Guide to the Church World Service Records

[Please note: Some materials within this collection contain graphic images and descriptions of violence, human rights violations, and hate crimes.]

This collection contains program files, project evaluations, and photographs that document Church World Service (CWS) work around the globe, mostly from the 1960s through the early 2000s.

The Area Offices series, 1947-1999, includes subject files, correspondence, and meeting minutes from each of the six area offices at the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) headquarters in New York. The collection is divided into subseries based on the office that created the material. 

The subject files for each office are arranged by either general administrative files or by country. Many include newsletters and clippings documenting the work of NGOs or local ecumenical groups. Also included are trip reports by staff who visited the countries where CWS was working, donation appeal letters for development projects, and publications either collected or created by CWS staff. Throughout the subseries, there are files on political prisoners which mostly contain reports from Amnesty International and news clippings. There are also files labeled “human rights” which contain reports on human rights violations and advocacy work. 

The East Asia and the Pacific subseries, 1947-1997, includes minutes from regional Joint Action Groups of the Committee for East Asia and Pacific and files from the NCC China Program. Throughout the country subject files are documents created by Gary Gamer and the Task Force on Militarization in Asia and the Pacific (for additional material see Series VI: Disarmament, Development, and Militarization, 1976-1988). 

The South Asia subseries, 1960-1999, includes several boxes documenting wheat shipments to Vietnam funded by American congregations following the Vietnam War. Howard Schomer’s files on Vietnam and CWS work in South Asia are at the end of the subseries. 

The Europe subseries, 1961-1999, includes files from the Churches Human Rights Program and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. A substantial amount of this subseries consists of files on the USSR, including travel seminars and trips by NCC staff. Several items are in Russian, including copies of “The Moscow Church Herald” and “Russian Bulletin.”  

The Middle East subseries, 1964-1997, includes files documenting the work of the Middle East Office as well as the Middle East Council of Churches and the United Nations Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees. Many of the files contain information on Palestinian refugees, CWS refugee programs, and CWS advocacy for changes to immigration policies. Also included are subject files on the Gulf War and how NGOs reacted to the crisis. This consists of background and analysis documents, letters sent to Congress, media coverage, and statements from the National Campaign for Peace in the Middle East.

The Africa subseries, 1962-1998, includes correspondence and minutes from the NCC Africa Working Group/Africa Committee and files documenting decolonization as well as the lasting effects of colonialism on African communities. This history is documented through publications, news clippings, and reports on liberation movements.

The Latin America and Caribbean subseries, 1963-1995, includes meetings and correspondence from the Committee on the Caribbean and Latin America (CCLA); subject files on the Lutheran World Federation, the Catholic Inter-American Cooperation Program, and Mennonite Central Committee; and correspondence on NGO efforts to aid asylum seekers.

The Executive Director files series, 1946-2000, contains subject files created by CWS executive directors including financial correspondence, voluntary agency meeting minutes, and correspondence with area working groups such as the Africa Working Group or East Asia Working Group. Most of the files were donated by Paul McCleary who served as executive director from 1975-1985, including two boxes of his correspondence arranged alphabetically. Materials outside of these dates were created by other executive directors: James MacCracken (1967-1974), Richard Butler (1985-1989), Lonnie Turnipseed (1994?-1996), and Rodney Page (1996-). Files are arranged by those created or used by McCleary and then files donated after McCleary left CWS in 1985. Also included are two boxes of minutes from CWS committees including the Executive Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Unit Committee, ranging from 1977 to 1999.

The Intermedia, Photographs, and CWS Publications series, 1911-2000, contains communication files and publications created by Church World Service. 

The Intermedia files subseries, 1911-1998, consists of committee minutes and correspondence from NCC literacy groups. Included are historical documents, administrative committee minutes, consultation programs, and newsletters created by the Committee on World Literacy and Christian Literature (Lit-Lit); ALFALIT; Radio, Visual Education and Mass Communication Committee (RAVEMCCO); and Intermedia. Also included are communication files from Christian broadcasting networks in China and the Philippines; a box of slides of Intermedia presentations, conferences, and literacy projects in various countries; and five boxes of filmstrips. Some of the filmstrips are unlabeled, but available labels have been transcribed directly into the collection inventory. 

The Photographs subseries, 1928-1979, contains photographs, negatives, albums, and scrapbooks mostly arranged by the country that they were taken in. Some of the folders also contain news releases, reports, and correspondence, likely related to the photographs in that folder. The photographs document vocational training projects, schools, refugee aid efforts, relief distribution (unpacking supplies, distributing clothing), and CWS work with other NGOs. There are many photos documenting life in refugee camps through candid shots of families, individuals, and children. Some of these are unlabeled while others include narrative captions attached to the back of the photograph. The majority of the refugees photographed by CWS are unnamed. Also included are movie and publicity stills from CWS communications, and staff portraits from 1948 to 1973. 

The Publications subseries, 1954-2000, contains reports, newsletters, and brochures published by CWS. Included are Division of Foreign Missions/Division of Overseas Ministries annual reports from 1954 to 1981; CWS annual reports from 1958 to 1998; anniversary reports; newsletters such as “Connections” and “Monday Developments;” reports from the countries that CWS was working in, including disaster response efforts; and refugee sponsorship manuals for congregations. 

The Disaster Response series, 1972-1994, consists of eight folders created by the Disaster Response team. The folders contain correspondence, reports, and news clippings documenting natural disasters in the United States and the ecumenical relief efforts that followed. 

The Burned Churches Project series, 1988-1998, contains project proposals, correspondence, church and volunteer data sheets, and accounting records from the NCC project to help rebuild churches that were victims of racially motivated arson throughout the United States. Also included are news clippings documenting church burnings and videocassettes of news segments on the Burned Churches project. 

The Disarmament, Development, and Militarization series, 1972-1988, contains files created by Gary Gamer while working for the Social Economic Development Office and serving on the Task Force on Militarization in Asia and the Pacific. The subject files were created during Gamer’s research for the task force and are divided into topics on either “disarmament and development,” “militarization,” or "news clippings." Additional materials can be found throughout Series I, Subseries II: East Asia and the Pacific, 1947-1997.