MS-212 First Lutheran Church of Dayton Records

Introduction

The records of the First Lutheran Church of Dayton, Ohio, were accessioned into the Wright State University Department of Archives and Special Collections in April of 1991. They were donated by the church.

The collection contains thirty-nine volumes, seven oversized items, twelve Hollinger boxes and 232 file folders. The records date from 1839 to 1984 and fall into ten series and eight subseries:

Series 1: Administrative Records

Series 2: Vital Statistics

Series 3: Sunday School

• Subseries 1: Administrative Records
• Subseries 2: Sunday School Related Groups

Series 4: Church Related Groups

• Subseries 1: Missionaries
• Subseries 2: Other Women's Groups
• Subseries 3: Men's Groups
• Subseries 4: Youth Groups

Series 5: Publications

• Subseries 1: Sunday Bulletins
• Subseries 2: Newsletters

Series 6: Church Blueprints

Series 7: Historical Materials

Series 8: Subject Files

Series 9: Organists

Series 10: Photographs

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Brief Historical Sketch

The First Lutheran Church of Dayton, Ohio, was founded in July of 1839 by a group of Dayton Lutherans led by businessman Frederick Gebhart. The church is the first and oldest Lutheran church in Dayton.

Throughout its history, the First Lutheran Church has been a downtown church. Its first meeting was held in the storeroom of Gebhart's dry goods store on Main Street. The church then built and moved into a series of church buildings in the downtown area. Finally, in 1906, the congregation settled into its present location at First and Wilkinson streets.

The First Lutheran Church has been very involved in the growth of Lutheran churches in Dayton and surrounding areas. It has been responsible for the organization of six Lutheran congregations: the Trinity Chapel, the Harshmanville Congregation, the Second Lutheran Church, the Trinity Lutheran Church, the Grace Lutheran Church and the North Riverdale Lutheran Church.

The First Lutheran Church was also involved in the founding of Dayton's St. John's Lutheran Church. In 1864, the First Lutheran Church's council dismissed its pastor, Reverend Daniel Steck, for allying himself with the controversial Clement L. Vallandigham, leader of the antiwar Copperhead Movement. Steck then formed St. John's, creating an unofficial competition between the two churches, which took many years to subside.

In recent years, the First Lutheran Church has struggled to maintain unity as more and more of its members have moved from the downtown area to the suburbs. The church has also been troubled by difficulties in finding pastors who reflect the congregation's beliefs about the Lutheran religion.

For a complete history of the church, At the Center: A Sesquicentennial History of the First Lutheran Church, Dayton, Ohio 1839-1989, found in Box 8, File 12, is recommended.

Scope and Content Note

The records of the First Lutheran Church are arranged within ten main series: (1) Administrative Records, (2) Vital Statistics, (3) Sunday School, (4) Church Related Groups, (5) Publications, (6) Church Blueprints, (7) Materials Dealing with Church History, (8) Subject Files, (9) Organists and (10) Photographs.

The Administrative Records in Series 1 mainly consist of the meeting minutes of the Church Council, spanning the years 1840 to 1976. Arranged chronologically, these minutes are the best first-hand account on the day-to-day history of the church. Also included in this series are some scattered records of the Church Treasurer and a few miscellaneous administrative records.

Series 2, Vital Statistics, which is also arranged chronologically, includes information on baptisms, communions, marriages and deaths within the church between the years 1839 to 1914. There are also church directories in this series that list the names of church members during much of the church's history. There are three additional volumes belonging to other series that hold information pertaining to vital statistics. Volumes 1 and 2 of Series 1 contain records of baptisms and communions and also a list of church members from the earliest years of the church. Volume 34 of Series 4, an annual or quarterly record of church events kept by various young people's groups from 1870 to 1910, contains the names of many members who were sick or who died during the years covered by the book.

