Archives - Record Groups

100 Series: Merging Religious Bodies

Los Angeles First Church of the NazareneThe 100 Series lists the collections of churches that united to form the Church of the Nazarene, and churches that later merged with it. It also includes the periodicals of these pre-merger bodies.

The 100 Series includes one record group (101) of materials of non-Nazarene religious bodies that were closely related to the merging churches. The 100 Series also lists the records of the Holiness Association of Texas, an interdenominational association. While the Holiness Association of Texas did not merge with the Church of the Nazarene, most of its members united individually.

These record groups do not list materials pertaining to the colleges affiliated with these church bodies. Instead, records of these schools are listed in the 800 Series (Educational Institutions).

200 Series: The General Assemblies

1908 General Assembly The 200 Series is composed of one record group for each General Assembly. The First General Assembly in 1907 is record group 201, the Second General Assembly is record group 202, and so forth.

Preceding record group 201 is record group 200, which lists materials related generally to the institution of the General Assembly, rather than to any particular assembly. This includes Manuals, proceedings, official photographs, and other items.

300 Series: The Board of General Superintendents

1918-1928 Board of General Superintendents

The 300 Series is composed of two record groups: (1) Record Group 300 consists of materials related to the institution of the Board of General Superintendents, such as minutes, photographs, reports, conferences, and so forth; (2) Record Group 302 is composed of collections on individual general superintendents. These are numbered in the order of election. Thus, the Phineas Franklin Bresee Collection is Record Group 302-101, the Hiram Farnham Reynolds Collection is Record Group 302-102, the Edgar Painter Ellyson Collection is 302-103, and so forth.

400 Series: General Church Officers Collections

Record Group 401: General Treasurer Collections

Record Group 402: General Secretary Collections

Record Group 403: Herald of Holiness Editor Collections. (Includes Herald of Holiness periodical).

500 Series: General Boards

The 500 Series includes a record group for each agency of the church that ever held the status of a General Board. When these General Boards became departments under a unified General Board (1923), their records are continued in the same record group.

The unified General Board itself is Record Group 512 and follows the several boards that preceded it. Departments created after the unified General Board are given the record groups following 512. Headquarters (now Global Ministry Center) administration and Spanish Department/Publications International are not departments, but function similarly to departments, and thus are assigned General Board record groups 514 and 520.

The new Division structure implemented around 1980 does not affect the pre-1980 records. The records of the World Mission Division continue to be part of record group 501. The materials of other Divisions are listed in a newly created 570 record group series.

600 Series: Nazarene Publishing Interests

The 600 Series lists the records and products of the Nazarene Publishing House and its subsidiaries, including the Lillenas Publishing Company.

700 Series: Church Auxiliaries

The 700 Series lists the materials in the Woman’s Missionary Society/Nazarene World Missionary Society Collection (Record Group 701) and the Nazarene Young People’s Society/Nazarene Youth International Collection (Record Group 702).

800 Series: Nazarene Educational Institutions

Olivet College Library. 1914 The 800 Series is composed of one record group for each college, seminary and Bible college. Records for an institution which preceded or joined a school are included with the subsequent school (i.e. Southern Nazarene University includes seven subgroups for each school that merged with the college at Bethany, Oklahoma, including Peniel University, Bresee College, Central Nazarene University, etc.).

Preceding the record groups for the schools is record group 800, containing materials related to these schools in general, and materials on schools which were short lived or affiliated loosely with the Church of the Nazarene.

900 Series: Social Ministries Rest Cottage Childrens Home. 1908

The 900 Series contains the records of rescue homes, orphanages, rescue missions, hospitals, and social-ministry oriented congregations.

1000 Series: District Collections

1010 U.S. & Canadian Districts (arranged alphabetically by district name)

Nebraska District Assembly1040 World Districts (arranged alphabetically by country, then by district name)

1070 Home Mission Districts (administered by the Department of Home Missions)

1100 Series: Congregational Collections

Denver First Church of the Nazarene. 1919 The 1100 Series lists local church records. Nearly all are North American churches. The arrangement is alphabetical by state or province, then by city or town, then by church name.

1200 Series: Biographical Materials

The 1200 Series lists materials best identified by their relationship to a person, such as diaries, scrapbooks, letters, and manuscripts. Rev. Bud Robinson. The collections are listed alphabetically by last name.

The personal papers of church officers that otherwise would be included in the 1200’s are included with the records of their office.

1300 Series: Cross-References by Media and Subject

The 1300 Series is a duplicate listing of certain Archives materials that share the same form or media (audio recordings, scrapbooks, motion picture film, diaries, sermons, poetry, etc.), or pertain to the same topic (race relations, pacifism, women in ministry, camp meetings, revivals, eschatology, etc.).

1400 Series: Non-Nazarene Materials

The 1400 Series is a catch-all record group for those non-Nazarene materials that the Nazarene Archives feels obliged to maintain. Organizations and individuals alike are listed alphabetically in the 1400 Series.

Among the many collections listed in the 1400s are those pertaining to the Christian Witness (Boston & Chicago), the Bible Missionary Church, John L. Brasher, the Church of God—Holiness, the Church of the Bible Covenant, the Federation of Holiness Churches, the Free Methodist Church, William B. Godbey, God’s Bible School, the Holiness Movement Church of Canada, the Holiness Nazarene Mission (Philippines), Will Huff, Sam Jones, Martin Wells Knapp, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Holiness Association/Christian Holiness Association, the Pentecostal Herald (Louisville), the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the Pilgrim Holiness Church, the Vanguard Mission, Vennard College, the Voice of the Nazarene Publishing Company, and Zion Holiness Mission (England).