Title: Milwaukee Christian Center, Inc. Records
Inclusive Dates: 1925-1966

Creator:

• Milwaukee Christian Center

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss 61; PH Milwaukee Mss 61

Quantity: 3.6 c.f. (9 archives boxes) and 20 photographs (1 oversize folder)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries' Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections.

Archival Locations:

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of the Milwaukee Christian Center, Inc. (MCC), founded in 1921, documenting the social and spiritual mission of a neighborhood-based mutual aid organization, the daily functions of the MCC, and its interactions with its constituents. Included are administrative subject files consisting of financial, personnel, and meeting records, and an assortment of materials created and accumulated by Reverend Kenneth L. Smith. Also included are operations and activities subject files which document neighborhood development, missionary and charity work, the “Project 61” relocation campaign, youth leadership and camp activities, and community affiliations. Additionally, there are publicity and press subject files which include a comprehensive collection of MCC-published newsletters.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00061

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The Milwaukee Christian Center (MCC) was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1921 by an American Baptist missionary named Marnie Passolt MacKenney. She was appointed by the American Baptist Convention's Home Mission Society to develop a Christian settlement house on Milwaukee's increasingly blighted south side. The MCC was one of several institutions established by the Home Mission Society across the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. The MCC initially focused its efforts on the nutritional needs of orphaned children and impoverished immigrant families from Europe and Latin America.

The MCC was a transient organization until 1923 when it moved into a refurbished church at 611 West Washington Street. The building was constructed in the 1890s in what was then one of Milwaukee's most affluent neighborhoods. It was home to the American Baptist South Church until the early 1920s, when the congregation decided to relocate further out from the city's urban center. Dr. D. W. Hulburt, then the Wisconsin Baptist State Convention secretary, was instrumental in accommodating the MCC's move into the South Church building. Hulburt and several other former South Church congregants remained in the neighborhood and formed Hulburt Baptist Church, which rented a small chapel constructed on the east side of the newly remodeled MCC facility. Hulburt Church would retain its association with the MCC until 1967.

Through the 1920s and early 1930s, the MCC was staffed with appointees from the Wisconsin Baptist State Convention and the national Women's Home Mission Society. In 1934, Reverend C. Dwight Klinck became the MCC's first executive director. That same year the MCC building was expanded to make room for a gymnasium. In 1942, it was incorporated by the State of Wisconsin and formed its first board of directors. The board was chosen by the executive committee of the Wisconsin Baptist State Convention and it required at least two-thirds of the board be members of Baptist churches. The MCC board and executive director were responsible for all administrative duties including hiring staff and making committee appointments.

In 1942, the budgets of the MCC and Hulburt Church were permanently separated and the objectives of the MCC were formalized. Annual reports after incorporation illustrate the purpose of the MCC at this time: to develop among children, youth, and adults a sound and practical attitude and a belief in the Christian way of life; to help members understand democracy and practice democratic living through group processes; to provide opportunities for creative interests and skills through clubs, hobbies, and programming; and to develop the leadership abilities of members to use in the community.

In 1943, the MCC was admitted to the United War Chest network of National War Fund charities, which increased the scope of its programs and gave it access to greater funding. In 1946, the War Chest was discontinued and the MCC board of directors appointed a new executive director, Reverend John A. Craig. That same year it was admitted into the Milwaukee Community Chest as a recognized agency. In 1947, the MCC was accepted as one of the “Red Feather” services of the Community Council of Milwaukee County.

Membership at the MCC continued to grow in the next two decades. During the early 1950s the inadequacies of the MCC facility were identified and relocation plans came under discussion. Concurrently, the MCC was moving toward a non-denominational, neighborhood-building agenda, with a stronger focus on urban social issues. It was also expanding its ties to local, regional, and national networks of charity and community development organizations.