Series 3 is a series of Sunday School records divided into two subseries: Sunday School Administrative Records and Sunday School Related Classes or Groups. Arranged chronologically, the Sunday School Administrative Records in Subseries 1 contain constitutions, meeting minutes and information on the day-to-day running of the Sunday School, perhaps the most important institution in the First Lutheran Church. Subseries 2, Sunday School Related Classes or Groups, is arranged alphabetically by group. These groups provided church members with important opportunities to gather for either purely social reasons or to discuss religious topics. The records left by the groups contain meeting minutes, directories and calendars.

Groups unrelated to the Sunday School but which also provided social opportunities for church members are gathered in Series 4, Church Groups. This series is divided into four subseries. Subseries 1, Missionaries, deals with the various missionary groups connected the First Lutheran Church, both at a national and at a local level. There are publications and convention proceedings of the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society (W.H.& F.M.S.) of the General Synod, a national organization, and of the Miami Synod, a regional organization, in which church members were actively involved. Within the First Lutheran Church itself, the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society was its oldest, established organization. Unfortunately, Dayton's flood of 1913 destroyed much of the group's records, leaving only two volumes of meeting minutes spanning the years 1918 to 1945. There is, however, an almost complete record of the church's missionary society for young women, known first as the Young Woman's Missionary Society and then later as the McCauly Missionary Society.

Subseries 2, Other Women's Groups, contain histories and meeting minutes of women's groups, most of whom were involved in either charitable activities related to the church or in purely social functions. Subseries 3, Men's Groups, and Subseries 4, Youth Groups, also have the same kinds of records. All three are arranged alphabetically by group and then arranged chronologically.

Series 5 are Publications given out by the church to inform its members about services and church events and meetings. Subseries 1, Sunday Bulletins, describe the weekly services of the church from the 1910s to 1984. Also, within the bulletins are notes on church news and about church groups. The collection of the Sunday Bulletins is complete from 1971 to 1984. Subseries 2 contains Newsletters. These newsletters, which came out either weekly, monthly or quarterly over the years, intimately cover church events from 1895 to 1984; however, the collection of the newsletters is only complete from 1970 to 1984. Both the Sunday Bulletins and the Newsletters are arranged chronologically.

Series 6, Blueprints, is composed of the complete blueprints of the church's current building designed by the firm of Peters, Burns and Pretzinger in 1905. Also included are miscellaneous blueprints of additions and alterations to the church building and of its electrical system.

The Materials Dealing with Church History in Series 7 are mainly secondary works written about the First Lutheran Church, such as plays, books and pamphlets. There are also descriptions of church organizations, descriptions of the church's building and miscellaneous, undated newspaper clippings. For general background on the church's history and organizations, this is the series with which to start.

Series 8 is made up of Subject Files. Arranged alphabetically, these files are incomplete and contain papers from the 1940s all the way through the 1980s. Because of its scattered nature, the best use of this series can only be to supplement information found the other series.

Series 9 is a small series about the Organists of the First Lutheran Church, well-known in Dayton for their expertise. Pamphlets describing the church's organ, programs and information about organist Paul Ray Jones make up this series.

Finally, Series 10 is a miscellaneous collection of Photographs. The photographs have been placed as well as is possible into groups, which are then arranged alphabetically. Very few of the photographs are dated and even fewer have any identification of the people pictured in them.

Container Listing

BOX, FOLDER AND VOLUME LISTING

Series 1: Administrative Records

Series 2: Vital Statistics

Series 3: Sunday School

Subseries 1: Administrative Records

Subseries 2: Sunday School Related Classes or Groups

Series 4: Church Groups

Subseries 1: Missionaries

Subseries 2: Other Women's Groups

Subseries 3: Men's Groups

Subseries 4: Youth Groups

Series 5:  Publications

Subseries 1: Sunday Bulletins

Subseries 2: Newsletters--Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly

Series 6: Church Blueprints

Series 7: Materials Dealing with Church History

Series 8: Subject Files

Series 9: Organists