, including the Disciples of Christ, the Evangelical United Brethren and the Moravian Church in America, and the National Lutheran Council.
Series IX contains papers related to the church and higher education from the files of Verlyn L. Barker, who was Secretary, Ministries in Higher Education, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries and President of United Ministries in Higher Education. These materials, which supplement papers added earlier to Series IV, Publications, provide a valuable consolidated resource for studying the role and development of ecumenical Christian work at colleges and universities.
The Correspondence and Office Files of Series I and Organization and Policy Records of Series II are interrelated, with the chronological filing sequence of Series I running from 1962 to 1989 and Series II divided into four subsections: Annual Reports (1966-1985), Minutes (1964-1994), Legal and Policy Documents (1964-1992), and Personnel records (1962-1991). Records predating the formation of United Ministries in Higher Education relate to the body out of which it evolved.
Series III, Program Files and Reports, provides substantive documentation of the programs initiated and supported by UMHE, including the Health and Human Values project, Task Force on the Generational Process, and so forth. These program files are complemented by the Publications of Series IV, which address a wide range of issues related to ministry in higher education, and the State Commissions records of Series V. Financial records are available in Series VI for the years 1979 to 1986.
Material collected in Series VII documents various organizations related to the work of the UMHE, including the United Campus Christian Fellowship, out of which UMHE evolved.
Series VIII comprises records of the Christian Faith and Higher Education Institute, a program of UMHE. These materials were added in 2010 by H. Lynn Jondahl, who was Director of Resources and later Director of the Institute. The Christian Faith and Higher Education Institute operated from 1962 through 1971 with financial support from the American Baptist Church, the Protestant Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the United Presbyterian Church. Several other denominations were involved in the program and policy of the Institute, including the Disciples of Christ, the Evangelical United Brethren and the Moravian Church in America, and the National Lutheran Council.
Series IX contains papers related to the church and higher education from the files of Verlyn L. Barker, who was Secretary, Ministries in Higher Education, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries and President of United Ministries in Higher Education. These materials, which supplement papers added earlier to Series IV, Publications, provide a valuable consolidated resource for studying the role and development of ecumenical Christian work at colleges and universities.
Dates
- 1942-2002
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts of the UMHE, 1997, Verlyn L. Barker, 2006, and H. Lynn Jondahl, 2010
Arrangement
- I. Correspondence and Office Files, 1962-1989
- II. Organization and Policy Records, 1964-1994
- III. Program Files and Reports, 1959-1993, n.d.
- IV. Publications, 1955-1996
- V. State Commissions, 1957-1993, n.d.
- VI. Financial Records, 1979-1986
- VII. Related Organizations and Material, 1944-1995, n.d.
- VIII. Christian Faith and Higher Education Institute, 1962-1971
- IX. Addendum: Verlyn Barker Files
Extent
26 Linear Feet (63 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Organizational and program materials of the UMHE and related bodies provide an overview of three decades of Protestant campus ministries. United Ministries in Higher Education was established in 1964, emerging out of the United Campus Christian Fellowship, a body that represented the student Christian movements of four Protestant denominations. By 1968 six more denominational agencies had joined the UMHE. In 1979 UMHE changed its name to United Ministries in Education, joining with Ministries in Public Education. In 1988 this partnership was ended and the UMHE was reorganized as The Higher Education Ministries Team of United Ministries in Higher Education (though still incorporated as United Ministries in Education).
Biographical / Historical
United Ministries in Higher Education evolved out of several decades of ministry in non-church related institutions of higher education in the U.S. Organizationally, UMHE emerged out of the United Campus Christian Fellowship, which was a uniting in 1960 of the student Christian movements of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the United Church of Christ, and the United Presbyterian Church. These UCCF denominations formed UMHE in 1964 and by 1968 six more denominations had joined forces: the Moravian Church (1965), the Presbyterian Church, U.S. (1966), the Church of the Brethren (1967), the Episcopal Church (1968), the Reformed Church in America (1968), and the American Baptist Church (1968). The United Methodist Church became a member at its formation - the uniting of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren church. In 1976, the Reformed Church in America restructured and withdrew from participation.
