GLIDE Historical Records
Finding aid created by San Francisco History Center staff using RecordEXPRESS
San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
2023
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, California 94102
(415) 557-4567
sfhistory@sfpl.org
http://sfpl.org/sfhistory
Title: GLIDE Historical Records
Dates: 1945-2022
Collection Number: SFH 744
Creator/Collector:
Mirikitani, Janice.
Williams, Cecil, 1929-.
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church (San Francisco, Calif.).
Extent: 45 cartons, 2 oversized flat folders (48 cubic feet)
Repository:
San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
San Francisco, California 94102
Abstract: Collection documents Glide Memorial Church's Sunday services, programs and fundraising events, mainly during Rev. Cecil Williams'
leadership.
Language of Material: English
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.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts and/or publish from photographs must be submitted in writing
to Francesca Delgado-Jones of the Glide organization.
[Identification of item]. GLIDE Historical Records. Collection Number: SFH 744. San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco
History Center
Donated to San Francisco History Center in September, 2023.
Biography/Administrative History
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection documents Glide Memorial Church's Sunday services, programs and special events, mainly during Rev. Cecil Williams'
leadership. Includes Williams' sermons, speeches and correspondence, Janice Mirikitani's published writings, printed works
of Glide Publications, church bulletins, Glide Ensemble sheet music and recordings, photographs, some program files, "Vibrations
From a New People" television show files and recordings, social action files, United Methodist Church correspondence and other
documents, photographs, posters, ephemera and media coverage. Includes files on three national conferences, organized by Glide
beginning in 1989, addressing the crack cocaine epidemic.
Organization and Arrangement: Processed to box level by Marilyn Kincaid of Glide Memorial Church. Generally organized by type
and/or function of material. Series were not created. Within segments, arrangement is mainly chronological.
Church group work -- California -- San Francisco.
Church work -- California -- San Francisco.
Methodist Church -- California -- San Francisco.
Social justice -- California -- San Francisco.
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Archives.
San Francisco (Calif.) -- History.