In 1958, the MCC approved a capital funds campaign proposal and the Milwaukee Community Welfare Council initiated the relocation process. In 1960, plans were announced for an expressway to be built over the location of the MCC, and a new site at 2215 West Scott Street was selected. In 1961, the relocation fundraising campaign “Project 61” was inaugurated under the recently appointed Reverend Kenneth L. Smith. During the first half of the 1960s the MCC experienced a focused and often frustrated effort to raise money and gain community support for the relocation project. Relocation was not complete until 1967. The MCC continues to operate at this location as of 2007.

The Milwaukee Christian Center, Inc. (MCC) Records document the activities of this non-profit neighborhood organization on Milwaukee's South Side. The records date from 1925 to 1966, with the bulk of the documents created during 1946-1963. A significant portion of the collection consists of administrative and financial records: annual reports, budgets, audits, statements of account, and correspondence on personnel, policies, and general organization. The remainder of the collection documents the MCC and its constituency in action. There are records from volunteer efforts, fundraising campaigns, youth day camps, missionary activities, and interaction within the community. These take a variety of forms including correspondence, meeting minutes, agendas, information circulars, directives, summary reports, newsletters, pamphlets, flyers, and first-hand documents written by individuals participating in MCC-sponsored activities. The collection also contains 20 photographs.

The collection documents a few specific events and larger trends that figure significantly in the organization's history. It illustrates the emergence of a modern community center from the charitable arm of an established church. It documents MCC youth activities including summer day camps, leadership retreats, and sports and social events. As the collection moves into the 1950s and 1960s, the collection reflects a growing emphasis on concurrent social phenomena like the civil rights and social justice movements. The collection provides documentation of the role of a local organization in a network of regional, national, and international interests that include regulatory and advisory bodies, wide-reaching religious groups, and other entities that focus on neighborhood development, public charity, and social welfare.

The primary value of the Milwaukee Christian Center (MCC) collection is in the documentation of the types of activities engaged in by organization personnel and community constituents. These activities include fundraising, social events, missionary work, speakers and conferences, and neighborhood improvement projects. The collection illustrates the work of the MCC in the larger context of its social surroundings. The greatest strengths of this collection are the documentation for “Project 61” and the Leaf and Bud newsletter sets.

This collection is divided into four series: ADMINISTRATIVE, OPERATIONS AND ACTIVITIES, PUBLICITY AND THE PRESS, and PHOTOGRAPHS. Original order was maintained in all possible instances. The arrangement of the Administration and Publicity and Press series most closely reflects the original filing scheme of the MCC. The Operations and Activities series represents a more artificial intellectual arrangement based on subject.

The ADMINISTRATIVE series consists of financial, meeting, and personnel information, and general documentation of the regular business of the executive office, boards, committees, and various sub-groups that managed the MCC. A portion of this series includes the personal collection of materials from Reverend Kenneth L. Smith, who was the executive director of the MCC at the time the collection was accessioned.

The OPERATIONS AND ACTIVITIES series documents the MCC's work within the community and as part of a larger network of religious and missionary interests, mutual aid and neighborhood organizations, and advisory and regulatory entities at both the local and non-local level. A large part of the operations involved fundraising, as demonstrated by the “Project 61” relocation campaign materials. Activity files include documentation on more specific events such as the youth summer and day camps, and various social, educational, and spiritual activities of the MCC community. The “Project 61” records offer a fairly complete picture of a complex process, documenting the fundraising and marketing efforts of administrators and rank-and-file volunteers from the mid 1950s until the early 1960s. The records demonstrate how the forces of urban sprawl and demographic shift impacted the MCC community.

The PUBLICITY AND PRESS series consists of the Leaf and Bud newsletter collection, MCC-related newspaper clippings, and other public relations material circulated internally and externally. The Leaf and Bud newsletters were weekly and monthly in-house publications distributed among the MCC community. Leaf was more adult-oriented, while Bud was for teens and children. These included news stories, event bulletins, bits of scripture, announcements, and other items that MCC members would have found useful, informative, or entertaining. A copy of nearly every issue of these publications between the years of 1947 and 1966 is present in the collection.

