Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education Division of Curriculum Development Records

Descriptive Summary

Title

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education Division of Curriculum Development Records

Inclusive Dates

1937-1962

Call Number

RG 24

Creator(s)

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Division of Curriculum Development

Quantity

2.50 cubic feet

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. Medical, educational, and psychological records of living people are closed.

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Administrative History

In 1941, the Board of Christian Education began a restudy of its curriculum in response to demands from ministers and educational workers in many parts of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Conferences were held, surveys made, and much experimentation and research were carried on in the following years. The work of developing a new curriculum engaged every division of the Board of Christian Education, and the Boards of National Missions and Foreign Missions were brought into consultation as well. In 1942, a seven-week conference was held at Wagner College, Staten Island, during which the first outline of a new curriculum was prepared. War conditions for a time delayed full development of new materials. In 1944, an editor-in-chief was selected and a staff of editors was secured to devote their entire time to the development of curricular materials. This was to be a pioneering venture which would lay a foundation on which the Church could build in years to come. It was a program that for the first time bound Church and home together and that offered pupil, teacher, and parent alike an opportunity to see the story of Jesus Christ, the story of the Bible, and the story of the Church as a whole. This new curriculum, entitled "Christian Faith and Life: A Program for Church and Home," presented a new approach to the teaching ministry of the Church in its dual task of Sunday classroom instruction and rehabilitation of the educational competence of the Christian home. Distinctive features of the Christian Faith and Life Curriculum were the introduction of books into the home, the use of activity materials in most departments, the adaptability to churches of varying size, resources and equipment, and the use of graded materials.

In 1947, upon recommendation of the Standing Committee on Christian Education, the General Assembly of the PCUSA approved a statement of the basic principles of the new curriculum, as set forth in the 24th annual report of the Board of Christian Education. The Committee had reviewed the plan of the curriculum as to basic principles and content, and in commending it to the Church had praised the staff of the Board of Christian Education for its "vision, faith and courage" during the preceding seven years of labor in the planning and preparation of the curriculum. In 1948, the New Curriculum, as it was widely known, was introduced to the local churches. The chief strengths of "Christian Faith and Life: A Program for Church and Home" were said to be: its organization around the three great themes of Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the Church; the uniting of home and Church in Christian teaching; and the provision of materials of a quality and dignity appropriate to the objective of "making disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ."

The Reverend James D. Smart (1906- ) served as Editor-in-Chief from September 1944 to August 31, 1950. He was immediately succeeded by the Reverend Norman F. Langford (1914- ).

Responsibility for editing the curriculum was lodged in a succession of offices:
Office of the Editor-in-Chief for the New Curriculum, Division of Education in Home, Church, and Community, 1944-1948

Office of the Editor-in-Chief for Curricular Materials, Division of Education in Home, Church, and Community, 1949-1952

Department of Educational Resources, Division of Education in the Churches, 1953-1955

Division of Curriculum Development, General Division of Education in the Churches, 1956-1961.

Collection Overview

That the development of the curriculum was a cooperative enterprise is reflected in the comprehensive nature of the materials included in Record Group 24. Most of these records were accumulated in the Department of Children's Curriculum by Dorothy B. Fritz, Secretary of the Department and Editor for Children's Publications.

The collection is arranged as follows:

SERIES 1: MINUTES, NOTES, AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1938-1949
Notes are from conferences such as the Conference in Regard to Redesigning the Curriculum, Conference on the Educational Program of the Board of Christian Education, Conference on Format, and Conference to Outline the Curriculum. There are minutes of the Curriculum Committee and the Secretarial Council's Committee on New Curriculum Servicing Plan. Correspondence consists primarily of memoranda exchanged among members of the staff engaged in developing the new curriculum.

SERIES 2: CONFERENCES, 1937-1944; 1950
The most important conference and the one forming the largest body of materials in the series is the conference held at Wagner College, Staten Island, June 8 to July18, 1942. Participants in the discussions were pastors, parents, professors, scholars, religious educators, staff members from the two mission boards, and a few representatives of other denominations. Of the forty persons who made definitive decisions as to curriculum content and outlines for a new course of study, only ten were from the Board of Christian Education. Included in this series is a report of a survey conducted by the Publication Department of the Board of Christian Education in preparation for the conference. The survey was designed to present a picture of the constituency which the Presbyterian materials were to serve.

SERIES 3: OUTLINES, 1944-1947, nd
This series consists of lesson outlines for all the departments--nursery through adult. These outlines, which were circulated among an established list of critics and which were discussed with writers, consisted of a topic, statement of purpose, basic Scripture references and brief descriptive suggestions. Writers often assisted in the creation of the outlines.

SERIES 4: BOOKS, 1938-1958
The series includes correspondence with writers, staff members and Curriculum Committee members. There are also some revise manuscripts.

SERIES 5: CURRICULUM SERVICING PROGRAM, 1949-1962
A servicing plan was developed for each year, which included helpful printed materials, films and filmstrips, and a plan for use by trained lay leaders. The purpose of the servicing program was to stimulate better use of the curriculum. Servicing was recognized as a long-term necessity of regularly developing new plans and related materials which would be "promotionally advantageous and yet educationally sound".

SERIES 6: RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION, 1947-1960
This series includes reports of surveys, correspondence containing comments and suggestions, and data gathered from the numerous research projects which were carried on throughout development of the curriculum.

Constructive criticism was invited. Materials were tested in a variety of situations--rural and urban, large and small churches, and in some national missions centers. Teachers included both inexperienced and thoroughly trained and experienced groups.

