Massachusetts Woman’s Home Missionary Union. Records, 1879-1990 (gaps)

Historical Note

The Woman's Home Missionary Association's first meeting was November 4, 1879 in the vestry of the Park Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts; the organization was officially chartered September 28, 1881. The association's first report states: "On November 4, 1879, a group of devoted women met in Park Street Church, Boston, to confer on what Congregational women could do to spread the knowledge of the gospel in the United States. They organized a "society for the prosecution of Home Missionary work." On February 26, 1880, a constitution was adopted and a name was given this new child -- Woman's Home Missionary Association. March 18th the first public meeting was held, and on October 18th, the close of the fiscal year, $2,644 had been received for the work" (series I-A, 1-1). Members were from Boston, as well as neighboring cities. Life members contributed $20 and annual members contributed $1 each (series V, 7-26). Names appearing on the original 1881 charter include: Sarah M. Hunnewell, Mary A. Tyler, Abby W. Pearson, Mary H. Bishop, Mary M. Topliff, Louise L. Adams, Mary A. Moore and Ann Maria Preston (series V, 7-18).

Founded to meet the material and spiritual needs of women and children, the Association raised money through concerts and lectures in churches. Auxiliary groups quickly formed within the state of Massachusetts and substantial bequests (or legacies) were left to the Association.(1) Donations of books, clothing, school supplies and toys grew from $7000 in 1883 to $36,000 in 1902. By 1926 the Association acquired $113,483 per year and donated $1,500,000 from gifts of living donors and $165,982 from legacy gifts, a total of $1,766,000 between 1880-1926 (series I-A, 1-5).

The Women's Home Missionary Association was primarily organized to support home missions and the Congregational homeland societies (i.e., the Congregational Home Missionary Society, the Congregational Church Building Society, the Congregational Sunday School Extension, the American Missionary Association, the Congregational Education Society, the Congregational Foundation for Education, the Congregational Board of Ministerial Relief and the Annuity Fund for Congregational Ministers, series V, 7-22). Through this work the Association supported: Miss Lilla Davis and the Cotton Valley School for African-American women in Alabama, the first such school in the country; the Santee Indian School in Nebraska; Tuskegee Normal School in Alabama, now Tuskegee Institute; Bethlehem Bible Readers Home in Ohio, which later became Schauffler College and later Oberlin College; and French Protestant College in Springfield, Massachusetts, now Springfield International College. Dr. and Mrs. Booker T. Washington were frequent speakers at the early meetings and were influential in the Association's establishment of African American schools in the South.(2)

Around 1920, the funds and work of the General Association of Massachusetts' (3) men's and women's organizations merged, and the Massachusetts Court ruled that money held as specific bequests for women and children must be separated and administered by a corporation elected for this purpose.(4) As a result, the Woman's Home Missionary Association became the Massachusetts Woman's Home Missionary Union in 1924. "to act as trustees of funds entrusted to them and to disburse the income of the same for the work of Congregational Home Missions."(5) In 1927 the Massachusetts Woman's Home Missionary Union and the Massachusetts Branches of the Woman's Board of Missions merged to become the Congregational Woman's Missionary Society of Massachusetts (series I-A, 1-5). By 1934, the charter and bylaws used the name Massachusetts Home Missionary Union (series V, 7-18).

Today the Union disburses approximately $40,000 annually. The Union receives quarterly requests from the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries and also supports the Massachusetts Conference, which is responsible for the United Church of Christ missionary work in Massachusetts.(6) In addition, the Union funds numerous charitable organizations. See Appendix A for a list of the officers of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Union from 1881-1937. Note that for a short period, the board was not all-female: from 1932-1937 Reverend Oliver D. Sewall served as treasurer since "after the merger in 1927, it was felt wise that this position would be a man conversant with the State treasury" (series I-C, 2-13).

Endnotes

(1) Massachusetts Woman's Home Missionary Union (Who are We?), October, 1979, p. 1-2.

