Now Processed: Barbara Roche Papers

--by Maura Weil

The Barbara Roche Papers have been processed as RG 546, and the guide to the records is now available: https://www.history.pcusa.org/collections/research-tools/guides-archival-collections/rg-546

The collection is made up of 8 boxes and one oversized folder. RG 546’s scope chiefly covers Roche’s work as the editor of Concern, as the longstanding founding editor of Horizons, her research and dissertation on Margaret Flory, her ecumenical studies in India, her article on Scott Anderson, and her world travels for many church conferences and assemblies. This collection is made up of professional papers, scrapbooks, photographs, slides, microcassettes, and VHS tapes.

Barbara Anne Roche was born August 28th, 1934 in Long Beach, California to Agnes Louise Elford Roche and Claire Peter Roche. She grew up in Ruth, Nevada, a copper mining town, and graduated from Stanford University in 1956. Roche was the long-serving editor of Presbyterian publications Concern and Horizons, denominational periodicals in New York and Louisville from 1984 to 1997. She completed a Master of Religious Education at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1960, before undertaking a year of study at United Theological College, Bangalore, India via ecumenical scholarship. Roche was ordained a minister of word and sacrament by the Presbytery of Chicago in 1974. From 1973 to 1984 Roche worked at the Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley, California), as director of student services and then as dean of students. Roche received a Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 1984. Her dissertation was entitled "Initiating and Sustaining Ecumenical Ministries: A Study of the Ministry of Margaret Flory, 1951-1980." In 1975 Roche was named Woman of the Decade by the Women's Center at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley.

She traveled the world under multiple roles (consultant, clergy, and journalist) while attending the World Council of Churches Assembly in Australia, the NGO Fourth World Conference on Women meeting in China, and multiple ecumenical workshops and church conferences. It wasn't until 1998 that Roche retired.

Barbara Roche died at the age of 86 in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, May 8th, 2021 from a year long decline after a head injury.

India Scrapbook Excerpt; Semester Reports - Page 5. [RG 546, Box 6]

Specific groups of materials in the collection are as follows:

Scott Andreson article files: Roche wrote about Scott Anderson, the first openly gay minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and how he was publicly outed by members of his congregation. These files include interviews on microcassette tapes, materials pertaining to the 1991 lawsuit in which she was named a defendant following the article's publication in Christianity &  Crisis and Roche's attempts to get herself legally covered, background papers, drafts of her article in Christianity & Crisis and the responses it garnered.

Dissertation files: A bulk of Roche's collection is dedicated to the dissertation written on Margaret Flory for her Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Roche has included a multitude of resources used, from bibliography cards to annotated readings. Many interviews were conducted and the preparation notes, audiocassette tapes, and transcripts can be found in these files. Correspondence between members of staff at the Theological Seminary and with Flory herself has also been compiled and collected.

Professional files: Files contain writings and publications, correspondence, photographs, general files, a scrapbook, honors and accolades earned during her time as editor at Concern and Horizons. This also includes letters in celebration of her retirement.

India study abroad files: Files contain photographs, slides, a scrapbook, correspondence, and writings of her trip abroad. Included are her notebooks from the United Theological College, the diary Roche kept, along with a few publications picked up on her trip.

Excerpt from India Scrapbook; Stamps - Page 1. [RG 546, Box 6]

Additional materials: Scrapbooks that cover Roche's road trip, ordination into ministry, and travels abroad. A signed Horizons poster is stored in an oversize folder.

Click here to access the guide to the Barbara Roche Papers and read more about the content of the collection.