First Lutheran Church of Dayton Records

The records of the First Lutheran Church are arranged within ten main series: (1) Administrative Records, (2) Vital Statistics, (3) Sunday School, (4) Church Related Materials Dealing with Church History, (8) Subject Files, (9) Organists and (10) Photographs.

The Administrative Records in Series 1 mainly consist of the meeting minutes of the Church Council, spanning the years 1840 to 1976. Arranged chronologically, these minutes are the best first-hand account on the day-to-day history of the church. Also included in this series are some scattered records of the Church Treasurer and a few miscellaneous administrative records.

Series 2, Vital Statistics, which is also arranged chronologically, includes information on baptisms, communions, marriages, and deaths within the church between the years 1839 to 1914. There are also church directories in this series that list the names of church members during much of the church's history. There are three additional volumes belonging to other series that hold information pertaining to vital statistics. Volumes 1 and 2 of Series 1 contain records of baptisms and communions and also a list of church members from the earliest years of the church. Volume 34 of Series 4, an annual or quarterly record of church events kept by various young people's groups from 1870 to 1910, contains the names of many members who were sick or who died during the years covered by the book.

Series 3 Sunday School records, is divided into two sub-series: Sunday School Administrative Records and Sunday School Related Classes or Groups. Arranged chronologically, the Sunday School Administrative Records in Sub-series 1 contain constitutions, meeting minutes, and information on the day-to-day running of the Sunday School, perhaps the most important institution in the First Lutheran Church. Sub-series 2, Sunday School Related Classes or Groups, is arranged alphabetically by group. These groups provided church members with important opportunities to gather for either purely social reasons or to discuss religious topics. The records left by the groups contain meeting minutes, directories, and calendars.

Groups unrelated to the Sunday School but who also provided social opportunities for church members are gathered in Series 4, Church Groups. This series is divided into four sub-series. Sub-series 1, Missionaries, documents the various missionary groups that connected the First Lutheran Church with others, both at a national and a local level. There are publications and convention proceedings of the Woman's home and Foreign Missionary Society (W.H. & F.M.S.) of the General Synod, a national organization, and of the Miami Synod, a regional organization, in which church members were actively involved. Within the First Lutheran Church itself, the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society was its oldest established organization. Unfortunately, Dayton's flood of 1913 destroyed much of the group's records, leaving only two volumes of meeting minutes spanning the years 1918 to 1945. There is, however, an almost complete record of the church's missionary society for young women, known first as the Young Woman's Missionary Society and then later as the McCauly Missionary Society.

Sub-series 2, Other Women's Groups, contains histories and meeting minutes of women's groups, most of whom were involved in either charitable activities related to the church or in purely social functions. Sub-series 3, Men's Groups, and Sub-series 4, Youth Groups, also have the same kinds of records. All three are arranged alphabetically by group and then arranged chronologically.

Series 5 are Publications given out by the church to inform its members about services and church events and meetings. Sub-series 1, Sunday Bulletins, describe the weekly services of the church from the 1910s to 1984. Also, within the bulletins are notes on church news and about church groups. The collection of the Sunday Bulletins is complete from 1971 to 1984. Sub-series 2 contain Newsletters. These newsletters, which came out weekly, monthly, or quarterly over the years, intimately cover church events from 1895 to 1984; however, the collection of the newsletters is only complete from 1970 to 1984. Both the Sunday Bulletins and the Newsletters are arranged chronologically.

Series 6, Blueprints, is composed of the complete blueprints of the church's current building designed by the firm of Peters, Burns and Pretzinger in 1905. Also included are miscellaneous blueprints of additions and alterations to the church building and of its electrical system.

The Materials Dealing with Church History in Series 7 are mainly secondary works written about the First Lutheran Church, such as plays, books, and pamphlets. There are also descriptions of church organizations, descriptions of the church's building, and miscellaneous undated newspaper clippings. For general background on the church's history and organizations, this is the series with which to start.

Series 8 is made up of Subject Files. Arranged alphabetically, these files are incomplete and contain papers from the 1940s all the way through the 1980s. Because of its scattered nature, the best use of this series can only be to supplement information found in the other series.

Series 9 is a small series about the Organists of the First Lutheran Church, well-known in Dayton for their expertise. Pamphlets describing the church's organ, programs and information about organist Paul Ray Jones make up this series.

Series 10 is a miscellaneous collection of Photographs. The photographs have been placed into groups, which are then arranged alphabetically. Very few of the photographs are dated and even fewer have any identification of the people pictured in them.

Series 11 consists of church books such as hymnals and prayer books. Most of these books are written in English; however, there are several books in German.