History


Howard Kanetzke Historical Display

During the 2019 UCC General Synod meeting delegates and visitors enjoyed viewing an historical timeline of the UCC and Wisconsin UCC history displayed on a large professionally created display board.  The Historical Committee decided to name this display in honor of recently retired committee member Howard Kanetzke, and to make it available in physical and digital form for Wisconsin churches.

Howard served on the Historical Committee for over forty years as its resident historical advisor and expert because of his professional experience as a staff member of the Wisconsin Historical Society and active membership in Community of Hope UCC in Madison. He was a student of church music at Augustana College in Illinois, served as a Chaplains Assistant in the army, and graduated from the UW Madison in history and school curriculum. At the Historical Society he edited Badger History magazines, later booklets, used by fourth graders in Wisconsin schools.  As a member of the Historical Committee Howard served as liaison to the Wisconsin Historical Society as well as editing The Historian’s Handbook, a popular resource for local church historians.

Kanetzke combined his love of history and music by serving his local church and the Conference as accompanist, and by creating and performing programs of Wisconsin historical music with his wife, Lucetta.  Howard’s collection of Wisconsin-oriented sheet music, tapes, vinyl and CD’s became the basis of the Wisconsin Music Archive in the Mills Music Library, UW Madison.

The “Howard Kanetzke UCC Historical Display” has been on tour in the Wisconsin Conference and when the “Safe at Home” restrictions are lifted will once again be available to churches in the Conference. If your congregation is interested in utilizing it, please contact Rev. Scott McLeod to schedule a display time.  In addition, the Historical Committee plans to create an annotated digital document which can be utilized in new member and confirmation classes as well as for general education.

This project was funded by generous donations from the Wisconsin Conference UCC, St. Paul’s UCC in Wausau, First Congregational UCC in Elkhorn and private individuals.

View the Howard Kanetzke Historical Display Here

 

UCC and Wisconsin Conference History

Kay Hallanger, member at First Congregational Church, Baraboo, compiled these informational bulletins to celebrate the past 60 years of the United Church of Christ. In addition to general UCC history, her bulletins address some of the major areas of focus for our conference right now, from a historical perspective: race, gender, immigration and peace. Check them out here>

500th Anniversary of the Reformation Event

James Mohr, chair of the Historical Committee, wrote an article about the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. Check it out here>

Archives and Research

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin Archives house historical material of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ including:

Congregational Church
Evangelical and Reformed Church
United Church of Christ
Church history
Church records
(Name of individual church)

The records were generated by many different church agencies and include minutes, correspondence, reports, scrapbooks, programs, directories, financial records, constitutions and other materials dated from 1839.

If you are interested in researching your church or the United Church of Christ, contact them at:

Address: 816 State Street, Madison WI 53706-1482
Phone: 608-264-6400
Web addresses: Library catalog includes books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers and periodicals madcat.library.wisc.edu

Archive catalog includes church records, papers of individuals and records of organizations
The American Missionary Association (AMA)

Wisconsin Churches on the Eve of the Civil War by the Rev. Ramon R. Hernandez

Records Management For Local Churchees – a guidebook

 


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(608) 846-7880