In 1966 the United Campus Christian Fellowship merged into the University Christian Movement in the United States, a body that was not integrally related to the institutional church in the same way that the UCCF had been. The UMHE continued to pursue its goal of developing strategy and recommending policy for ministries in higher education for the denominations it represented, striving to promote common initiatives rather than unilateral actions.
From 1964 to 1968 UMHE was governed by a Council for Policy and Strategy, a Committee of Administrators, and a Secretariat. In the fall of 1968, the National Commission for United Ministries in Higher Education was formed by the ten national denominational agencies that were supporting UMHE, a restructuring intended to place discussion and decision making in the hands of a more representative body of persons, to clarify staff accountability, and to improve the coordination of the campus ministries of the denominations. A Self-Study Committee was established in 1973 to oversee an extensive organizational analysis that led to the formation of a UMHE Policy Board in 1974.
The Policy Board of UMHE and the Program and Policy Committee of an organization called Ministries in Public Education created a Joint UMHE-MPE Committee in 1978 to investigate means for closer working and organizational relations between the two ministries. This Committee recommended the formation of United Ministries in Education as the successor to MPE and UHME. This change in the name and purpose of UMHE was consented to by the New York State Education Department on August 24, 1979.
The partnership between UMHE and MPE was dissolved in 1988 and The Higher Education Ministries Team of United Ministries in Higher Education was officially constituted on November 15, 1989 for a three-year period beginning January 1, 1990 (still operating under the corporate name of United Ministries in Education). UMHE was empowered to pursue an agenda in higher education ministries during this period of evaluation of both the program and the organization itself. Denominations supporting the Team included the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Moravian Church, and the Church of the Brethren. The role of UMHE in relation to denominational activities and the new Higher Education Ministries Arena of the National Council of Churches was evaluated.
In 1966 the United Campus Christian Fellowship merged into the University Christian Movement in the United States, a body that was not integrally related to the institutional church in the same way that the UCCF had been. The UMHE continued to pursue its goal of developing strategy and recommending policy for ministries in higher education for the denominations it represented, striving to promote common initiatives rather than unilateral actions.
From 1964 to 1968 UMHE was governed by a Council for Policy and Strategy, a Committee of Administrators, and a Secretariat. In the fall of 1968, the National Commission for United Ministries in Higher Education was formed by the ten national denominational agencies that were supporting UMHE, a restructuring intended to place discussion and decision making in the hands of a more representative body of persons, to clarify staff accountability, and to improve the coordination of the campus ministries of the denominations. A Self-Study Committee was established in 1973 to oversee an extensive organizational analysis that led to the formation of a UMHE Policy Board in 1974.
The Policy Board of UMHE and the Program and Policy Committee of an organization called Ministries in Public Education created a Joint UMHE-MPE Committee in 1978 to investigate means for closer working and organizational relations between the two ministries. This Committee recommended the formation of United Ministries in Education as the successor to MPE and UHME. This change in the name and purpose of UMHE was consented to by the New York State Education Department on August 24, 1979.
The partnership between UMHE and MPE was dissolved in 1988 and The Higher Education Ministries Team of United Ministries in Higher Education was officially constituted on November 15, 1989 for a three-year period beginning January 1, 1990 (still operating under the corporate name of United Ministries in Education). UMHE was empowered to pursue an agenda in higher education ministries during this period of evaluation of both the program and the organization itself. Denominations supporting the Team included the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Moravian Church, and the Church of the Brethren. The role of UMHE in relation to denominational activities and the new Higher Education Ministries Arena of the National Council of Churches was evaluated.
- Title
- Guide to the United Ministries in Higher Education Records
- Author
- Compiled by Carl Beckwith and Martha Lund Smalley
- Date
- 1997, 2010, 2011
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared According To Local Divinity Library Descriptive Practices
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Yale Divinity Library Repository