Central Pennsylvania Synodical. History

The Women's Guild was formally constituted on November 5, 1941 at its convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Immediately, the Guild recognized it would depend on the growth and active participation of local church guilds. The local church guilds organized themselves on both a regional and synodical level, the regional being smaller geographic areas and the synodical level corresponding to the synods of the E & R Church. The Women's Guild was active from 1941 until 1963 when it was united with its counterpart in the Congregational Christian Churches under the newly formed Council for Lay, Life and Work of the United Church of Christ. This collection consists of records of many of the synodical guilds and many of the regional guilds. It is organized alphabetically by synodical guilds with each then being sub-divided into its regional guilds. Records usually include minutes, programs, constitutions, financial records, and membership records. The collection is far from complete with few records from the midwest and west. Most complete are the guilds from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina.