Description
Collection documents Glide Memorial Church's Sunday services, programs and fundraising events, mainly during Rev. Cecil Williams'
leadership.
Background
Glide Memorial Church was founded as a Methodist Church in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco in 1929. Philanthropist
Lizzie Glide created the Glide Foundation endowment to support the church. With declining membership, the board hired the
Rev. Lewis Durham and established the Glide Urban Center in 1963, a new urban ministry that developed programs to counter
the Tenderloin's worsening delinquency, prostitution, and drug problems. They hired three clergy persons: Ted McIlvenna to
run the young adult ministry, Don Kuhn to become Glide's publisher, and Cecil Williams as Minister of Outreach. Williams became
Glide's pastor upon the departure of the Rev. John V. Moore in 1966.
Williams, along with his future wife Janice Mirikitani and other Glide staff, re-oriented the church to serve the most vulnerable
members of the community. Sunday services became "Sunday Celebrations," welcoming all people, and replacing traditional hymms
with jazz and blues music. The church became a gathering space and center of activism for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and queer community; sponsored housing for runaway youth and women and children; and hosted free meals for the hungry. Beginning
in the late 1980s, Glide held national conferences to address the crack cocaine epidemic.
Glide has become a nationally recognized center for social justice, with an integrated and comprehensive service model to
meet basic needs and support people along pathways toward stabilization and self-sufficiency. The foundation currently runs
87 various social service programs.
Glide separated from the United Methodist Church in 2020.
Availability
Collection is stored off site. It is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available
during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored off site should be requested 48 hours in advance.