SERIES 7: SUBJECT FILES, 1948-1957
Among the subjects covered are the "Junior-Hi Kit" and the "Youth Fellowship Kit," which were prepared for junior high, senior high and young people and offered suggestions for an entire year's activities and programs. There is also a report of the Westminster Fellowship--the youth program of the PCUSA. A speakers' manual, together with a sample presentation of the curriculum, is among the materials in this series.

Administrative Information

Processing Information

Arrangement of Record Group 24 entailed considerable re-ordering of the files and sometimes materials within files. The arrangement is chronological within each series. The series were established to increase retrievability and usefulness of the materials.

It is suggested the researcher read "The Church Must Teach or Die": a five-chapter study course the purpose of which was to "prepare local churches for a new day in Christian Education" and which introduced the basic principles of the New Curriculum. A reading of the annual reports of the Board of Christian Education for the period covered by this record group should also prove helpful. Another study course for the local churches is entitled "Teaching Christian Faith".

Collection processed: September 1968
Milton Kenin, Records Researcher

Collection reprocessed and finding aid prepared: 1984
Jane M. Ramsay

Finding aid revised: June 1991
Stephanie Muntone, Processing Archivist

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Title Subject

Christian faith and life curriculum.

Topical Subject

Christian education.

Religious education--Curricula.

Religious education--Textbooks.

Genre-form

Minutes. aat

Curricula. aat

Syllabi. aat

Research (function) aat

Corporate Added Name

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Office of the Editor-in-Chief for the New Curriculum.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Office of the Editor-in-Chief for Curricular Materials.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Department of Educational Resources.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education. Division of Curriculum Development.

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

1	1	Finding Aid to Record Group 24

		SERIES 1: MINUTES, NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1938-1949

1	2	1938-42
	3	1943-48
	4	1949

		SERIES 2: CONFERENCES, 1937-1944; 1950

1	5	Curriculum Conference--Minutes and Reports, 1937-41
	6	Survey and Report by the Publication Department, 1942
	7-8	Curriculum Conference--Descriptions and Outlines, 1942
	9	Reports; Papers Approved by the Conference; Summarizing Statement, 1942
	10	Curriculum Conference--Correspondence and Memoranda; Notes; Miscellany, 1942-43
	11	Conference on Redesigning the Curriculum, 1942
	12	Outlining Conferences--Minutes and Correspondence, 1942-44
	13	Outlining Conferences--Reviewing Committee, 1943-44
	14	Conference of Editorial Staff, 1950
	15	National Curriculum Conference, 1950

		SERIES 3: OUTLINES, 1944-1947, nd

1	16	Outlines, 1944-47
	17	Nursery and Kindergarten Outlines
	18	Kindergarten Outlines
	19	Primary Outlines
	20	Junior Outlines
	21	Junior High Outlines
	22	Senior-Young People Outlines
	23	Adult Outlines

		SERIES 4: BOOKS, 1938-1958

1	24	Books--Revisions; Memoranda; Correspondence, 1953-56
	25	Kindergarten Books, 1946-53
	26	Primary Books, 1938-58
	27	1946-48

2	1	Junior Books, 1946-54
	2	1947-53

		SERIES 5: CURRICULUM SERVICING PROGRAM, 1949-1962

2	3	1949
	4	1950-52
	5	1953
	6	1954-56
	7	1956-57
	8	1957-58
	9	1958-59
	10	1959-60
	11	1961-62

		SERIES 6: RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION, 1947-1960

2	12	Experimental Use of New Curriculum Materials: Kindergarten, 1948
	13	Experimental Use of New Curriculum Materials; Primary Department: Correspondence; Reports, Comments, 1947
	14	Experimental Use of New Curriculum Materials: Junior Department: Correspondence; Reports; Comments, 1947-48
	15	Experimental Use of New Curriculum--Statement; Names of Users; Questionnaire, 1947-48
	16	Comments and Suggestions, 1948-56
	17	1948-60
	18	Adult Curriculum Survey Report, 1952
	19	Extended Church School Sessions--Correspondence, 1952
	20	Comments, 1953-55
	21	Research Data and Resultant Changes, 1951-52
	22	Leadership Training--Pilot Schools, 1953-59
	23	Research Projects--Questionnaires; Correspondence, 1953-57
	24	Junior Church Experiences--Correspondence, 1954-55
	25	Experimentation and Research in Home-Church Involvement In Curriculum, 1955-56
	26	Group Teaching in the Church School--Basic Paper and Supplement, 1957
	27	Laboratory School--Diary of One-Room School
	28	Comments on Experimental Material--Today Magazine, 1960

		SERIES 7: SUBJECT FILES, 1948-1957

3	1	Artwork, 1955-57
	2	Church Library Program--Memoranda and Correspondence, 1955
	3	Communicants Class Materials
	4	Grading Systems and Requirements for Promotion, 1948-57
	5	Movie--Shooting Scripts for Westminster Press, 1947
	6	Music and Poetry for Children
	7	Pre-Nursery Class Materials, 1951-1953
	8	Promotion
	9	Society Kit for Young People--Data
	10	Youth Fellowship and Junior-Hi Kits--Memoranda; Outlines; Brief History
	11	Speakers' Manual for Presentation of the New Curriculum; Memorandum for Speakers
	12	Youth Program--Westminster Fellowship
	13	Miscellaneous

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Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education Division of Curriculum Development Records

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