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Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota collection, 1875-2002

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-Chu-MN-3

Scope and Contents

The Bethlehem Baptist Church collection spans the dates from 1875 to 2002 with 61 boxes. Notes that were donated with the collection, including contextual documents and inventories, are in a folder called Processing papers.

The Christian Education series contains information about Sunday School classes, Bible study classes, and other forms of Christian education taught through the church. Several ledgers are included in this series, many keeping track of Sunday School attendence.

The Finances series contains many ledgers of financial information. Records from the Board of Trustees are kept in a sub-series. The Education Building sub-series covers the 1940s and 1950s and holds information about funding the construction of an expansion to the building. Checks and receipt information is included in this series, with many loose checks and receipts from different purchases also.

The Thanksgiving series consists of six large folders of compiled Thanksiging prayers from congregation members from the years 1981 to 1986.

The Glada Budskapet series holds records from the Good Tidings Society, which was a young women's missionary group at the church. The Ebenezer Society was also a women's missionary society at Bethlehem, but aimed for women older than the members of the Glada Budskapet, which had branched out of the Ebenezer Society. The ledgers in both series primarily deal with financial records and meeting minutes.

The Directories also hold the church financial reports. This series contains a mostly full run of annual directories between 1900 and the 1950s, with a few missing issues. There are some in later years as well, but with more missing issues.

The video "Glory Days: Rememberances of the Old Sancuary" is on VHS and has not been digitized. The tape also contains "When Swedish Was the Language of Heaven: First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis 1871-1945." There are also two silent films by Wilford Anderson from 1941 and 1946 on the tape, originally from 16mm film. The films show Anton Sjolund, Elsie Viren, Elliot Park neighborhood prior to the freeway construction, and youth outreach during the 1940s.

The Annual Reports series spans from 1932 to 1997, with the exceptions of 1940-1952, 1959, 1979, and 1989.

Education for Exultation: A Vision of the People of Bethlehem Baptist Church is a binder from about 2000 holding material regarding the vision for the future of religious education and mission at Bethlehem and the education building.

Daughter churches of Bethlehem include Edgewater Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Ham Lake Baptist Church, Berean Baptist Church in Burnsville, Minnehaha Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Elim Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Oak Hill Baptist Church in Columbia Heights. Nokomis Baptist Church was absorbed into Bethlehem. Two binders of material from Ham Lake Camp are included in this series.

The Bethel Baptist Church series contains information from Bethlehem's daughter church Bethel in Minneapolis, spanning 1896 to 1961. The majority of the series is made up of church ledgers. The Calls sub-series consists of two ledgers recording house calls made by church staff. Membership was listed on card files, as well as in a ledger. The Finances sub-series kept track of the various church funds, primarily during the 1940s and 1950s. The Minutes sub-series recorded meeting minutes for the church's organizations. Bethel printed its church services and news on a bulletin, later officially named the Bethel Bulletin. The Bethelite newlsetter was a monthly newsletter from the church during the 1950s. The Calendar and Yearbooks are small booklets for the church, containing member information and short organizational reports. Edith Lindberg wrote a weekly newsletter to Bethel members in the military during World War II, starting in 1942 and ending in 1945. Two folders of loose papers related to Bethel Baptist Church contain information such as programs, newspaper clippings, and memos. One folder of loose papers from other institutions and topics is also included, containing bulletins from other churches, Bethel Seminary and College, Baptist General Conference meetings, and ephemera. The photographs sub-series hold folders of pastor portraits, pictures of Edith Lindberg's 90th birthday, Bethel reunions, displays at Bethlehem, and long rolled photographs of the congregation. Finally, there is a black metal embosser stamp for the church.

The World War II series consists mostly of correspondence with servicemen. Many of these letters were to Elsie Viren in the church office. There are also lists of members and their addresses, used to keep track of where to send correspondences to from the church. Many newsletters are included, especially Good News newsletter, specifically from Bethlehem to their members. The services folder hold mostly bulletins from church services, including some memorial services for dead servicemen. The photographs are mostly of unidentified servicemen. The series also holds two banner flags, one with the number of servicement and the number of gold stars represented at the church, the other with individual stars representing each serviceman. Bethlehem Baptist had five gold stars amongst their members, or men killed in the war.

Military information from the Korean and Vietnam conflict eras are represented in two folders, consisting mostly of correspondence with Elsie Viren, but also lists of servicemen and other ephemera.

Elsie Viren kept many church records during her time working as Church Missionary at Bethlehem Baptist Church, which are kept in the series under her name. The Corresponce sub-series is filled with various letters, mostly to Viren, but some between other correspondents, including Pastor Anton Sjolund. The Dear readers/friends newsletter was written and sent to subscribers by Viren for several decades until her retirement. Other church secretaries continued to send out the newsletter in Elsie's name during the late 1980s. The Funeral Bulletins consist of obituaries, bulletins for funerals and memorial services, and some death notifications from church members. The Missions sub-series holds correspondence and newsletters from missionaries and mission organizations. The Lee and Ida Lovegren files detail their work in China, as well as Lee's imprisonment under the communist government. One missionary family, the Stauffers, were victims of kidnapping, and their mission file contains news clippings of the event. Several files from Odette McAviney, church employee and friend of Viren, are kept in this series, containing correspondence, cards, and other things kept by McAviney, and photographs featuring former sunday school students. The Religious Education subseries holds materials involving Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, bus records from Bible school, and other adult education classes. Several files document the work of the Constitutional Committee during the mid-1940s, which revised and developed the church constitution, by-laws, and discussed changing the name from First Swedish to Bethlehem. Various anniversary celebration documents are kept from important church anniversaries from 1931 to 1961. The Membership sub-series holds three membership books recording members names and addresses, as well as several folders letters to confirm or request membership.

