Guide to the Robert Leonard McIntire Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

Robert Leonard McIntire Papers

Inclusive Dates

1886-1993

Call Number

RG 488

Creator(s)

McIntire, Robert Leonard, 1914-

Quantity

4.66 cubic feet (6 boxes and 2 flat boxes)

Language

Materials primarily in English and Portuguese, with some material in Spanish

Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research.

Repository

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

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

Robert Leonard McIntire was born in Richmond, Kansas in 1914. He met Esther Minerva Kerr, a classmate, at the College of Emporia in Emporia, Kansas. They were married in 1939, the same year McIntire graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) with a Th.B.

In February 1943, the McIntires were appointed by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (PCUSA) to Brazil and assigned to the Central Brazil Mission. Throughout their thirty years of service the couple worked closely as a team. Arriving in Brazil in the fall of 1943, their first assignment was as itinerating evangelists in the interior of Brazil. A spinal injury suffered by Robert McIntire forced the couple to return to the United States in 1945. On extended furlough, McIntire earned his Th.M. degree from PTS in 1946. He taught theology and ecumenics at Lincoln University Seminary in Pennsylvania from 1946 to 1947 and, the following year, served as acting head of the religion and ethics department at the College of Emporia. With medical consent given, the McIntires returned to the Brazil mission field in 1948.

In 1951, Robert McIntire was instrumental in starting the Centro Audio-Visual Evangelico (CAVE)/Evangelical Audio-Visual Center in Brazil. CAVE grew into an interdenominational Protestant organization dedicated to the communication of the Christian message through the various forms of mass communication. In August 1958, when the new Record and Filming Center was dedicated, CAVE was supported by twenty-one church groups of the Protestant communions in Brazil and the United States. From 1951 to 1961, McIntire served as CAVE’s general secretary and, from 1961 to 1963, served as its administrative secretary. Esther McIntire assisted in the work of CAVE primarily as secretary and receptionist.

From 1951 to 1959, Robert McIntire was a member of the Centennial Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil. Appointed by the Centennial Committee to a special committee that was to prepare a history for the centennial celebration of 1959, McIntire's special responsibility was research and history in English. Upon the request of the Central Brazil Mission, in December 1956 the McIntires were granted a leave of absence from July 1957 through June 1958 in order for Robert McIntire to research and write a history of one hundred years of Presbyterianism in Brazil. McIntire's completed history covered the first fifty years of Presbyterianism in Brazil, and it fulfilled his thesis requirements toward the Th.D. at PTS. Receiving his degree in 1959, his dissertation was entitled “Portrait of Half a Century: Fifty Years of Presbyterianism in Brazil (1859-1910)." It was published by Centro Intercultural de Documentacion, Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 1969, as No. 46 in their series of relevant Latin American documents.

From 1963 to 1965, McIntire was Professor of Church History at the Presbyterian Seminary in Campinas, Brazil. Esther McIntire assisted her husband in his academic duties at the seminary.

In 1965, after twenty-three years of service in the Central Brazil Mission, the McIntires were assigned to the Caribbean by the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. In January 1967, they moved to their home base in Trinidad. Robert McIntire assumed his new duties as a communications consultant, serving under the Caribbean Committee for Joint Christian Action (CCJCA), which ministered to eleven nations and eleven denominations in the English-speaking Caribbean. Established in 1959, the CCJCA served as a catalyst for much ecumenical activity, and was the pioneer and forerunner for the Caribbean Conference of Churches, which came officially into existence in November 1973. With the help of Robert McIntire, CCJCA began developing a communications program throughout the region. Esther McIntire assisted her husband in his work. The McIntires served two terms in this assignment.

In 1971, the McIntires began a third term of service with a new assignment. Robert McIntire assumed his duties as a consultant to the Caribbean Christian Communications Network (CCCN) of the Caribbean Conference of Churches (in formation). The CCCN (an outgrowth of the CCJCA's communication program) came officially into being in January 1971, and it was the title given to the CCC's Department of Information. With this new assignment, the McIntires relocated to Barbados, the headquarters of the CCCN. In addition to his communications consultation work for the CCCN, Robert McIntire served as the training officer, training and teaching people in the art of communication.

In March 1973, the McIntires concluded their work in the Caribbean. Many of the things they had set out to accomplish were achieved or were on the way to completion: the publication of a regional ecumenical monthly newspaper, Caribbean Contact; an intensive training course in communications and social development for selected career people in the Caribbean, Communicarib; and the formal inauguration of the Caribbean Conference of Churches in November 1973.

The McIntires returned to the United States, and their completion of service was on October 31, 1973.

Collection Overview

The Robert Leonard McIntire Papers, 1886-1993, consist primarily of materials relating to McIntire's missionary service in Brazil for the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and its sucessor, the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA); and McIntire's ecumenical work as a COEMAR fraternal worker in the Caribbean.

The collection is divided into five series: Brazil, 1886-1891, 1898, 1924-1983; Caribbean, 1960-1993; Academic materials, 1945-1964; Photographs, 1958-1989, bulk 1959; and Phonograph records, circa 1950s-early 1970s. Series III, Academic materials, is divided into two subseries: Princeton Theological Seminary Th.D dissertation and materials, 1949-1959, and Course material, 1945-1964, bulk 1945-1946.

The Brazil series is the largest of the five series and contains materials primarily in English and Portuguese with some material in Spanish. There is one folder of assorted correspondence from the late 1940s to 1965 and undated. Material documenting Centro Audio-Visual Evangelico (CAVE) and the McIntires includes correspondence, reports, publications, newsletters, bulletins, and brochures, primarily from the 1950s to the 1960s. Material and programs of the Central Committee of the Centenary and the United Presbyterian Committee of the Centennial are largely in Portuguese. Mission newsletters include Brazil Notes, from 1973 to 1975 and 1977; and C. R. Notes, from 1965 and undated. There are three folders of mission minutes, reports, newsletters, and other material from 1945 to 1949 and from 1956 to 1965 and undated. A flat box, housing newsletters, newspapers, and clippings from the 1950s to the mid-1960s, includes scattered issues of Presbyterian Church of Brazil publications largely in Portuguese. Publications consist of assorted religious and secular items, including biographical/historical sketches, articles, and catalogs. Assorted materials pertain to Brazil and Latin America. Also included is the diary of Irene H. Baker (Mrs. Peter G. Baker), a Presbyterian missionary to Brazil from 1924 to 1961. Diary entries are from October 1924 to March 1926 and from January to March 1945. Folders are in alphabetical order by folder description.

The Caribbean series includes a folder of material concerning the Caribbean Committee on Joint Christian Action (CCJCA) and RAVEMCCO, the Caribbean Christian Communications Network (CCCN), the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), the Christian Action for Development in the Eastern Caribbean (CADEC), and the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC). Newspapers and newsletters include an incomplete run of the November 1971 to December 1981 regional ecumenical Christian newspaper, Caribbean Contact (English edition); 1977-1984 scattered issues of the CCC publication, Christian Action newsletter; World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) newsletters from 1974 to 1982; and newspapers and clippings pertaining to the Caribbean. There are two folders of assorted publications and a folder of assorted materials. A folder of correspondence includes a few post Caribbean service "Dear Friends" letters from the McIntires. Folders are in alphabetical order by folder description.

