Rich, Mark Papers
Content Description
Personal papers of Mark Rich, much about rural life and churches. There are also materials for son Charles M. Rich. Other family members may be added later.
Dates
- Creation: 1903-1977
Creator
- Rich, Mark (Person)
Language of Materials
Almost all of the materials within this collection are in English, though there are a couple of exceptions.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and copyright holder. Staff may refuse copying of fragile or at-risk materials.
Materials may be accessed by request at the American Baptist Historical Society. For more information on accessing collections or obtaining copies, visit http://abhsarchives.org.
Biographical / Historical
Mark Rich was born in Salem, Oregon and was baptised at nine years old in the Bethel Baptist Church of Salem. He graduated from Linfield College and Colgate Rochester Divinity School and received an MA and PhD from Cornell, majoring in rural sociology.
He was pastor of the First Baptist Church, Groton, New York for ten years. During that time, he received the Rosa O. Hall award for outstanding rural ministry. For a period of 14 years, he was Secretary of Town and Country Work for ABC USA. He was instrumental in the organization of the Rural Chruch Center at the American Baptist Assembly, Green Lake, Wisconsin. From 1952 to 1961, he was professor at the Missouri School of Religion at Columbia, Missouri. It was during this time that he was asked to inititate a program of continuing education for the clergy. In 1953 he led a rural churchman's tour in France, Germany and Switzerland, and again in 1965 made extensive observations of lay and clergy training programs in Europe.
In 1961 he became the Director of Continuing Education of ABC USA. In 1966 he was "loaned" to the Pacific Northwest Council on Theological Education to be its founding director. Mark returned to the home of his childhood in the Orenco area, anticipating his retirement at the end of 1967, but he passed away in April 1967.
Text from Rich's memorial service program, part of the collection.
Extent
10.4 Linear Feet (25 boxes, 20 loose volumes, rolled items)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Kikue Rich 2016 and 2017.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Head of Archives and Special Collections Jill Sweetapple. The first series is made of items that were in notebooks. Documents were removed and put into acid-free file folders, retaining any titles that were included. The rest of the collection, beginning with Box 6, contain Mark Rich’s filing system, which has been retained wherever possible. Some folders were replaced. Some folders were added to loose materials found in between folders, and an attempt has been made to choose a title that seems appropriate.
Sometimes the titles on notebooks or on file folders do not seem to reflect the materials inside.
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the American Baptist Historical Society Repository
3001 Mercer University Drive
Atlanta GA 30341-4115 USA
678.547.6680
678.547.6682 (Fax)
ABHSoffice@ABHSarchives.org