(2) Ibid., p. 2.

(3) The General Association of Massachusetts was founded in 1802 and later became the Massachusetts Congregational Conference. In 1966, the name changed to the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.

(4) Ibid.

(5) Ibid.

(6) Ibid., p. 3.

Scope and Content Note

Annual reports from 1966-1988 (series I-A, 1-9-13) contain copies of the Massachusetts State Annual Report form, as well as a MHMU annual report. The notation "gaps" denotes the absence of a MHMU annual report; if the box list notes a gap, a Massachusetts State Annual Report form may exist, even if a MHMU annual report does not. Annual Report Correspondence 1981 (series I-A, 1-14) documents the reinstatement of nonprofit corporation status, which lapsed in 1981 due to an absence of annual reports on file with the state of Massachusetts. The necessary forms and annual reports were filed in 1981 and nonprofit corporation status was reinstated.

Minutes contain a mixture of annual meeting minutes and board of director minutes. Typically the minutes between 1879-1908 (series I-B, 1-6-17) contain annual meeting minutes and lists of the officers, committee members and their cities of residence. The minutes from 1918-1925 contain monthly meeting minutes and the treasurer's report, since both reports are were typed together. The minutes and treasurer's report from 1934-1990 are filed separately. Agendas (series I-D, 2-19-23) include a mixture of annual meeting and board of director agendas. If agendas are typed on the same page as the minutes, they are located with the minutes.

Treasurer's reports contain a wide variety of information, from annual reports to five - year reports. The majority of the finance committee reports are also filed with the treasurer's reports, since they include very detailed financial information (series II-A, 2-26-36).

Bequests (or legacies, according to the Massachusetts Home Missionary Union records) contains correspondence, documents and probate notices and clippings related to gifts bequeathed to the Massachusetts Woman's Home Missionary Union. Originally, several documents were stored together in one envelope. If the envelopes had relevant information written on the outside, the envelope was saved (series I-G, 3-16). Newspaper clippings (mostly probate notices) were xeroxed onto permanent paper and filed alphabetically by last name (series I-G, 3-1).

There are a number of separate ledgers and bank books that document the income from different funds (series II-E). Ledger sheets were removed from their original binders, for preservation purposes. Correspondence that specifically related to the bequests are filed in series II-F, 3-7-13. Correspondence that relates to the management of investments are filed in series II-H, 3-20-32; the majority of this correspondence is to and from the treasurer and investment management companies.

The majority of the correspondence from 1965-1990 contains correspondence to and from the Massachusetts Home Missionary Union and potential grant recipients; the bulk of the correspondence contains grant proposals and notification of awards. Correspondence from 1920-1982 documents the Travis Scholarship award; series III-A, 6-9 contains photographs of the Travis Scholarship recipients.

The majority of the historical material (series V) was found in several folders, in no apparent order. Some of this material is correspondence answering questions about the foundation of the MHMU and its relationship (or lack or relationship) to other early missionary societies. There is also some material that appears to have been collected to answer these questions (e.g., material on the history of home missionary societies in America and the New Hampshire Cent Society). There is also a congratulatory letter from President Jimmy Carter, commemorating the Massachusetts Home Missionary Union's 100th anniversary in 1979 (series V, 7-49). Miscellaneous items contained in this series include the black metal embossing stamp (series V, 7-52) for the Massachusetts Home Missionary Association (ca. 1924) and unidentified photographs of a Congregational Medical Services Car (series V, 7-51). The photographs were found in the back of the 1926 annual reports/addresses at 25th anniversary.

Biographies and memorial material were found located throughout the collection, in no apparent order. Newspaper or fragile copies were copied onto permanent paper and filed in series V, 7-24.

Description

Box and Folder List

Appendix A - List of Officers

Officers from 1881-1937 (transcribed from series I-C, 2-13). Officer names past 1937 may be obtained from officer lists (series I-C, 2-13-18) and from annual reports (series I-A, 1-6-13).