Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Office of the Stated Clerk Records

Descriptive Summary

Title

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Office of the Stated Clerk Records

Inclusive Dates

1967-1983

Call Number

RG 524

Creator(s)

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Office of the Stated Clerk.

Quantity

20.50 cubic feet (21 boxes)

Language

Materials in English.

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

The General Assembly was the highest judicatory of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The Stated Clerk was the chief permanent executive officer of the Church. By designation of the General Assembly, he was the executive head of the Office of the General Assembly and its several departments. Among his important duties were editing the official church law books and giving legal opinions on the meaning of the Constitution of the Church in its relation to problems which arose in the life of the judicatories, particular churches and individuals.

William Phelps Thompson was the first Presbyterian layman to be elected stated clerk in 1967. He was born in 1918 and attained degrees from McPherson College in 1939 and the University of Chicago in 1942. Thompson was elected moderator of the 177th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and became stated clerk the following year. During his time as stated clerk, he also served as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and as the president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Thompson retired in 1983 as the last stated clerk of the UPCUSA before Reunion.

Collection Overview

This record group contains the official files kept by Thompson during his tenure as Stated Clerk of the General Assembly from 1968-1983. The collection is divided into two series: The Office of the General Assembly; and Ecumenical Organizations.

The Office of the General Assembly series contains correspondence, meeting minutes, and reports related to the various General Assembly committees and commissions as well as the boards and agencies of the church. Included is general correspondence (both incoming and outgoing) by Thompson to indviduals as well as to both Presbyterian and interdenominational organizations. This is arranged alphabetically. The series also includes four boxes of subject files that contain correspondence, articles, and notes related to PC(USA) agencies or committees, affiliated organizations, and world conferences.

The Ecumenical Organizations series documents Thompson's work with the following ecumenical organizations during his time as Stated Clerk: The World Council of Churches; The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.; The World Alliance of Reformed Churches; and The Consultation on Church Union. The Consultation on Church Union began in 1960 when the UPCUSA General Assembly approved an overture to work with other Protestant denominations to explore the possibility of union. The organization became the Churches Uniting in Christ in 2002.

Organization and Arrangement

The collection is arranged as follows:

SERIES I: OFFICE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SERIES II: ECUMENICAL ORGANIZATIONS

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Transferred from the Office of the General Assembly.

Processing Information

Collection processed and guide prepared in 2019 by Elizabeth Wittrig, Processing Archivist.

Preferred Citation

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Office of the Stated Clerk Records, RG 524, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Catalog Headings

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

Personal Name Subject

Thompson, William P., 1918-

Corporate Subject

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Office of the Stated Clerk.

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Consultation on Church Union.

World Council of Churches.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Program Agency.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Special Committee on Synod Boundaries.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Council.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly Mission Council.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Council on Church and Society.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations.

World Alliance of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian and Congregational)

Genre-form

Correspondence. aat

Minutes (administrative records) aat

Reports. aat

Subject files. local

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

		SERIES I: OFFICE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

		General Council

1	1	Advance in Mission Program Development
1	2-4	Angela Davis Legal Defense Fund
1	5	Area Planning Committee
1	6	Budget and Finance Committee
1	7	Finance Secretary
1	8	Committee on Electronic Data Processing
1	9	Department of Interpretation and Stewardship
1	10-12	Long Range Planning Committee
1	13-15	Minutes

2	1-2	National General Mission Consultative Conference
2	3	Personnel Committee
2	4	Public Relations
2	5	Committee on Special Events of the General Assembly
2	6-7	Treasury
2	8-9	Committee on World Relief and Emergency Service

		General Assemblies

2	10	Borrowing memorandum
2	11	Employment practices survey, 1969
2	12	Exhibits
2	13	181st General Assembly, correspondence on Cambodia/Southeast Asia/Indochina
2	14	181st General Assembly, correspondence on Latin America
2	15	181st General Assembly, correspondence on Sexuality and the Human Community
2	16	182nd General Assembly correspondence
2	17	183rd General Assembly correspondence

3	1	190th and 191st General Assembly, Human Rights
3	2	191st General Assembly correspondence
3	3	191st General Assembly report to Mission Council
3	4	192nd General Assembly correspondence

		General Assembly Mission Council

3	5-7	Correspondence
3	8	Japanese-American Christian Centennial
3	9	Meeting minutes
3	10	Reports and manuals
3	11	Study on the Great Mission of the Church
3	12	Symposium on American Corporations in South Africa, 1981
3	13	Special Committee to Nominate Candidates for Stated Clerk
3	14	Task Force to Study Homosexuality

		Council on Church and Society

4	1	Correspondence
4	2	Conscientious Objectors
4	3	Minutes and reports
4	4	Statements and study documents

		Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations/Program Agency

4	5	COEMAR - By-laws
4	6	COEMAR - Committee on post-Vietnam/Southeast Asia Affairs
4	7-9	COEMAR - Correspondence
4	10-11	COEMAR - Meeting minutes

5	1-2	COEMAR - Meeting minutes
5	3	COEMAR - PAN Presbyterian Conference
5	4	COEMAR - Reformed/Presbyterian and Catholic dialogue
5	5	COEMAR - Task Force on South Africa
5	6	Program Agency - Capital punishment
5	7	Program Agency - Communion services (Washington D.C.)
5	8	Program Agency - Conference on Overseas Missions
5	9	Program Agency - Consultation on Racism and WCC Program to Combat Racism
5	10-12	Program Agency - Correspondence
5	13	Program Agency - Criminal justice
5	14	Program Agency - Directory of overseas personnel and fraternal worker concerns
5	15	Program Agency - Legal Aid for Racial Justice -- Gene Leroy Hart, 1979
5	16	Program Agency - South Africa

		Special Committees and Task Forces

6	1	Special Committee on the Conservation of Property
6	2	Commission on Continuing Education
6	3	Special Committee on International Restriction of Unilateral Non-Intervention
6	4	Committee on Nominations
6	5	Committee on Regional Synods and Church Administration
6	6-7	Special Committee on Revision of the Book of Discipline
6	8	Special Committee to Study the Procedure of the Election of the Moderator
6	9-11	Committee to Study Baptism
6	12-14	Special Committee on Synod Boundaries

7	1	Special Committee on Synod Boundaries
7	2	Synod Reunion Committee
7	3-4	Special Committee on the Theology of the Call
7	5	Joint Committee on Worship

		General Correspondence

7	6-14	A-Z
7	15	Associate Stated Clerk Otto K. Finkbinder correspondence
7	16	Congregational correspondence
7	17-18	Ecumenical correspondence
7	19	Moderator’s correspondence

8	1	Synods and Presbyteries correspondence
8	2-13	Conscientious Objectors, 1967-1969

9	1-7	Conscientious Objectors, 1970

		Subject Files

9	8	A.D. magazine
9	9	Black Economic Development Conference
9	10	Black Presbyterians United
9	11	Board of National Missions Council on Church and Race
9	12	Board of Pensions
9	13	Catawba Inter-Presbytery Program Agency
9	14	Charismatic Communion of Presbyterian Ministers
9	15	Church histories
9	16	Conference on the Relevancy of Organized Religion
9	17	Council on Administrative Services
9	18	Council on Evangelism

10	1-2	Council on Theological Education
10	3	Council of Theological Seminaries
10	4	Council of United Presbyterian Men
10	5	Cumberland Presbyterian Church
10	6	Department of Ministerial Relations
10	7	Division of Mass Media correspondence
10	8	Executive and Field Service Commission
10	9	The 50 Million Fund
10	10	General Commission on Chaplain and Armed Forces Personnel
10	11	General Secretaries Conference
10	12	Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research
10	13	Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
10	14-15	International Eucharistic Congress
10	16	Interagency Research Conference

11	1	Liaison with Africa, Dutch Reformed Churches of South Africa
11	2	Liaison with Latin America, Presbyterian Church of Mexico
11	3	Liaison with Latin America, Catholics and Protestants
11	4-5	Mary Elizabeth Blue Hall Church legal files
11	6-8	National Presbyterian Center
11	9	Permanent Judicial Commission
11	10	Presbyterian Economic Development Corporation
11	11	Presbyterian Historical Society, 1968-1970
11	12	Presbyterian law for the local church/legal matters
11	13-14	Presbyterian Lay Committee
11	15	Presbyterian Life
11	16	Presbyterians for Renewal
11	17	Presbyterians United for Biblical Concerns
11	18	Presbyteries Cooperative Committee, 1970

12	1-2	Princeton Theological Seminary trustees
12	3	Publications and speeches by Thompson
12	4-5	Religious Convention Managers Association (RCMA)
12	6	Russian Orthodox-Reformed Theological Consultation, Meeting of Karlovy Vary IV (Prague)
12	7	Religious and Press Leaders Conference, 1979
12	8	Support Agency
12	9	United Nations Association
12	10-12	United Presbyterian Foundation
12	13	United Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
12	14	United Presbyterian Washington Office
12	15	Vocation Agency

13	1-2	World Conference on Religion and Peace

		SERIES II: ECUMENICAL ORGANIZATIONS

		World Council of Churches

13	3-5	Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
13	6-9	Correspondence
13	10	The Ecumenical Institute (ecclesiastical decisions)
13	11	Evangelical-Christian Baptist Bible courses photographs (Moscow)
13	12	Executive Committee meetings
13	13	Executive Committee meetings (Geneva)
13	14	Executive Committee meetings (Nairobi, Kenya)
13	15	Exploratory Consultation on Transnational Corporations, 1977

14	1	Division of World Mission and Evangelism
14	2	Finances
14	3	Human Rights [Armenia publications and paper on Hungarian minority]
14	4	Press releases and publications
14	5-7	Program to Combat Racism
14	8-11	Program to Combat Racism, Zimbabwe Patriotic Front
14	12-13	Structure Committee

15	1-4	Structure Committee
15	5	Surveys
15	6	Travel information for William Thompson, trips to Mozambique and Egypt
15	7	World Conference on Racism and Racial Discrimination

		National Council of the Churches of Christ

15	8	Church World Service
15	9	Consultation on South Africa
15	10-11	Correspondence
15	12	Division of Christian Unity
15	13	Ecumenical Event, 1981
15	14	El Salvador visit
15	15-16	General Board

16	1-2	General Board
16	3	Executive Committee of the General Board
16	4	Governing Board
16	5	Special Commission, Grand Jury Process
16	6	Haitians Seeking Asylum document
16	7	Information needs in churches
16	8	International Affairs
16	9-10	International Symposium on Human Rights (Santiago, Chile), 1978
16	11	McFadden Case
16	12	Mission policies
16	13	Mission in the 70's report

17	1-2	Planning and Program Committee
17	3	Religion in Communist Dominated Areas
17	4-5	Task Force on Options Facing the NCCC
17	6	Tax Reform

		World Alliance of Reformed Churches

17	7-8	Correspondence
17	9-10	Meeting minutes
17	11-12	North American and Caribbean Area Council

18	1-2	North American and Caribbean Area Council
18	3	Press releases, statements, publications
18	4	“Reformed World” journal

		Consultation on Church Union

18	5-11	Correspondence

19	1-7	Executive Committee
19	8-10	Executive Secretary
19	11	Guidelines for Local Interchurch Action

20	1-6	Meetings, 1968-1973
20	7-12	Meetings, 1975-1981

21	1	National Conference on Program, 1969
21	2-3	Plan of Union Commission
21	4	Reports and press releases
21	5	Study materials

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Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Office of the Stated Clerk Records

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