Westminster Presbyterian Church Records

The records document over two hundred years of the church, from its beginnings in 1799 as First Presbyterian Church, to its split into the resulting Third Street Presbyterian Church, to its merger in 1919 as Westminster Presbyterian Church. The records document all aspects of the three churches, including the administrative functions, buildings, education classes, finances, membership, ministers, worship services, and organizations and their work within the church and for the community. The collection is divided into three main subgroups: First Presbyterian Church, Third Street Presbyterian, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. Each subgroup is organized by function and format. Through its membership, buildings, and community programs the church has a long established presence in the heart of downtown Dayton.



Subgroup I: First Presbyterian Church, 1799-1919, while only 9 boxes of material, contains the earliest documentation in the collection, as it was the beginning of Westminster Presbyterian. The records include histories. Early administrative records of First Presbyterian Church include Board of Trustee minutes 1887-1903, congregational meeting minutes from 1869, 1908-1919, and Session minutes from 1901-1919. The education records in Series 3, while sparse in coverage, offer a glimpse into the operations of the Dayton Sabbath School. Financial records in Series 4 are also light in number, but do provide insight into financial functions through items such as a deed for pew purchase, subscription records, treasurer’s account book, and cash ledger. The Membership records in Series 5 are among the strongest documentation of First Presbyterian with manuals and membership directories covering 1864, and 1891-1919. The Minister files in Series 6 are strong in documenting the life of Reverend Thomas E. Thomas who served First Presbyterian Church from 1858-1871. He was a widely-known Bible scholar and anti-slavery minister, which is well documented in this series. Organizations documented in Series 7 are dominated by the Ladies’ Church Society cookbooks from 1873-1911, but also include a few minutes for the Men’s League Club, Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society, Young Ladies Foreign Mission Board, Young Men’s Association, and Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavors. Series 8 documents the services at First Presbyterian through a few bulletins from the early 1900s. Photographs in Series 9 visually document the church buildings as well as the ministers and elders.



Subgroup II: Third Street Presbyterian is the smallest of the subgroups, and had the shortest duration as an independent entity in Westminster’s history. The strongest series in this group is the Administrative Records in Series 1, which contain Session minutes and registers on microfilm from 1839-1918. Also a complete run of bound bulletins from 1895-1919 maintained in the church, documents the church’s services and news. Early education records in Series 3 are incomplete, but contain a book of teachers and officers as well as Sunday school attendance records from the early 1900s. Membership records in Series 5 include a list of members at the time of the centennial in 1899. The Women’s Society records in Series 6 document its activities from 1909-1913 through minutes. Photographs in Series 7 provide visual documentation of the Third Street Church building.



Subgroup III: Westminster Presbyterian Church is by far the largest subgroup in the collection. It is divided into 15 series. Series 1 History contains not only written and published histories, but also anniversary materials. Series 2 documents the Governing Bodies of the Church. These records include full runs of meeting minutes and correspondence by the various levels of leadership of the church and show how the church is structured and administered from a national to local level.





Series 3 Administrative Records contains a near complete run of annual reports spanning 1960- 2018, manuals and directories, calendars, personnel files and studies. This series is strong in documenting the membership, activities and daily functions of the church, as well as the church’s activities within the community. Two types of calendars exist in this series. The first are calendars which are actually bound bulletins. The second type of calendar is a handwritten daily schedule for the church.





Series 4 Buildings, consists largely of blueprints of the current church building, which was built by the Schenck & Williams firm and dedicated in 1926. For additional information on financing the building and capital improvements, see Building Committee and Church Building Campaign Committee records in series 5 and financial records in series 7.





Series 5 Commissions & Committees: While many of the committee records are limited in scope, overall the series offers information on how the work of the church was organized and carried out. Committees on Christian and religious education and on the May Festival (a religious festival of the arts) are the most complete records in this series. Also of note are records dating 1920-1948 which document the work of Every Member Canvass, a stewardship committee. Among documentation of Westminster’s role in serving the community from the 1970s-1990s is the Community Life Commission records.





Series 6, Education, documents the Sunday School from the 1920s-1960s, and is also strong in documenting the Youth Fellowship during the 1980s-1990s.



Financial Records in Series 7 are strongest in documenting the church’s finances from the 1920s-2010. For additional information on decisions regarding finances, consult Series 5 on Commissions and Committees, as well as annual reports in Series 3 which provide annual Treasurer’s reports. In addition, the Board of Trustees records in Series 2 will offer insight into the decision making process regarding budgeting and use of church monies.



Series 8 Membership Records’ strength is in the alphabetical membership lists from the 1940s-1960s, as well as new member cards organized by date from 1926-1947. Also included are the travel diaries and writings of Adah Dodd Poince, a member of the church who also taught a popular Bible study. There is also biographical information on active church members. For additional information on membership, see manuals and directories in Series 3.



Series 9 Ministers contains the working papers of the ministers of Westminster, including biographical information, correspondence, and sermons. Ministers with several files are listed first, alphabetically by last name. Extensive files of Dr. Hugh Ivan Evans and Dr. William C. Schram are prominent in this series. Dr. Hugh Ivan Evans served the congregation from 1923-1955. During his tenure he was instrumental in leading the congregation during the early years of its merger, and in erecting and paying for a new church building. Rev. Dr. William C. Schram served the congregation from 1973-1989. The rest of the series is arranged alphabetically by the minister’s last name.



Music in Series 10 contains information on Westminster’s renowned choir and organists. It also contains information on acquisition and planning for new pipe organs. For music recordings search Series 15.



Series 11 Organizations and Programs is one of the largest series of the subgroup. The series is organized alphabetically by the organization’s name. Major groups include Men’s Club of Westminster, Missionary Society, Poince Bible Class, Presbywed, Westminster Service Club, Women of Westminster, and Young Adults.



Series 12 Publications contains a strong run of the Chimes newsletter for 1931 to 2019, documenting activities, events and news of the church. It also provides insight into how the church responded to global and local events.



Series 13 Worship Services consists almost entirely of worship bulletins for both regular worship services and special services. The bulletins date from the first service when the First Presbyterian Church and Third Street Church officially merged in 1919 and run almost complete through 2019. The bulletins not only provide information on the service, but also give information on the week’s activities and the names of staff. A complete bound set of calendars (bound bulletins) maintained by the Church Office exists in Series 3 Administrative Records. See Series 15 for special services and regular services recorded on CD-Rom.



Series 14 Photographs is arranged by subject found in bold type. The subjects complement the series and are as follows: Buildings; Education; Music; Staff, officers and members; Organizational Programs and Activities; and Worship / Special Services. For more visual images also look in Series 15: Audio/Visual.



Series 15 Audio/Visual contains CDs, films, record recordings, reel-to-reel sound recordings, tape cassettes, and video tapes of special events, services, lectures and classes. The CDs are in the E-Archives, the film is at Med. Sci.