The Academic materials series is divided into two subseries: Princeton Theological Seminary Th.D dissertation and materials, 1949-1959, and Course material, 1945-1964, bulk 1945-1946. The first subseries includes a folder of correspondence concerning Robert McIntire's thesis and the 1959 Centennial of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil; a bound typescript reproduction and an unbound annotated typescript of “Portrait of Half a Century: Fifty Years of Presbyterianism in Brazil (1859-1910),” Robert McIntire's Th.D. dissertation; a card index of materials for "Portrait of Half a Century;" several folders of research materials including undated transcripts and reproductions of nineteenth and twentieth century material; and undated annotated manuscript sources. Some assorted material is in Portuguese. The second subseries consists of four folders of lecture notes and other course material of Robert McIntire during his enrollment at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1945 to 1946. Courses include Church and State; Contemporary Catholicism, Modern Developments in Roman Catholic Theology; and Theology of the French Reformation. Folders in both subseries are in alphabetical order by folder description.

The Photographs series includes images from two Presbyterian events held in Brazil during the 1959 centennial celebration of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil. A set of photographs and a brochure in Portuguese document the Alianca Presbiteriana Mundial/World Presbyterian Alliance 18th General Council held in Sao Paulo from July 7 to August 6. The Rev. Dr. Charles Tudor Leber, the General Secretary of the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of the UPCUSA and delegate to the 18th General Council, suffered a fatal heart attack while in attendance. An August 2 memorial service program and two photographs of Leber, most likely taken during the 18th General Council, are also included. The other set of photographs document the centenary celebration in Rio de Janeiro. Folders are in alphabetical order by folder description.

The Phonograph records series includes a selection of recordings and a catalog in Portuguese. Produced in Brazil by CAVE from circa 1950s to circa 1960s, the records are housed in their original sleeves. Another selection of recordings are primarily Christian music and programs.

Organization and Arrangement

The collection is arranged as follows:

SERIES I: BRAZIL, 1886-1891, 1898, 1924-1983

SERIES II: CARIBBEAN, 1960-1993

SERIES III: ACADEMIC MATERIALS, 1945-1964
Subseries 1: Princeton Theological Seminary Th.D. dissertation and materials, 1949-1959
Subseries 2: Course material, 1945-1964, bulk 1945-1946

SERIES IV: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1958-1989, bulk 1959

SERIES V: PHONOGRAPH RECORDS, circa 1950s-early 1970s

Related Material

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Received from Mrs. Roy (Jo W.) Garten Jr. in 1990 and 1998, and from Esther McIntire in 2002.

Processing Information

Processing of collection and guide begun in 2013 by Leah Gass Goldrick, Senior Reference Archivist, and completed in November 2014 by Bill Brock, Collection Management Archivist.

Preferred Citation

Robert Leonard McIntire Papers, RG 488, 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

Baker, Irene Haigh, 1900-

Leber, Charles Tudor, 1898-1959.

McIntire, Esther Minerva Kerr, 1915-2003.

McIntire, Robert Leonard, 1914-

Corporate Subject

Centro Audio-Visual Evangelico.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Central Brazil Mission.

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Central Brazil Mission.

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

Conference Subject

Alliance of the Reformed Churches Throughout the World Holding the Presbyterian Order. General Council (18th : 1959 : Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Topical Subject

Missionaries--Brazil.

Missionaries--West Indies--20th century.

Missions--Brazil.

Presbyterian Church--Brazil--History.

Religious institutions--West Indies--20th century.

Geographic Subject

Brazil.

West Indies--20th century.

Genre-form

Clippings (information artifacts) aat

Histories (literary genre) aat

Newsletters. aat

Newspapers. aat

Phonograph records. aat

Photographs. aat

Publications (documents) aat

Reports. aat

Personal Added Name

Baker, Irene Haigh, 1900-

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

1	1	Guide to Record Group 488

		SERIES I: BRAZIL, 1886-1891, 1898, 1924-1983

1	2	Brazil Notes (mission newsletter), 1973-1975
1	3	Brazil Notes (mission newsletter), 1977
1	4	C. R. Notes (mission newsletter), 1965 and undated
1	5	CAVE--assorted material including correspondence, reports, publications, newsletters, bulletins, and brochures (some in Portuguese, some in English, and an item in Spanish), 1950s-1960s and undated
1	6	Central Committee of the Centenary and United Presbyterian Committee of the Centennial material and programs re the 1959 Centennial (primarily in Portuguese), 1948-1959 and undated
1	7	Committee on Cooperation in Latin America (CCLA) material, 1957-1958
1	8	Constitution and By-Laws of the Central Brazil Mission (1947) and Constitutional revision, 1947, early 1950s and undated
1	9	Correspondence--assorted (bulk in English, some in Portuguese), late 1940s-1965 and undated
1	10	Diary of Irene H. Baker and "Dear Friends" letters (2) in diary, 1924 Oct. - 1926 Mar., 1945 Jan.-Mar.
1	11	First Centenary of Brazilian Evangelism (1855-1955) material (in Portuguese), 1955
1	12	First Centenary of the Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro, 1862-1962 (commemorative publication in Portuguese), 1962
1	13	Inquisicao Sem Fogueiras (Vinte anos de Historia da Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil: 1954-1974 (a twenty-year history of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, publication in Portuguese), 1976
1	14	Inter-Presbyterian Council (Conselho Inter-Presbiteriano/CIP) and Modus Operandi Committee material (some in Portuguese and some in English), early to mid-1950s and undated
1	15	Manual of the Central Brazil Mission, undated
1	16	Materials re Brazil--assorted (some in Portuguese, some in English, and an item in Spanish), 1940s-1960, 1974 and undated
1	17	Materials re Latin America and other--assorted (primarily in English), 1947-1958
1	18	Materials re Latin America and other--assorted (primarily in English), 1961-1967, 1974, 1983 and undated
1	19	Mission minutes, reports, newsletters, and other material, 1945-1949

2	1	Mission minutes, reports, newsletters, and other material, 1950-1956
2	2	Mission minutes, reports, newsletters, and other material, 1956-1965 and undated

8		Newsletters, newspapers (includes scattered issues of Presbyterian Church of Brazil publications), and clippings (primarily in Portuguese), 1950s-mid-1960s
8		Posters, two (in Portuguese), undated

2	3	Publications--assorted religious and secular items, including biographical/historical sketches, articles, and catalogs (some in Portuguese and some in English), 1886, 1888-1891, 1898, 1930s-1940s
2	4	Publications--assorted religious and secular items, including biographical/historical sketches, articles, and catalogs (some in Portuguese and some in English), 1950s
2	5	Publications--assorted religious and secular items, including biographical/historical sketches, articles, and catalogs (some in Portuguese, some in English, and an item in Spanish), 1960s
2	6	Publications--assorted religious and secular items, including biographical/historical sketches, articles, and catalogs (some in Portuguese, some in English and some in Spanish), 1960s-1982,
2	7	Publications--assorted religious and secular items, including biographical/historical sketches, articles, and catalogs (some in Portuguese, some in English, and some in Spanish), undated
2	8	Radio Vatican material (primarily in Portuguese), 1962, 1964
2	9	Sociedades Auxiliadoras Femininas, SAF/Women's Auxiliary Society of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil material (in Portuguese), 1955, 1958

		SERIES II: Caribbean, 1960-1993

2	10	Biographical note re Robert and Esther McIntire, 1971
2	11	Caribbean Committee on Joint Christian Action (CCJCA) and RAVEMCCO, Caribbean Christian Communications Network (CCCN), World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), Christian Action for Development in the Eastern Caribbean (CADEC), and Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC) material, 1967-1984 and undated

7		Caribbean Contact newspaper (English edition; incomplete run), 1971 Nov. - 1981 Dec.

3	1	Caribbean Ecumenical Youth Action (CEYA)--Circular letter and report of the Curacao Consultation "Youth in Caribbean Development," 1972
3	2	Christian Action newsletters (a CCC publication; scattered issues), 1977-1984
3	3	COMCARC (Commonwealth Caribbean Resource Centre) material, 1971-1972
3	4	Correspondence (includes a few post Caribbean service "Dear Friends" letters from the McIntires), 1965-1975, 1989
3	5	Materials re the Caribbean and other--assorted, 1970-1973 and undated

7		Newspapers and clippings re Caribbean, 1969-1984

3	6	Publications--assorted, 1960-1978
3	7	Publications--assorted, 1993 and undated
3	8	World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) newsletters, 1974 May, Oct.-Nov.; 1982 Apr.-Nov.

		SERIES III: ACADEMIC MATERIALS, 1945-1964

		Subseries 1: Princeton Theological Seminary Th.D. dissertation and materials, 1949-1959

3	9	Correspondence re Robert McIntire's thesis and the 1959 Centennial of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil, 1952, 1955-1957
3	10	“Portrait of Half a Century: Fifty Years of Presbyterianism in Brazil (1859-1910),” Robert McIntire's Th.D. dissertation (bound typescript reproduction) and related material, 1959 and undated
3	11-12	“Portrait of Half a Century: Fifty Years of Presbyterianism in Brazil (1859-1910),” Robert McIntire's Th.D. dissertation (unbound annotated typescript), 1959

6		Card index of materials for "Portrait of Half a Century," undated

3	13	Thesis material (primarily in English), 1957 and undated
3	14	Biographical sketches of missionaries, undated
3	15	Transcripts and reproductions of nineteenth and twentieth century material, undated
3	16	Transcripts from the 1889-1891 and 1898 issues of Brazilian Missions and The Brazilian Bulletin, undated

4	1	Material--assorted (some in Portuguese and some in English), 1949, 1955, 1957 and undated
4	2-6	Annotated manuscript sources, undated

		Subseries 2: Course material, 1945-1964, bulk 1945-1946

4	7	Church and State--Course lecture notes and notes from a lecture re Ecumenics, 1945-1946
4	8	Contemporary Catholicism (Course 264-I, 1945, Dr. Samuel Rizzo professor)--Bibliography, lecture notes, and examination; and published statement of the 175th General Assembly of the UPCUSA re associations between United Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, 1945, 1964
4	9	Modern Developments in Roman Catholic Theology (Course 357-II, Dr. Georges Augustin Barrois professor)--Lecture notes, 1945-1946
4	10	Theology of the French Reformation (Course 358-III, 1946, Dr. Georges Augustin Barrois professor)--Lecture notes and other course material (primarily in English); and project re the triple threat/tyrant, 1946-1947, 1950-1952 and undated, bulk 1946

		SERIES IV: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1958-1989, bulk 1959

4	11	Alianca Presbiteriana Mundial/World Presbyterian Alliance, 18th General Council photographs and brochure (in Portuguese), Sao Paulo, 1959 July 27-Aug. 6
4	11	Memorial service program (August 2, 1959) for the Rev. Dr. Charles Tudor Leber (the General Secretary of the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of the UPCUSA and delegate to the 18th General Council; Leber suffered a fatal heart attack while in attendance) with two enclosed photographs of Leber most likely taken during the 18th General Council, 1959 circa July 27-30; 1959 Aug. 2
4	12	Centenary celebration in Rio, 1959
4	13	Christmas greetings from the Ferreiras to the McIntires, 1968
4	13	McIntires on 50th wedding anniversary, 1989
4	14	Robert McIntire, Brazil Mission, 1958 and undated
4	15	"Sponsoring Through Understanding" and "Together--In Latin America" series photographs and textual materials, 1961

		SERIES V: PHONOGRAPH RECORDS, circa 1950s-early 1970s

5	1-2	CAVE, ADNER recordings and catalog (produced in Brazil, in Portuguese), circa 1950s-circa 1960s
5	3	Missa "Joao XXIII" (produced in Brazil, in Portuguese), undated
5	4	Recordings--primarily Christian music and programs, early 1970s and undated, bulk undated

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Guide to the Robert Leonard McIntire Papers

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