These oral histories were performed in 38 different community churches in central Minnesota during the late 1970s. Most of the churches are in or around the St. Cloud area or Brainerd between Interstates 94 and 35. Ordinarily, the interviews include the church pastor and several elderly members with long family ties to the church. All the interviews begin with the basic biographical data of the participants including birth dates, the reason their family immigrated to the area and where they came from, length of association with the church, and ethnicity.
The ethnic backgrounds of the congregations and communities are discussed in many of the oral histories. Attention is given to the ethnic foundations of each church. Americanization of the congregation appears to be significant in many of the histories. Frequent mention is made of the efforts and influence of church groups, particularly women’s groups, and the concern over an aging congregation without new members joining. Several interesting anecdotes appear as part of the personal histories, church history, or discussion of the community. The issue of language is particularly noteworthy as almost all the interviews discuss the switch to English from original immigrant languages for Protestant services or from Latin to English for Catholic mass.
Many histories describe the past and present efforts to maintain the church. Early construction, maintaining church membership (particularly youth), splits and conflicts between churches and denominations over doctrine, and how the changes of the 20th century impacted their community and church. Notable accomplishments of the churches are also described including community involvement, ministry and counseling, missionary work both locally and internationally, and continual improvement of facilities. Church association with education is a common topic either as established church or parochial schools, Sunday schools, or as temporary efforts in the early parts of the 20th century.
Transcripts of the interviews are available unless otherwise noted below. The audio tapes for some of these oral histories are presently unavailable. Those histories are mentioned in the individual finding aids below. Most of these histories do have full transcripts available, however. Some folders include photographs of the church, interiors, grounds, and occasionally interview participants.
A question mark (?) for date of death does not necessarily indicate the participant is deceased.