The Missions series holds several issues of "Missions in Minnesota", a publication of the Baptist General Conference, from the 1950s. There are four notebooks of meeting minutes from Bethlehem's Mission Board, dating from the 1940s and 1950s. One file deals with the Missionary Council of Women, containing meeting minutes and the organization's constitution. The Kachin file is from the Burma Mission Station in Bhamo, and has missionary correspondence, especially from Ola Hanson. It also holds documentation of Bethlehem's relation with the Kachin Baptist Convention.

The Esther Nelson series covers her mission work in Sichuan, China. The majority of this series consists of artifacts from her time abroad, with one box dedicated to documents and papers. There are many textiles in the series, including embroidered clothing, table linens, and different national flags. A box of shoes holds wooden platform shoes and clogs, and small children's slippers. The scrolls are mostly wall hangings of various forms of artwork, including painting and embroidery. One painting was done for Nelson by artist Chen depicting his emotion under Japanese occupation. Various other artifacts include handheld fans, a handheld scale, a gong, chopsticks, bamboo flutes, small doll-like figures, and an abacus. Several glazed pottery figures and dishes are included. A long snakeskin, skinned from the snake, is also in the collection, identified as a python by Bethel's biology department.

Dates

  • 1875 - 2002

Creator

Conditions Governing Use

The letters between Esther Nelson and Elsie Viren are marked "publication restricted" on the notes that came with the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

The video "Glory Days: Remeberances of the Old Sanctuary" is on VHS only and has not been digitized. The History Center does have a VCR player to play this video. The LP "Inspiration at Bethlehem" must be accessed at the Bethel University Library, as the History Center does not have a record player.

Historical Note

Bethlehem Baptist Church was organized in 1871 as First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis with 22 charter members. In the 1880s, the church bought a building on 8th Street and 13th Avenue. In 1893, services in English were offered, with Swedish services discontinued in the 1930s. Education space was expanded in 1955 and 2003, and a new church building was added in 1991.

Bethel Baptist Church was a daughter church of Bethlehem. It began as Bethel Mission in 1883, sponsored by First Swedish Baptist Church. After meeting in homes, they rented a vacand feed store on East 25th Street and 26th Avenue South. In 1887, they built a church on East 25th Street and 29th Avenue South. They built another church at East 24th Street and 28th Avenue South in 1912. They rebuilt the front of the church in 1953. It merged with Bethlehem in 1961.

Biographical History

Elsie Viren began working at Bethlehem in 1929, under pastor Anton Sjolund. As "Church Missionary", she administered the church office, taught Junior High Christian Instruction Class, corresponded with members, and worked in the ministry of visitation. In 1992, she ended her church work when she moved into Augustana Home. She died in 1993.

Esther Nelson was born in 1890 in Blekinge Lan, Sweden. She immigrated to Minnesota in 1893, where she attended First Swedish Baptist Church, now Bethlehem Baptist. She attended Bethel Academy, then trained as a nurse at Swedish Hospital. In 1924, she became a missionary in Sichuan, China. Between 1924 and 1945, she was a nurse and medical educator in Baptist hospitals in Chengdu, Yibin, and Ya'an. By 1935, she cared for many wounded during the fighting between Nationalist and Mao's forces. In 1947, she moved to Huili to work with the Nosu. In 1950, the communists forced the missionaries out of the country. During her time in China, she experienced political upheaval, war, and regime change. She lived in Minneapolis until her death in 1974.

Extent

75.5 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Swedish

Arrangement

This collection is arranged by the series in which the collection was donated. The order of folders and items within folders retain the donated order when possible. Some documents and folders were rearranged when no clear arrangement was present.

Within the Elsie Viren series, the correspondence files are primarily alphabetical by last name when known, as are the funeral bulletins. The Dear readers/friends newsletters are chronological, reflecting the donated order. The Missions sub-series is organized first be last name of the missionary, then by the name of the location for material from missionaries who do not have their own folder. After that are different mission organizations, and finally other mission topic files. The Anniversaries folders are chronological. According to a note at the time of donation, the folders had been disordered during the move from her office to the church archives before their donation the the History Center.

The World War II correspondences were rearranged into mostly chronological order. The military information from the 1950s and 1960s were removed from the World War II series during processing.

Custodial History

The Bethlehem Baptist Church collection was created and maintained by the church, church members, and missionaries. In Spring 2002, the collection was donated to the History Center at Bethel in a series of transfers from Carrie Zeman, Bethlehem church historian. A portion of other materials was donated to the Minnesota Historical Society by Bethlehem around the same time.

The Bethel Baptist Church series was created and kept by the church until it merged with its mother church, Bethlehem Baptist Church. At this point, the material was kept at Bethlehem. Bethel Baptist Church photographs were wrapped in newspaper from June 1996.

Related Materials

The Minnesota Historical Society also holds an archival collection from Bethlehem Baptist Church. Bethel received all Elsie Viren's papers except the visitation cards, which was donated by Bethlehem to MHS due to its genealogical information. View the finding aid.

Author Joann Pittman went to China in to research Esther Nelson. She published a related book The Bells are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China.

Title
Bethlehem Baptist Church collection, 1875-2002
Author
Rebekah Bain
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the The History Center: Archives of Bethel University and Converge Repository

Contact:
3900 Bethel Drive
Arden Hills MINNESOTA 55112 United States