Collections : [Yale University -Divinity School Library]

This collection is an addendum to the publications, correspondence, reports, statements, and collected material documenting the work of the Washington Office on Africa found in Record Groups 105 and 105A. The Washington Office on Africa was founded in 1972 to support the movement for freedom from white-minority rule in southern Africa. Its activities have included the monitoring of Congressional legislation and executive policies and actions, as well as the publication of action alerts and other documentation designed to advance progressive legislation and policy on southern Africa. Supported by church bodies and unions, the WOA has worked in partnership with colleagues in Africa, the Africa advocacy community in the United States, and grassroots organizations concerned with various aspects of African affairs.

Writings, correspondence, and course-related materials document the academic career of prominent New Testament scholar Wayne A. Meeks, who taught in the Religious Studies Department at Yale University from 1969 until his retirement in 1999.

Letters, photographs, and collected material, primarily from the late 1940s and early 1950s document the work of the Whiteners and the history of Christianity in Hunan Province, China and in Hong Kong. The elder Whiteners, Sterling W. and Marie, were missionaries in Yueyang (Yochow), Hunan Province, China from 1919 to 1948, serving under the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Their son, Sterling H. Whitener, and his wife Barbara were missionaries in Hunan Province from 1946 to 1950 and in Hong Kong from the early 1950s to 1967.

These archives document the work of a nondenominational Christian social ministry agency during three decades of rapid urban change and upheaval in New Haven. The Wider City Parish was an inner-city Christian social ministry organization in New Haven, Connecticut, which existed from the early 1950s to the mid 1980s. Its executive director was Robert Forsberg, a graduate of the Yale Divinity School.

Correspondence, diaries, writings, and collected material provide valuable documentation of the work of Willard Livingstone Beard and his family. Beard was a missionary in China from 1894 to 1941, serving in Fujian (Fukien) Province under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) and the YMCA.

William and Charlotte Wiser were Presbyterian missionaries in North India, appointed in 1915, and were active in the development of India Village Service, a demonstration project for the improvement of village life. These papers document the work of the Wisers in North India, particularly their involvement in rural reconstruction and their interest in Indian folklore.

The papers document Genné's religious work among college and university students. Material relating to Genné's workshops and published articles describe contemporary attitudes about marriage, family life and sexuality during the 1950s-1970s, and detail his work and influence in these fields. William Henry Genné (1910-1997) was educated at Bucknell and Yale Universities and was ordained a Baptist minister in 1934. Genné was active in student religious work in various colleges and universities in the U.S. during the period 1936-1951. From 1944 to 1947, he served as the Pacific Northwest Secretary, College and University Division, National Council of the YMCA. Genné went on from this early focus of his career to become an expert in the fields of marriage, sexuality and family ministries.

This collection documents the thought and work of William H. Poteat, a Yale Divinity School graduate who taught at Duke University from 1960 to 1987. The material was gathered by Walter B. Mead, who contacted former students and colleagues of Poteat, asking them to provide writings and correspondence of Poteat that document his contributions to the field of philosophy of religion.

This collection documents the professional work of William Hurlin, who served as pastor for various Baptist churches in New England and was also involved in Baptist work on the state level, particularly in New Hampshire.

Correspondence, writings, sermons, notes, and biographical material document the career of William James Mutch as a professor and author of religious education material. William James Mutch (1858-1947) was a Yale-trained Congregational clergyman and Professor of Philosophy and Education at Ripon College, Wisconsin from 1907 to 1925. He was the author of Christian religious education materials, including the well known Graded Bible Stories.