Stated Clerk. Notebook, 1896, 1914 General Synods

General Synod. Reformed Church in the United States. The General Synod was formed in 1863 by the union of the Synod (from 1863 called the Eastern Synod) and the Ohio Synod. By action of the General Synod of 1869 the word "German" was dropped from the denomination's name and it became the Reformed Church in the United States. The General Synod was the governing body of the denomination and met every three except for several specially called meetings. Between General Synod meetings, the Executive Committee carried out the work of the church. The denomination was divided into several regional Classes before 1863 and several of these continued while several additional Classes were formed. By 1870 the church had grown and spread to most parts of the United States necessitating a reorganization in order to carry on the work of the denomination down to the local level. As a result, a number of regional synods were formed during the 1870s and a number of the Classes (smaller geographic regions) were realigned or merged. Both the regional synods and the Classes are organized separately with their own record group numbers. The General Synod collection consists of the minutes of the meetings from 1863 through 1934, meetings of the executive committee, minutes of other committees, constitutions, legal records, records of the stated clerk, financial records, correspondence, reports, and denominational record book of ordinations, licentiates, dismissals.