HOME MISSION BOARD EXECUTIVE OFFICE FILES (SERIES OF THE HOME MISSION BOARD RECORDS) AR 631 – 3 Home Mission Board executive secretary J. B. Lawrence (left) discusses mission programs with assistant executive secretary Courts Redford (right) in 1952. Redford became the head of the HMB in 1954. Prepared by: Taffey Hall, Archivist Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives October 2004 Updated November, 2011 2 Home Mission Board Executive Office Files AR 631 – 3 Summary Main Entry: Southern Baptist Convention. Home Mission Board. Executive Office Files Date Span: 1882 – 1988 Abstract: Home missions organization of the SBC founded in 1845. Employed missionaries across North America to Indians, migrant groups, rural and urban areas, Jewish missions, deaf persons, Puerto Rico, and Canal Zone. Includes material from administrations of Isaac Tichenor, J. B. Lawrence, S. Courts Redford, Arthur b. Rutledge, William G. Tanner, Larry Lewis, G. Frank Garrison, Fred B. Moseley, and Leland H. Waters. Size: 36 linear ft. (33 boxes) Collection #: AR 631 – 3 Historical Note The Home Mission Board (now called North American Mission Board) is one of the oldest organizations of the Southern Baptist Convention. Since the SBC’s founding in 1845, the HMB has trained and employed missionaries for various areas of service across North America. First located in Marion, Alabama, the HMB relocated to Atlanta, Georgia in 1882. The following men served as corresponding secretaries of the Board, from 1845 to 1997: Russell Holman (1845-1851; 1857-1862), T. F. Curtis (1852-1853), Joseph Walker (1853-1857), M. T. Sumner (1862-1875), W. H. McIntosh (1875-1882), Isaac Taylor Tichenor (1882-1899), F. H. Kerfoot (1900-1901), F. C. McConnell (1901-1903), B. D. Gray (1903-1928), J. B. Lawrence (1929- 1953), S. Courts Redford (1954-1964), Arthur B. Rutledge (1965-1976), William G. Tanner (1977-1987), and Larry Lewis (1987-1996). In 1997, the Home Mission Board, Brotherhood Commission, and Radio and Television Commission joined together to form the North American Mission Board. The early decades of the Board’s history were years of organization for the HMB. At the SBC’s organizational meeting in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845, the delegates created two boards for missions work. First called the “Board of Domestic Missions,” the organization expanded to include Indian missions in 1855, and then changed its name to the “Domestic and Indian Mission Board.” In 1873, the DIMB merged with the Sunday School Board (organized in 1863) and became known as the “Domestic and Indian Mission and Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.” A year later, the name was shortened to the “Home Mission Board.” 3 Other initiatives of the Home Mission Board expanded as well. The period from 1882 through 1928 was especially fruitful for the HMB, much of which was a result of the compelling leadership of Isaac Taylor Tichenor, who served as corresponding secretary from 1882 to 1899. Under Tichenor’s administration, the HMB moved from Marion, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia; extended mission work into western areas of the United States and on the island of Cuba; organized a church building department; and developed Sunday school literature (the publication for which he transferred to the Baptist Sunday School Board at its organization in 1891). During B. D. Gray’s administration, the HMB began mission work in the Panama Canal Zone, a mountain missions program in the Appalachia region of the country, a deaf persons’ ministry, and work with Jewish communities. This fruitful period of HMB initiatives was clouded, however, by the 1928 – 1929 defalcation of Clinton S. Carnes, treasurer of the HMB, who was accused of embezzling $900,000 from the Board. Despite its hardships, the Home Mission Board continued expansion throughout the twentieth century. J. B. Lawrence succeeded Gray as corresponding secretary of the Board in 1929. Coming on the heels of the Carnes scandal and at the dawn of the nation’s Great Depression, Lawrence and the Board incurred a massive debt and the number of HMB missionaries dropped from 1,600 to 106. Samuel Courts Redford served next as corresponding secretary for the Board, from 1954 – 1964. Highlights from the Lawrence and Redford administrations include the development of city missions (1941), migrant missions (1948), literacy missions (1960), and mission work in Puerto Rico (1963). Arthur B. Rutledge (1965 – 1976), William G. Tanner (1977 – 1987), and Larry Lewis (1987 – 1996) served as corresponding secretaries of the HMB during the latter decades of the twentieth century. In 1965, the HMB appointed the first US-2 missionaries (usually college graduates who volunteered for two years of missionary service), and, in 1977, created the Mission Service Corps. In 1995, the Board celebrated its 150th anniversary, and HMB staff moved to a new five-story office complex 22 miles north of Atlanta. The SBC’s Covenant for a New Century (created in 1995) had combined the HMB, the Christian Life Commission, and the Brotherhood Commission into a new agency, the North American Mission Board, by 1997. Scope and Content Note This Executive Office series of the Home Mission Board records includes 36 linear feet of material in 33 record boxes. Records in this series span the years 1882 to 1988 and cover the administrations of Isaac Taylor Tichenor (1882 – 1899), Baron DeKalb Gray (1903 – 1928), J. B. Lawrence (1929 – 1953), Samuel Courts Redford (1954 – 1964), Arthur B. Rutledge (1965 – 1976), and William G. Tanner (1977 – 1987). Also included are files from assistant executive secretary-treasurers G. Frank Garrison and Fred B. Moseley and executive assistant Leland H. Waters. The collection is arranged in chronological order by administration, and then alphabetically within each administration. The Home Mission Board Executive Office Files include a plethora of information reflective of the history of the Home Mission Board. The collection includes materials on the following HMB programs and initiatives: chaplains, Chinese work, city missions, deaf work, French missions, Indian work, Jewish work, language missions, migrant work, Negro mission work, and rural work. Files with information and correspondence on HMB missions to Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Puerto Rico are also contained in the collection. Additionally, the HMB 4 Executive Office files include information on the Baptist World Alliance, the Crisis Committee of 1968, Week of Prayer emphasis, and the Woman’s Missionary Union. Some of the earliest items in the collection are two letter books from the administration of Isaac T. Tichenor. These books cover the decades of the late nineteenth century and include correspondence on programs and initiatives Tichenor began during his fruitful directorship of the HMB. The B. D. Gray materials include several folders on the defalcation of C. S. Carnes, who served as the treasurer under Gray, and who was accused of embezzling $900,000 from the Home Mission Board in the 1920s. The Redford materials include various surveys on HMB programs and missions. Arrangement Chronologically, then alphabetically, within each administration Preferred Citation Home Mission Board Executive Office Files, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee Access Restrictions None Subject Terms Gray, Baron DeKalb, 1855 – 1946 Lawrence, John Benjamin, 1871 – 1968 Redford, Samuel Courts, 1898 – 1977 Rutledge, Arthur Briwtow, 1911 – 1977 Tichenor, Isaac Taylor, 1825 – 1902 Southern Baptist Convention. Woman’s Missionary Union Southern Baptist Convention. North American Mission Board. Indians of North America – Missions Missions – Cuba Home missions Missions – Panama Missions – rural work Ordination of women Women clergy Missions – Jewish Related Materials Home Mission Board. Minutes. SBHLA, AR 631-1 Home Mission Board. Historical Collection, SBHLA, AR 631-13 Lawrence, Una Roberts – Collection. SBHLA, AR 631 Lawrence, J. B. History of the Home Mission Board, 1958 Rutledge, Arthur B. Mission to America : a century and a quarter of Southern Baptist home missions, 1969. 5 Series Outline I. Isaac Taylor Tichenor (Box 1) II. Baron DeKalb Gray (Boxes 1 – 2) III. J. B. Lawrence (Boxes 2 – 6) IV. Samuel Courts Redford (Boxes 7 – 17) A. G. Frank Garrison, Assistant Executive Secretary-Treasurer (Boxes 17 – 18) B. Leland H. Waters, Executive Assistant (Boxes 19 – 22) V. Arthur B. Rutledge (Boxes 23 – 29) A. Fred B. Mosley, Assistant Executive Director-Treasurer (Box 29) VI. William G. Tanner (Boxes 30 – 34) VII. Larry Lewis (Box 34) Container List I. Isaac Taylor Tichenor (Box 1) Box 1 1.1 Gibson, John Frank – “Isaac Taylor Tichenor: Southern Baptist Statesman” (Th.D., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary), 1956 1.1a Interfaith Witness Department, 1895 1.2 Letter Book, 1882 – 1888 1.3 Letter Book, 1895 – 1897 1.3a Tichenor Vase: A Token of Appreciation, 1900 II. Baron DeKalb Gray (Boxes 1 – 2) 1.4 Alabama – Home Mission Work In 1.5 Annie Armstrong Home Mission Offering 1.5a Annual Meetings – Home Mission Board, 1926 – 1928 1.5b Annual Report, 1928 1.6 Arkansas – Home Mission Work In 1.7 Audit, 1917 1.7a Baptist World Alliance, 1905 1.8 Gray, Baron DeKalb – “Higher Education in Mission Work: The Aim – Christ’s Enrichment” 1.8a Barton, Arthur J. – Church Extension, 1927 1.9 Biographical Material 1.10 Biography – Baron DeKalb Gray (By: Warren Mosby Seay) 1.11 Bottoms, George W. – Cuban Missions – Gift, 1905 – 1941 1.11a Budgets – Administration, 1918 – 1924 1.12 California – Home Mission Work In 1.12a Carnes Defalcation – Audit Report (Haskins & Sells), 1934 1.13 Carnes Defalcation – Audit Report (Phoenix Reality Company), 1929 1.13a Carnes Defalcation – Cash Book, C. S. Carnes Estate, 1929 – 1936 6 1.14 Carnes Defalcation – Correspondence, 1928 1.15 Carnes Defalcation – Correspondence, 1928 – 1929 1.16 Carnes Defalcation – Financial Register (Phoenix Reality Company), 1926 – 1931 Box 1a 1a.1 Carnes Defalcation – Financial Register (Phoenix Reality Company), 1924 – 1928 1a.2 Carnes Defalcation – General, 1928 – 1930 1a.3 Carnes Defalcation – Journal, C. S.