The PHOTOGRAPHS series includes sixteen photographs of religious-themed posters, three photographs of the MCC building exterior, and one “grip and grin” photograph. The photographs are undated.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Reverend Kenneth L. Smith, April 3, 1966.

Processing Information

Processed by Bradley John Wiles (Practicum student), May 2007.

Milwaukee Mss 61	Series: Administrative
	Financial Records
Box   1 Folder   1	Annual Report, 1938-1964
Box   1 Folder   2	Budget Changes and Minutes, 1953-1954
Box   1 Folder   3	Budget Figures, 1951-1952
Box   1 Folder   4-7	Budget Material, 1952-1957
	Financial Reports
Box   1 Folder   8-12	1940-1951
Box   2 Folder   1-5	1951-1960
Box   2 Folder   6	Financial Statements, 1945-1946
Box   2 Folder   7-9	Fiscal Year Audit Reports, 1944-1963
Box   2 Folder   10	Monthly Financial Statements, 1946-1947
	Meetings
Box   3 Folder   1	Annual Board Meeting Minutes, 1962-1964
Box   3 Folder   2-6	Assorted Board Materials, 1942-1963
	Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Box   3 Folder   7	1940-1947
Box   4 Folder   1-2	1950-1961
Box   4 Folder   3	Board Committees, 1963-1964
Box   4 Folder   4	Bylaws, undated
Box   4 Folder   5	Corporation Dinner Agendas, Minutes, and Reservations, 1958-1962
Box   4 Folder   6-10	General Administrative, 1954-1962
Box   5 Folder   1-2	Staff Meeting Minutes and Agendas, 1956-1963
Box   4 Folder   11	Staff Meeting Agendas, 1963-1964
Box   5 Folder   3-4	Various Board and Administrative, 1956-1963
	Personnel
Box   5 Folder   5	Board Building Committee, 1942-1956
Box   5 Folder   6	Job Analysis, 1959-1963
Box   5 Folder   7	Policies, 1962
Box   5 Folder   8	Staff Pension and Benefits, 1956-1957
	Reverend Kenneth L. Smith
Box   5 Folder   9-10	Assorted Published Materials, 1959-1965
Box   5 Folder   11	Correspondence and Handwritten Materials, 1947-1960
Box   5 Folder   12-13	Council on Missionary Cooperation, 1958
	Series: Operations and Activities	⇧
	Project 61 Relocation Campaign
Box   6 Folder   1-2	Building Committee, 1961-1963
Box   6 Folder   3-5	Correspondence, Reports, and Notes, 1959-1962
Box   6 Folder   6	Literature Packet, 1960
Box   6 Folder   7	Workers Packet, 1960
	Youth Leadership and Camp Activities
Box   6 Folder   8	Assorted Day Camp Materials, 1958-1961
Box   6 Folder   9	Attendance Reports, 1940-1943
Box   6 Folder   10	Camp Tamarack and Wisconsin Baptist Camps, 1960
Box   6 Folder   11	Day Camp Evaluations, 1958
Box   7 Folder   1-3	Leader Program Reports, 1954-1962
Box   7 Folder   4	Parties and Games, undated
Box   7 Folder   5	Senior Leaders Group Activities Record, 1964
Box   7 Folder   6	Summer Program, 1962-1963
Box   7 Folder   7	Summer Session, 1960
Box   7 Folder   8	Volunteer Leaders Camp, 1959
Box   7 Folder   9	Volunteer Leaders Club, 1958
	Affiliations
Box   8 Folder   1	Community Welfare Council, 1959-1960
Box   8 Folder   2	Milwaukee-area Groups, 1961-1965
Box   8 Folder   3	National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, 1958-1965
	Series: Publicity and the Press	⇧
Box   8 Folder   4-6	Bud Newsletter, 1956-1966
Box   8 Folder   7	Leaf Newsletter, 1948-1966
Box   9 Folder   1-4	Leaf Newsletter, 1948-1966
Box   9 Folder   5	Public Relations and History, 1925-1949
PH Milwaukee Mss 61	Series: Photographs, undated	⇧