Metropolitan Community Church historical collection, 1969-2004, bulk bulk

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Summary

Creators:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
Abstract:
This collection consists of materials relating to the origins, history, and ministry of the Metropolitan Community Church, including both its governing body, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and the individual congregations that make up the Fellowship. The materials include brochures, bylaws, calendars, circulars, congregation meeting minutes, correspondence, financial papers, flyers, handbills, installations of pastors, invitations, news releases, newspapers clippings, orders of worship, pastoral letters, programs, sermons, and photographs. The most substantial records relate to the Beach Cities congregation in Santa Monica, California; the Los Angeles "Mother Church" for the years 1969-1979; and the New York City congregation for the years 1974-1977.
Extent:
12.2 Linear Feet and 6 records boxes + 3 archive cartons + 1 archive half-carton + 1 oversize box (12.2 linear feet).
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Metropolitan Community Church historical collection, Coll2009-006, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of materials relating to the origins, history, and ministry of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), including both its governing body, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), and the individual congregations that make up the Fellowship. The materials include brochures, bylaws, calendars, circulars, congregation meeting minutes, correspondence, financial papers, flyers, handbills, installations of pastors, invitations, news releases, newspapers clippings, orders of worship, pastoral letters, programs, sermons, and photographs. Because of the method in which the collection was created (see the Note below), the materials are fragmentary: the most substantial records relate to the Beach Cities congregation in Santa Monica, California; the Los Angeles congregation for the years 1969-1979; and the New York City congregation for the years 1974-1977.

Note: Prior to the engaging of professional archivists in 2006, the staff of the International Gay & Lesbian Archives, predecessor to ONE Archives, would occasionally remove materials pertaining to a specific subject, individual, or institution from whatever personal or institutional collection in which they were found to a specially created "historical collection". This procedure not only compromised the integrity of the collections from which the material was removed, but also resulted in collections that did not present consistent coverage of the intended subjects. The Metropolitan Community Church Historical Collection is one such "artificial collection": parts of its contents can be traced to the collections of J. J. Bertrund Belanger, Fred Bradford and Chuck David, Jim Kepner, Morris Kight, John O'Brien, and Johan Vessup. Returning individual items to the collections from which they were taken is impractical; this finding aid indicates the origin of a specific file whenever this can be determined.

Biographical / historical:

To be supplied later.

Acquisition information:
Many materials came to the archives through a donation by Fred Bradford in 1979. Other materials were pulled together from other collections at ONE National Gay and Lesbian Collections.
Processing information:

Formerly boxes 104-84 through 104-93, and ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives Subject Files. Collection processed by Michael P. Palmer, November 17, 2009.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in 6 series: (1) UFMCC, (2) General Conferences, (3) Congregations, (4) Photographs, (5) Audio, and (6) Memorabilia.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner. Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holder(s) of any copyrights in the materials. Note that ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives can grant copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for all other materials directly from the copyright holder(s).

Preferred citation:

Metropolitan Community Church historical collection, Coll2009-006, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.

Location of this collection:
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007, US
Contact:
(213) 821-2771
askone@usc.edu
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