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Creator
Hoggard, James Clinton
Call number
Sc MG 740
Physical description
7.42 linear feet (8 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], James Clinton Hoggard papers, Sc MG 740, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The James Clinton Hoggard papers reflect Hoggard's professional life, first as pastor of several A.M.E. Zion churches and then as bishop of the Fourth Episcopal District.

Biographical/historical information

James Clinton Hoggard, born in 1910, pastored seven A.M.E. Zion churches before he was elected, in 1952, to administer the Department of Overseas Missions. His duties included the editorship of the Missionary Seer, the official missions monthly publication of the Church. In 1972, Hoggard was elected bishop of the Third, Fourth and Sixth Episcopal Districts, including the Indiana, Kentucky, North Alabama, East-Tennessee-Virginia, Western New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, London-Birmingham (England) and Jamaica Conferences, as well as the Barbados and Bahamas, Guyana (South America) Conferences. He retired from this position in 1992. Hoggard belonged to, and was active, in a myriad of interdenominational, interfaith, interreligious, and intercultural agencies. He died in 2002. Hoggard's wife, Eva Stanton Hoggard, served as Missionary Supervisor of the Women's Home and Overseas Missionary Society; she died in 1997.

Scope and arrangement

The James Clinton Hoggard papers reflect Hoggard's professional life first, as pastor of several A.M.E. Zion churches in New York State and Washington, D.C. in the 1940s and 1950s, and then in 1972, as bishop of the Fourth Episcopal District.

The collection comprises a substantial amount of biographical information. Several folders document Hoggard's pastorship, particularly at the Institutional A.M.E. Zion Church in Yonkers, New York, from 1945-1951. Included are programs for services, minutes of committee meetings, Hoggard's letters to the congregation and correspondence with church officials, newsletters, information regarding activities sponsored by the church, and programs and other documents pertaining to his church's relationship with other churches.

Although there is a limited amount of correspondence, there are letters written by Hoggard as the editor of Missionary Seer, and as the secretary-treasurer of the church in the 1960s. Other correspondence relates to his role as bishop. The collection includes Hoggard's writings, encompassing sermons and eulogies, 1988-2001, and an essay about Paul Robeson. Files also discuss the publication of a book Hoggard wrote commemorating the bicentennial of the founding of the A.M.E. Zion Church, 1996.

Official A.M.E. Zion Church records include programs for memorial services for individual members, programs for services held at individual churches, and copies of deeds for properties owned by the church in Alabama. A few files discuss the A.M.E. Zion's relationships with other churches and organizations.

The bulk of the collection consists of printed material related to district and quadrennial conferences in the geographical area over which Hoggard presided. The material includes reports, programs, addresses, news clippings, minutes, a commemorative scrapbook, and a small amount of correspondence. The Western New York Conference also documents annual pilgrimages to the Harriet Tubman Home and Library in Auburn. The collection concludes with two scrapbooks, one highlighting the activities of Clinton and Eva Hoggard from 1972-1986, and the other commemorates Hoggard's 40th anniversary to the ministry by featuring activities of the Kentucky annual conference in 1982.

The James Clinton Hoggard papers are arranged in two series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Jay and Paul Hoggard in June 2004 and December 2005.

Processing information

Accessioned by Janice Quinter, 2006.

Separated material

Transferred to the General Research and Reference Division: books and periodicals on A.M.E. Zion Church

Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor