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Inventory of the California Baptist Convention and Association Proceedings
GTU 2005-5-01
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Table of contents
Title: California Baptist Convention and Association proceedings
Dates: 1851-1972
Collection number: GTU 2005-5-01
Collector:
American Baptist Seminary of the West
Creator:
California Southern Baptist Convention
Collection Size:
7 containers, 7 linear feet.
Repository: The Graduate Theological Union. Library.
Berkeley, CA 94709
Abstract: This collection of minutes and annual reports from the 19th and 20th centuiry was donated to the Graduate Theological Union
(GTU) by the American Baptist Seminary of the West. The materials show the development of the Baptist church in California
from the Gold Rush period forward.
Physical location: Stored at GTU.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
California Baptist Convention and Association proceedings, GTU 2005-5-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
This collection was donated to the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) by the American Baptist Seminary of the West in May of
2005.
Biography / Administrative History
Rev. O.C. Wheeler was sent by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society, to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush to
establish a Baptist church. During these early years Rev. Wheeler found that due to the migratory lifestyle associated with
the Gold Rush, he had a difficult job in establishing a church. In 1853 the California Baptist Convention was formed with
headquarters in San Francisco.
Because of the large distances to be traveled by delegates in 1892 the California Baptist Convention split into Northern and
Southern Conventions, with all counties south of Kern County being a part of the Southern Convention. The Northern Convention
stretched as far east as Nevada and as far north as Oregon. The Southern Convention reached east to Arizona and south to Mexico.
Regional associations formed within each Convention. The make-up of these associations changed frequently but eventually the
population settled and formed communities, in the early 20th century. Today it is known as the California Southern Baptist
Convention and includes 31 associations.
Other resources:
California gold rush sermons : as printed in the Pacific Banner : published in Sacramento, California / prepared by Robert
W. Cullifer ; transcribed from microfilm roll acquired at Graduate Theological Union, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Berkeley,
California by Jim Brower, BX6333.A1 C34 2000; A history of the Southern California Baptist Convention and it related organizations
and institutions from 1892 to 1922 / by Ray Auldon Bryson, Thesis cage 1956; History of California Southern Baptists, BX6248.C2
L6
Scope and Content of Collection
Records consist of published minutes and annual reports of the California Baptist Conventions as well as secratarial ledgers.
The organizations include the General Baptist Convention, Northern and Central California and Nevada Convention, Southern
California Baptist Convention and the associations within each convention. The time period ranges from the 1851 San Francisco
Baptist Association Minutes to the 1972 Southern California Baptist Convention newsletter.
Records are aseparated into Northern and Southern Baptist Conferences then alphabetically by association within each conference.
These are listed in chronological order.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Religious newspapers and periodicals--California.
Baptists--California--History.
Baptists--California, Southern--History.
Baptists--California, Northern--History.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Southern Baptist General Convention of California
Northern California Baptist Association
Central Baptist Association
Clear Lake Baptist Association
Sacramento River Baptist Association
Wheeler, O. C.
San Francisco Bay Baptist Association (formerly San Francisco Baptist Association)
San Joaquin Valley Baptist Association (formerly Tulare Baptist Association)
San Jose Baptist Association
Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of California
Los Angeles Baptist Association
Santa Ana Valley Baptist Association
University Baptist Association
Woman's Baptist Missionary Society
Southern California Baptist Convention
Northern and Central California and Nevada Convention
Sturtevant, A.J.
Semi-Centennial History of the Clear Lake Baptist Association of California.
Chase, Don M.
Pioneers; sketches of pioneer days in Shasta, Tehama, Trinity and Siskiyou counties, with emphasis on the beginnings of religious
organizations.
Linsley, Alice Williams.
A History of the Santa Ana Valley Baptist Association 1892 to 1956.
Claiborne M. Hill collection, 1884-1940, GTU 2005-1-01; Robert W. Whitaker Collection, 1885-1969, GTU 2003-11-01
Two copies of A Brief History of the Central Association of the Northern California Baptist Convention by Rev. Homer Newberry
were removed from the collection, two copies remain. Eleven copies of The Story of Early Baptist History in California by
Rev. O. C. Wheeler, D.D., LL. D. were removed from the collection, two copies remain.