Publications, 1965-1978

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Hinton Rural Life Center was active in the movement to analyze and improve the effectiveness of ministry of and to the small-membership church; and the Center endeavored to define the social and economical needs of the congregation as a part of that ministry. The Hinton directors and staff authorized a number of articles and compiled several larger publications pertaining to this subject. The extant editions of these publications compose the greater part of the series 3.

Newsletters for the years 1974-1978 are also a part of this series, as is a small file containing promotional literature produced during the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. In addition, the series contains some articles and other research materials that were part of the files of Harold McSwain: papers on rural sociology and rural life issues (1950s-1960s); bound editions of papers and articles on Appalachia (1960s); and papers by McSwain’s colleagues concerning multiple staff ministries and small membership churches (1960s-1970s); and a field worker’s notebook of observations of rural church services in the Hinton vicinity (c. 1961).