Financial Records, Appointments, 1955, 1957

Commission on World Service. World Service in the Evangelical and Reformed Church began as a war emergency program in 1940, continued through World War II and the post-war period as a separate agency in the denomination, and after the 1957 union, became the Service Division of the United Church Board for World Ministries. Records in this accession document the work of the years from 1940 to 1963, with some records through 1976. They were deposited in the archives at some time in the past with some files probably coming directly from the offices of the Commission in St. Louis, while others were apparently sent in 1985 by Dr. Helffrich's widow. To gather these various accessions together the records were reprocessed by the archives staff in 1996 and because of several significant additions since 1996 were again reprocessed in 2014. A group of Reginald Helffrich's (1905-1981) personal papers can be found in Manuscript Collection 006. The collection consists of the minutes of the War Emergency Relief Commission, 1940-1944 and its successor, the Commission on World Service, 1944-1963. Also included are financial records and the files of Rev. Henry Koch, Executive Secretary, 1945-1951 and Rev. Reginald Helffrich, Executive Secretary, 1951-1963. Koch and Helffirch's files contain correspondence and Helffrich's addresses, lectures, reports, and sermons. Also included in this collection are records of the Commission on Post War Service. This commission was authorized by the General Council during its September 1943 meeting. Its primary work focused on studying the anticipated post-war needs of Europe and the E & R Church's missions in Japan and China. Members of the commission included representatives from the General Council, the War Emergency Relief Commission (later called the Commission on World Service), the Commission on Christian Social Action and, after its first meeting of December 17, 1943, representatives from the Board of International Missions and the Board of National Missions. Although not appearing in the minutes of the General Council, this Commission seems to have been merged with the Commission on World Service in 1944 or 1945. Mailings and publicity, including resource materials for local churches, from 1941 through 1961, form another sub-series along with several newsletters. Reports to the regional synods and General Synod as well as travel reports on trips to the various projects world wide date from 1943 through 1969. The Commission, specifically Reginald Helffrich, was instrumental in initiating several projects including Heifer International, Meals for Millions, Share our Surplus (later called Share our Substance), and One Great Hour of Sharing. Minutes, correspondence and promotional materials make up a portion of this collection. Following World War II, the Commission became heavily involved in refugee resettlement, displace persons repatriation, and immigration which is reflected in the files in this collection. A significant portion of the collection consists of files on each country in which the Commission was involved with programs. These are arranged alphabetically by country. The final series consists of files of photographs of many of the projects in which the Commission was involved. Again, these are arranged alphabetically by country.