2 linear feet

NOTE: A paper copy of the finding aid, with container list, is available at the Atlanta University Center Archives for in-house consultation and may be obtained for a fee.

The First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Atlanta, Georgia, is the second oldest Black Congregational Church in the United States. The Church was an outgrowth of missionary efforts to educate the newly freed slaves after the Civil War. With financial assistance from the First Orthodox Congregational Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, the American Missionary Association (AMA) established the Storrs School in Atlanta. The school was a center of social services, educational classes, and worship for Freedmen and their children. Inspired by the worship services offered at the Storrs School, the ex-slaves petitioned for a church of their own. On May 22, 1867 a committee affiliated with the school voted to organize a Congregational Church. The first church service was held the following week, May 26, in the chapel of the Storrs School and conducted by Reverend Erastus M. Cravath, then Secretary of the AMA, and later a founder of Atlanta University and first President of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The collection spans the period 1867-1999, with the bulk dating 1982-1993. The majority of the collection is programs from worship services. Also, there are programs of funeral services, events, and church anniversaries; annual and financial reports; and correspondence, memoranda, agendas, and minutes from committee meetings. Most notable in the collection is a bound volume entitled "Records of the First Congregational Church of Atlanta, Ga." This handwritten volume chronicles the early history of the Church from 1867-1882 and includes minutes, and lists of members, baptisms, marriages, and deaths.

For more information about the First Congregational Church, Atlanta, GA, view their website:

http://www.firstchurchatlanta.com/.

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