CENTER FOR THE DOCUMENTATION AND PRESERVATION OF PLACES OF WORSHIP:

The Center for Documentation and Preservation of Places of Worship (formerly the Project to Document Places of Worship) conducted a two-year survey (1988-1990) of historic places of worship in Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing, and Morrison counties in northern Minnesota, and among the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians. The project was funded by the Minnesota Historical Society and the American Association for State and Local History. Marilyn J. Chiat and Carol Frenning of the Center served as project directors.

Information was collected on 425 buildings in the four counties. Survey forms typically include the name of each building's architect or builder, a description of the building, a brief history of the congregation and its building program, a bibliography of photos and documents for research, and any significant artwork in the building. The buildings that were documented were primarily rural houses of worship that represented congregations established by early settlers. In some cases, the worship buildings were the only remnants of these early communities.

The survey work was conducted by local volunteers in association with county historical societies under the supervision of two paid staff members, who trained all the volunteers. A training manual was developed for the volunteers that included sample survey forms, instructions for taking photographs and conducting interviews, sample letters to send to interview subjects and congregations, and a glossary of architectural terms and styles. The project was later allied with the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Minnesota and the Dakotas, and sought funding to expand the geographic scope of its documentation work.

Most of the above information was taken from an article entitled "Documenting Historic Churches and Synagogues: Preservationists Take the Lead in Recording Religious Architecture" by Catherine Goulet of the Philadelphia Historic Preservation Corporation.

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The collection consists of photocopies of data sheets, and related and supporting historical documentation, about places of worship in Cass County, Minnesota. It includes copies of newspaper clippings, published church histories, photographs, correspondence, and notes, memoranda, and miscellaneous papers. There are also photocopies of typewritten notes and narratives made by Kustaaa Lehto, perhaps in the course of his work on the Minnesota Historical Records Survey in the 1930s and 1940s. The material was originally organized into three looseleaf notebooks, which were later disassembled by unknown persons.

Data sheets for active congregations and Sunday Schools ("Form B") give the name of the individual congregation, noting its denomination, ethnic affiliation, and its previous names and the names of predecessor bodies; the current address of the congregation; the name of its clergy; the names of architects and/or contractors involved in the construction of the church building; the dimensions and a description of the building; information about any "significant" art present in the building; information about its organ; and historical notes about the congregation and its building. There is space for noting any "significant" photographs or documents, as well as any other attachments to the original form. The data for some congregations is much more extensive than it is for others. A different form ("Form C") was completed for disbanded congregations and Sunday schools. There are no data sheets for places of worship located in Aitkin, Crow Wing, or Morrison counties, or from the Mille Lacs reservation.

There is also a printed Guide to the Collection (1991), which is essentially a project report for the entire project. It contains summary data tables on religious buildings surveyed in all five of the counties involved in the project and on the Mille Lacs reservation.

This material came to the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections from the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Center for the Documentation and Preservation of Places of Worship Project Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,804

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, March 2004

Catalog ID number: 990028888470104294

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Kustaa Lehto's papers are in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

Reports from other projects undertaken by Chiat and Frenning are in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Bahais -- Minnesota.

Baptists -- Minnesota.

Catholics -- Minnesota.

Church buildings -- Minnesota.

Church work with Indians -- Minnesota.

Congregationalists -- Minnesota.

Episcopalians -- Minnesota.

German Americans -- Minnesota.

Indians -- Minnesota -- Missions.

Lutherans -- Minnesota.

Methodists -- Minnesota.

Missionaries -- Minnesota.

Nazarenes (Church of the Nazarene) -- Minnesota.

Norwegian Americans -- Minnesota.

Ojibwa Indians -- Minnesota -- Missions.

Seventh-Day Adventists -- Minnesota.

Sunday schools -- Minnesota.

Swedish Americans -- Minnesota.

Places:

Cass County (Minn.) -- Church history.

Cass County (Minn.) -- History.

Persons:

Chiat, Marilyn Joyce Segal.

Frenning, Carol.

Lehto, Kustaa.

Organizations:

Ah-Gwah-Ching Nursing Home (Minn.).

American Sunday-School Union.

Assemblies of God -- Minnesota.

Christian and Missionary Alliance -- Minnesota.

Minnesota Historical Society. State Historic Preservation Office.

United Church of Christ -- Minnesota.

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