Accession Number: 50
Hinton Rural Life Center Collection
Selected Records, 1958-1978
Selected Photographs, 1958-1985
1.2 linear ft.
Online Catalog Record (BANC)

Overview
History
Series Description
Part A - Selected Records

Series A. I - Operational and Vital Records, 1958-77
Series A. II - Correspondence, 1964-1978
Series A. III - Publications, 1965-78

Part B - Selected Photographs

Access and Use

Provenance: This collection was compiled by the Settlement Institutions of Appalachia / Berea College Research Resources Project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project was developed in 1979 for the purpose of organizing and preserving the original records and photographs of the Settlement Institutions of Appalachia (SIA) and the copying of those of historical value to form a central research collection at Berea College. Hinton Rural Life Center records were collected and organized in 1983. Those possessing administrative, legal or historical value were microfilmed at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. The originals were then returned to the Hinton Rural Life Center.

Preferred Citation: Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Berea, Ky.

Restrictions: The master negative of the microfilm is owned by Berea College and a used copy is available in Hutchins Library's Department of Archives and Special Collections. Berea College does not own the copyright for the manuscripts or printed documents included in this microfilm edition. It is therefore the responsibility of the researcher to secure permission to publish from the Hinton Rural Life Center or its successors and assigns.

Related Archives

• Settlement Institutions of Appalachia Records, 1970-1982 , SAA 36

Series Description
2 microfilm boxes, 1 photo box

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Hinton Rural Life Center was active in the movement to analyze and improve the effectiveness of ministry of and to the small-membership church; and the Center endeavored to define the social and economical needs of the congregation as a part of that ministry. The Hinton directors and staff authorized a number of articles and compiled several larger publications pertaining to this subject. The extant editions of these publications compose the greater part of the series III.

Newsletters for the years 1974-1978 are also a part of this series, as is a small file containing promotional literature produced during the 1960s,1970s, and early 1980s. In addition, the series contains some articles and other research materials that were part of the files of Harold McSwain: papers on rural sociology and rural life issues (1950s-1960s); bound editions of papers and articles on Appalachia (1960s); and papers by McSwain’s colleagues concerning multiple staff ministries and small membership churches (1960s-1970s); and a field worker’s notebook of observations of rural church services in the Hinton vicinity (c. 1961).

Box 1 continued, Reels 6-7

1. The Church, Poverty, and Social Change: A Report in Field Seminar, 1965
2. The Cooperative-Type Ministry and Renewal in Town and Country Churches: A Report on Group Ministries, Harold McSwain, 1965
3. Violence and Christian Responsibility in Town and Country Areas of the Southeast, Field Seminar, 1969

Box 2, Reel 7

1. Hinton Rural Life Center Reports, Set Number Three, compiled by Hinton Staff, 1970
2. Parish Reformation: Idle Dream or Realistic Vision?, Hinton Center Papers,set number 4, 1970
3. Report of Hinton Rural life Center to the Executive Commettee of the Sotheastern Jurisdictional Council, 1970
4. Materials for Seminar for Parish Reformation and Multiple Staff Ministry, 1971
5. The Upper Hiawassee Multi-County Planning Project, Research Part I, CORA Task Force on Planning and Research, 1971
6. Present and futures, Study II for Church and Community Ministry, Harold W. McSwain and Gladys Campbell, 1973
7. The United Methodist Church in the Southeast with Attention to the Future and Management, Harold McSwain, c. 1973
8. Parish/Staff:
   1. Presentation on Parish/Staff-type Ministry, Hinton Rural life Center, n.d.
   2. “A Pilot Model for Regional Training, January 1969 Intern Project,” Hinton Rural Life Center, 1969
   3. “Report of an Ad Hoc Committee on Town and Country Strategy in the Southeast,” Hinton Rural Life Center, 1971
   4. Bibliography, c. 1971
   5. “The Church—A Bride in old or New Wineskins,” Haroild McSwain, n.d.
   6. “Program Planning Procedures and Projects for Group Ministry,” Harold McSwain, n.d.
   7. The Parish and its Staff, Harold McSwain, 1973
   8. “Validity of the small Membership Church,” Doyce Gunter, n.d.
   9. “A Quest for New Models of the Parish,”Doyce Gunter, 1974
   10. “Development of an Adequate Policy for Area / Parish Ministry at the Annual Conference level,” Carl M Robbins, 1970
   11. Parish Development:
       1. “The Role of the Parish Director,” Doyce Gunter, n.d.
       2. Excerpts from Writings on Multiple Staff and Cooperative Ministries, Marvin T. Judy, n.d.
       3. Articles on the Small Membership Church, M. Wilson Nesbit, n.d..
       4. Workshops on Cooperative ministries, 1973, 1976
       5. Background Materials on the Rural Church, 1960s
       6. Field Worker’s Notebook on Observation of Church Services in Clay County, NC, c. 1960
       7. Papers on Rural Sociology, 1959-c. 1962
       8. United Methodist Coalition on Rural Life Issues, 1972, 1974
9. Hinton Center Newsletter, 1974-75
10. Hinton Rural Life Center Newsletter, 1976-77
11. Hinton Herald, 1977-78
12. Promotional Literature and Brochures, 1960s-80s
13. Appalachia, Files #1 and #3, 1960s
14. Trailer Tails, Esther Barker, 1943

Like the manuscript records, the photographic collection of the Hinton Rural Life Center is quite small. The original formats for the collection consists of loose prints and 35mm slides containing both black and white and color images.

Subject areas covered by the photographs include: activity, artifact, campus buildings, ceremony, event, landscape, people, and portrait. Included under the section “People,” are photographs of Hinton Rural Life Center staff and participants. HRLC photographs are not housed in one area, but are instead stored and displayed at various locations throughout the campus.

The copy print collection is arranged into one group and covers the periods from the Center’s beginning in 1958 to 1985. For purposes of organization and selection, the original order is maintained under the heading “General File.” But they have also been indexed by primary subject, secondary subject, date. The in-house index can be used to locate photographs by any one of these categories.

Box 3

Primary Subject headings:

1. Activity
2. Artifact
3. Campus Buildings and grounds
4. Event
5. Landscape
6. People

Secondary Subject headings:

1. Activity
2. Campus Buildiings & Grounds
3. Ceremony
4. Event
5. interior
6. Landscape
7. Occupation
8. People
9. Portrait
10. Study

Videotape: Hinton Rural Life Center: History & Purpose

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