Baptist Associations of Connecticut collection
Scope and Content
The collection consists of published annual meeting minutes and sunday school convention minutes of the Ashford Baptist Association, Danbury Baptist Association, Fairfield County Baptist Association, Hartford Baptist Association, Litchfield Baptist Association, New Haven Baptist Association, New London Baptist Association, Stonington Baptist Association, Stonington Union Baptist Association, Otsego Baptist Association (New York), Shaftsbury Baptist Association, and unidentified minutes. The published annual meeting minutes generally contain the associations constitution, articles of faith, rules of order, delegates, resolutions, sermon, and correspondence from member churches and other associations. The sunday school convention minutes generally contain convention notes and programs. The circulation of published meeting minutes was common between Baptist associations of Connecticut and out of state Baptist associations such as Otsego and Shaftsbury.
Dates
- 1793-1957
Language of Materials
The records are in English.
Restrictions on Access
Restrictions on Use
See the Reproduction and Publications of State Library Collections policy.
Historical Note
The Ashford Baptist Association was established in 1824.
The Danbury Baptist Association was established in 1789-1790 and was renamed the Hartford Baptist Association in 1813.1
The Fairfield County Baptist Association was established on February 20, 1838 with delegates from nine churches meeting in Weston, Connecticut. The delegates agreed on a constitution and articles of faith which were referred to the member churches for there approval. On October 16, 1838 the delegates, appointed by the member churches, convened in Weston where the body adopted the constitution, rules of order, and the articles of faith. The ten original founding churches of the association were Stratfield, 1st Stamford, 1st Danbury, 2nd Danbury, Newtown, 2nd Stamford, Weston, Reading, Norwalk, and Bridgeport.2
The Hartford Baptist Association was established on September 29, 1790 under the Danbury Baptist Association. The thirteen original founding churches of the Danbury Baptist Association were Watertown, Farmington, Wallingford, Torrington, Canaan, Stratfield, Warren, Suffield, 1st Danbury, 2nd Danbury, South Britain, 1st Westfield, and Amenia Town. In 1813 the name was changed to the Hartford Baptist Association because the two Danbury churches had left the association. The Hartford Association in 1813 consisted of 29 member churches. A new constitution and stronger articles of faith were adopted and printed in the minutes in 1818 for approval by member churches. The constitution and articles of faith were not adopted by the member churches until 1821. In 1825 the association received and grated a request from nine member churches to be dismissed in order to form the New Haven Association. The association in 1825 consisted of 32 churches and in 1889 consisted of 25 churches.3
The Litchfield Baptist Association was established in 1845.
The New Haven Baptist Association was founded in 1825 by nine former member churches of the Hartford Baptist Association. The association increased from nine to thirty nine member churches from 1825 to 1925.4
The New London Baptist Association was established in 1817.
The Stonington Baptist Association was established in 1772.
The Stonington Union Baptist Association was founded in 1817.
Endnotes
- 1Note from A. E. Beuedies(?), undated, box 1, folders 16-18, Baptist Associations of Connecticut, RG 070:083, Connecticut State Library.
- 2Minutes of the First Session of the Fairfield Co. Baptist Association held with the Baptist Church in Weston, October 16th and 17th, 1838, box 1, folder 19, Baptist Associations of Connecticut, RG 070:083, Connecticut State Library.
- 3Minutes of the Hartford Baptist Association, Centennial Number, Held with Second Suffield Church, October 9th-11th, 1889, Hartford: Case, Lockwood, and Brainard Company, p. 12-20, box 3, folder 16, Baptist Associations of Connecticut, RG 070:083, Connecticut State Library.
- 4Minutes of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the New Haven Baptist Association, Incorporated, held at the Wallingford Baptist Church, October 7, 1925, p. 18-33, box 6, folder 5, Baptist Association of Connecticut, RG 070:083, Connecticut State Library.
Extent
3.5 cubic feet
Abstract
Collected published annual meeting minutes and Sunday school convention minutes from Baptist Associations of Connecticut. The collection contains the following Baptist associations minutes: Ashford, Danbury, Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, New Haven, New London, Stonington, Stonington Union, Otsego (New York), and Shaftsbury.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by association and then chronologically.
Provenance
The Baptist associations collection was combined with the Danbury Baptist Association collection under accession 2008-031. The Baptist Associations of Connecticut collection was donated by the American Baptist Churches of Connecticut to the State Library in 2008.
Processing Information
State Library staff processed the collection from 2008-2010
- Ashford (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Baptists -- Connecticut -- Periodicals Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Danbury (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Fairfield County (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Fairfield County Baptist Association (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Hartford (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Hartford Baptist Association Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Litchfield (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Minutes Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- New Haven (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- New London (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Periodicals Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Stonington (Conn.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Stonington Union Association Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- RG 070:083, Baptist Associations of Connecticut
- Subtitle
- Inventory of Collection
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Allen Ramsey.
- Date
- 2010
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Connecticut State Library Repository
