Guide to the Home Missions Council of North America Records

The Home Missions Council of North America was the "the interdenominational home missions agency, organized by the home mission boards of twenty-three denominations for conference, consultation, coordination of denominational home mission work, and cooperative action and work." The Council was the result of a merger in 1940 of the Home Missions Council and the Council of Women for Home Missions.

The Home Missions Council was organized on March 6, 1908 "to promote fellowship, conference, and co-operation among Christian organizations doing missionary work in the United States and its dependencies." The Council of Women for Home Missions was formed in November 1908 "to unify the efforts of the national women's home mission boards of the United States and Canada by consultation and cooperation in action and to represent Protestant church women in such national movements as they desire to promote inter-denominationally."

The Home Missions Council of North America provided service in two ways. It allowed "board representatives to meet in committees for coordination of programs and consideration of common problems," and it administered projects on an interdenominational basis when so requested by the mission boards. The activities of the Council were carried out through a number of committees. These included the Committee on Alaska, City and Bi-Lingual Work Committee, West Indies Committee, Cooperation in Intermountain Area Committee, Christian Approach to the Jews Committee, Work Among Japanese and Japanese Americans Committee, Church Building Committee, Bureau of Architecture, Comity and Cooperation Committee, Missionary Personnel Committee, Policy Committee, Promotion and Publicity Committee, Youth and Student Work Committee, Migrant Committee, Sharecroppers Committee, and Indian Work Committee.

The Home Missions Council, the Council of Women for Home Missions, and the Home Missions Council of North America were served by a number of executive secretaries during their existence. Executive secretaries of the Home Missions Council included Alfred W. Anthony, 1918-1923; Charles E. Vermilya, 1924-1927; William R. King, 1927-1937; and Mark A. Dawber, 1937-1940. Executive secretaries of the Council of Women for Home Missions were Florence E. Quinlan, 1919-1931; Anne E. Seesholtz, 1932-1936; and Edith E. Lowry, 1936-1940. Executive secretaries of the Home Missions Council of North America included Edith E. Lowry, 1940-1950; Mark A. Dawber, 1940-1949; and I. George Nace, 1950.

In 1950 the Home Missions Council of North America joined the National Council of Churches where its activities were assumed by the Division of Home Missions.