Ecumenical and Interfaith Archives of Rochester (EIAR)
Biographical/Historical note
The Ecumenical and Interfaith Archives of Rochester (EIAR) has been a cooperative project of the Greater Rochester Community of Churches (GRCC) and its predecessor organizations dating from 1919. The project has served to gather, preserve, organize, and make accessible to the public, for historical research, documents describing mainly the collaborative efforts of Christian churches in Monroe County and vicinity through a local, ecumenical agency. In recent decades the collection has been enlarged to include documentation of interfaith activities, and of other service and advocacy groups in the local religious community.
Scope and Contents
The collection documents collaborative efforts within the religious community to meet human need, achieve mutual understanding, and work for social justice. Concerns addressed have included: hunger, poverty, housing, public education, religious education, family supports, political empowerment, criminal justice, community organization, refugee resettlement, racial justice, and police-community relations.
Initiatives documented by EIAR include:
Church responses to the race riots in Rochester in 1964
Establishment of the Flower City Habitat for Humanity home building program
Monitoring, reporting, and advocacy regarding police-community relations training, particularly regarding interracial understanding
Reports and responses to the Attica Prison Uprising in 1971 (?)
Surveys of living conditions in local prisons and advocacy for improvements
Monitoring and reporting on discriminatory procedures in local courtrooms
Initiation of the Sanctuary Movement in Rochester to oppose American involvement in Central American wars
Development of local activities to support international efforts to overcome Apartheid in South Africa.
Promotion and support of chaplaincy services in Rocheser area college campuses and residential institutions, e.g., hospitals and correctional facilities
Resettlement of refugees from Africa, Asia, Central America, Eastern Europe in Monroe and other counties in western New York.
The collection includes meeting minutes, reports, letters, newsletters, newspaper articles, scrapbooks, and promotional materials.
The EIAR collection was developed, organized, and maintained by The Reverend Lawrence Witmer who had served as Executive Director of Genesee Ecumenical Ministries and the Greater Rochester Community of Churches from 1968-1995. By Deed of Gift in 2011, the GRCC Board of Directors agreed to transfer EIAR to the University of Rochester, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. A gradual transfer began in 2012 and continues in process as of January, 2014.
Items described in the following Finding Aid are available for consultation in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Creator
- Greater Rochester Community of Churches (Organization)
- Ecumenical and Interfaith Archives of Rochester (Organization)
Dates
- Creation: 1918-2009
Language of Materials
English
Extent
124 box(es)
Access
The Ecumenical and Interfaith Archive of Rochester (EIAR) is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.
Use
In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
[Item title, item date], Ecumenical and Interfaith Archives of Rochester (EIAR), D.457, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Arrangement
Boxes 1-3: Federation of Churches of Rochester and Monroe County (FCRMC)
Boxes 4-6: Federation of Churches of Rochester and Vicinity (FCRV)
Boxes 7-12: Rochester Area Council of Churches (RACC)
Boxes 13-17: Rochester Sanctuary Committee (RSC)
Boxes 18-35: Church Women United (CWU)
Boxes 36-41: WELLSPRING (Church Resource Services)
Box 42: Mutuality in Mission (MIM) and Greater Rochester AIDS Interfaith Network (GRAIN)
Box 43: Greater Rochester AIDS Interfaith Network (GRAIN)
Boxes 44-64: Judicial Process Commission (JPC)
Boxes 65-67: Rochester Committee for Justice in South Africa (RCJSA)
Boxes 68-72: Education Resource Network (ERN)
Boxes 73-74: Commission on Interfaith Cooperation (CIC) & Comission on Christian/Jewish Relations (CCJR/CJCR)
Note: This collection has been reprocessed, and the arrangement and container list has changed from what is presented here. Please contact rbks@library.rochester.edu with questions about the collection materials while we are in the process of updating this finding aid.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Ecumenical and Interfaith Archives of Rochester (EIAR)
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
- Date
- undated
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Library Details
Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library