This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
This collection contains the records of the Interchurch World Movement(IWM) including pamphlets, typed and handwritten notes regarding the reorganization of the Movement, budget proposals, reports and minutes, a survey of the IWM in Japan, newspaper clippings, and correspondences arranged chronologically to A.L. Warnshuis from various board members of the Interchurch World Movement. The collection also contains This series an unbound ten-chapter manuscript documenting the history of the Interchurch World Movement, and correspondence to and from Barbara Ann Griffis, the Ecumenical Librarian at Union Theological Seminary in 1962, regarding the manuscript.
Series I: Administrative records, 1919 -- 1921
This series contains the records of the Interchurch World Movement(IWM) including pamphlets, typed and handwritten notes regarding the reorganization of the Movement, budget proposals, reports and minutes, a survey of the IWM in Japan, newspaper clippings, and correspondences arranged chronologically to A.L. Warnshuis from various board members of the Interchurch World Movement.
Series II: History, circa 1920 -- 1962
This series contains an unbound ten-chapter manuscript documenting the history of the Interchurch World Movement, as well as notes and correspondence to and from Barbara Ann Griffis, the Ecumenical Librarian at Union Theological Seminary in 1962, regarding the manuscript.
William Adams Brown Ecumenical Library Archives
This collection is arranged in two series: Series 1: Administrative records; and Series 2: History.
This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.
Item description, WAB: Interchurch World Movement Records, 1919-1962, series #, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
John R. Mott Papers (RG 45), Special Collections, Yale Divinity School Library.
New Era Movement Records (RG 105), Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA.
This collection is part of the William Adams Brown Ecumenical Library Archives, which was founded in 1945 by the Union Theological Seminary Board of Directors.
The exact provenance of this collection is unknown.
Columbia University Libraries, Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary
Material was cataloged by Lynn A. Grove on 1988-08-08. Metal clips and staples were removed from materials and newspaper clippings photocopied. Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. The finding aid was created by Debbie Liu in 2012, updated by Brigette C. Kamsler in 2013 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2022.
2022-01-11 PDF converted to EAD and description updated by Leah Edelman.
The Interchurch World Movement (IWM) began on December 17, 1918, when 135 representatives of the Home and Foreign Missions Boards and allied agencies gathered for a conference under the aegis of the Foreign Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church of the United States. The purpose of this conference was to discuss the feasibility of a united Christian campaign. The Movement was a direct response to the end of World War I; initial considerations for this movement were begun by the Executive Committee of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church days after the signing of the armistice between the Allies and Germany. The purpose of the Movement was to unite Protestant churches in North America and coordinate Christian services and programs. In 1919, the Interchurch World Movement formed the Interchurch Department of Industrial Relations in order to take an active role in the Great Steel Strike of 1919-1920.The Industrial Relations department was specifically concerned with objectively documenting and studying industrial disputes and their social consequences. On October 5, 1919 the Interchurch Department of Industrial Relations formed a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the steel strike because of concerns from Protestant church leaders that the public was misinformed about the basic facts surrounding the steel strike. In 1920, the Movement published its findings in a book titled, Report on the Steel Strike of 1919, which countered popular views of the steel strike and highlighted the poor wages and working conditions of steel workers. This report and its supplementary volume are considered to have influenced U.S. Steel's decision to improve workers' hours and wages. On May 10th, 1920 at the General Committee Meeting in Cleveland, a sub-committee was appointed and charged with the complete reorganization of Interchurch World Movement in order to curtail expenses and decrease the Movement's growing debt. However, by the end of 1920, the Interchurch World Movement was disbanded and its assets liquidated due to financial difficulties.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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| Subject | ||
|---|---|---|
| Christian union | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |
| Ecumenical movement | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |