Descriptive inventory for the Olivet Baptist Church Records, ca. 1942-1972

Provenance statement:

Gift of Rev. Dr. Michael A. Noble, Sr., of Olivet Baptist Church 2000.0196.

Terms governing use:

Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Restriction(s):

Research use of this collection is governed by the standard rules and regulations of the Chicago History Museum, Research Center.

Please cite this collection as:

Olivet Baptist Church (Chicago, Ill.) records (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Related material:

Photos related to Rev. L. K. Williams are found in other collections at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, including Morris Williams family photograph collection (1995.0275) and the Photographs of family and friends of J. LeVelle Williams (1996.0076 ). Other collections related to Olivet Baptist Church include the history of Olivet Baptist Church of Chicago: a saga of a people [videorecording] (call #: 2001.0255 V); the Rev. J. H. Jackson papers; the Rev. J.H. Jackson visual materials (2009.0056.2); the Olivet Baptist Church photograph collection (2000.0196); Rev. J.H. Jackson and Olivet Baptist Church architectural drawings (2009.0056); and correspondence in the Claude A. Barnett papers.

Separated material:

Separated material includes the Olivet Baptist Church photograph collection (2000.0196)

Ledgers, minutes, scrapbooks, correspondence, sermons, and other records of Olivet Baptist Church based at 3101 South King Drive, on Chicago's South Side. The collection includes writings by and about Olivet's famous ministers: Dr. L. K. Williams (1916-1940) and Dr. J. H. Jackson (1941-1990); ledgers listing members; minutes and other records of its missionary efforts, which reached out to other African Americans as well as to African congregations with material, financial, and spiritual aid; Sunday School ledgers; and Deacon's Sick Committee ledgers. Also present are records relating to the periods when Williams and Jackson (1953-1982) served as presidents of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. Scrapbooks especially portray Jackson's varied career and his role as a conservative African American leader during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Olivet Baptist Church (Chicago, Ill.): Olivet Baptist Church was formed when Zoar Baptist Church and Mt. Zion Baptist Church united in 1860. Zoar began in April 1850, when Samuel McCoy, John Larmon, and Sallie Jackson organized the Xenia Baptist Church, shortly renamed Zoar Baptist Church. When Olivet was formed it resided in a building at Harrison Street and Griswald Street (later known as LaSalle Street). This church building was sold in 1883, and Olivet moved to the Dearborn-Polk Street Station. In 1884, the church reincorporated because the original incorporation papers were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In the late 1910s, Olivet rose to national and international prominence as the largest Protestant congregation in the world. In 1918, the congregation moved to its present building at 3101 South King Drive. The church continued to grow during the first half of the 20th century, reaching a membership of 20,000 in 1941. However, starting with the political and social turmoil in the late 1950s, the church suffered marked decline in membership that continued through the 1990s.