OAKLAND CITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (Atlanta, Ga.)
Records, 1910-1973.

RECORD GROUP NUMBER 021 

ACCESS: Unrestricted

REPRODUCTION: All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

COPYRIGHT: Information on copyright (literary rights) available from repository.

CITATION: Oakland City United Methodist Church Records, RG 021, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. 

The Oakland City United Methodist Church had its beginnings as the first Methodist Sunday School for Oakland City in southwest Atlanta.  The first meeting of the Sunday School took place on September 4, 1910.  According to early accounts, the church was organized at some time during that same year.  Records indicate, however, that the first quarterly conference for Oakland City Methodist Episcopal Church, South did not take place until February 12, 1912.  The congregation met in a succession of temporary locations until the early 1920s when a permanent facility was built at 1093 Arlington Avenue in southwest Atlanta.

The church experienced two periods of rapid growth, the first in the early 1920s when the surrounding residential area was first developed, and again in the post-World War II years of the 1940s.  During the mid-to-late 1960s, however, the congregation declined as a result of extensive cultural and racial changes in the community.  In 1972 the membership of the Oakland City United Methodist Church voted to relinquish the church holdings to the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, effective July 1, 1973.

This collection consists primarily of Quarterly Conference reports dating from 1923 through the first two quarters of 1932 and 1940 through 1953.  Other items included are a church history covering the years 1910-1951, church directories for the years 1967-1973, Woman's Missionary Society (W.M.S.) financial records for 1920-1935, Woman's Society of Christian Service (formerly W.M.S.) financial records for 1936-1951, and four photographs, ca. 1954, of ground breaking ceremonies for a new church school building.  Also included are church bulletins from February through May of 1935 and April, May, and June of 1973, financial campaign brochures ca. 1954, and resolutions passed by the Board of Stewards, ca. 1940-1972. Miscellaneous items include lists of names of new church members, one dated February 26, 1946 and another undated, a newspaper clipping dated October 10, 1936, and an insurance certificate date July 26, 1952.  The collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material and, thereunder, chronologically.

These records provide information about the history and administrative functions of the Oakland City United Methodist Church, beginning with the creation of the Oakland City Methodist Sunday School in 1910 and continuing through the closing of the church in 1973.  The church history includes names of pastors who served the church through 1951 and a history of the Sunday School written on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary celebration in September of 1970.  Quarterly Conference reports contain summaries of church activities and accomplishments as well as membership statistics and financial statements.  Financial records for the two women's organizations reflect their activities and contain membership rolls for some years.

CONTAINER LISTING

Box  Folder     Description

1     1         Bulletins.
1     2         Church history, 1910-1951
1     3-4       Directories, 1967-1973
1     5         Miscellaneous, 1936-1952
1     6         Photographs, [ca. 1954]
1     7         Publications, [ca. 1954]
2     1-8       Quarterly Conference reports, 1923-1953
2     9         Resolutions, 1940-1972
2     10        Woman's Missionary Society financial reports, 
                1920-1935
2     11        Woman's Society of Christian Service financial 
                reports, 1951, n.d.

Archives & Manuscripts
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
Atlanta, GA  30322

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