The Walnut Grove Japanese Methodist Church was the only Japanese Christian institution in the Sacramento Delta region. Established in 1915, the church played a key role in the religious life of the Japanese immigrant community. For the American-born Nisei generation, it conducted a Sunday school from its inception, and during the 1930s it organized the Epworth League and Friendship Club. During the wartime internment years, it was closed, but reopened in 1945 as former residents of Walnut Grove began to return to the Delta region. In October 1991 the church was closed permanently because of declining membership. The collection consists of various minutes, donation records, account books, weekly bulletins, and other miscellaneous documents, most of which postdate 1933. Includes many postwar newsletters issued by other Japanese American Christian churches, and the Kingdom of God Weekly ( Kami no Kuni Shimbun), a Christian weekly newspaper published in Japan.

The Walnut Grove Japanese Methodist Church was the only Japanese Christian institution in the Sacramento Delta region; established in 1915, the church played a key role in the religious life of the Japanese immigrant community; for the American-born Nisei generation, it conducted a Sunday school from its inception, and during the 1930s it organized the Epworth League and Friendship Club; in 1915, and again in 1933, the church was destroyed by fire; during the wartime internment years, it was closed, but reopened in 1945 as former residents of Walnut Grove began to return to the Delta region; in October 1991 the church was closed permanently because of declining membership.

11 boxes (5.5 linear ft.)

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