Overview of the Collection
Austin History Center, Austin Public Library,
810 Guadalupe, PO BOX 2287, Austin, TX 78768
Schmidt, Bruno C., Reverend
Reverend Bruno C. Schmidt Papers
1867-2002
1.35 linear feet (3 boxes)
Austin-area Reverend Bruno C. Schmidt was a Methodist minister who was involved in various local historical societies. The collection highlights his interest in Methodism and its impact on local history.
AR.2005.039
The records are in English.
Biographical Note
Austin-area Reverend Bruno C. Schmidt's love of the past led him to volunteer for various local historical societies while fulfilling his daily duties as a Methodist minister. Rev. Schmidt served as associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Austin from 1965 until his retirement in 1979. Since then he has held the position Pastor Emeritus. During his career as a minister, he performed double duty as chairman on the Southwest Texas Conference Historical Commission of the United Methodist Church, the Texas United Methodist Historical Society and Travis County Historical Commission.
During his tenure at the Southwest Texas Conference Historical Commission, of which he was chairman for four years, Rev. Schmidt played an integral role in the declaration of Rutersville College and Oak Island as Methodist historical landmarks. He offered advice on the process for other Methodist markers at La Villita in Bexar County and Fredericksburg College. Rev. Schmidt solicited and received correspondence pertaining to the founding of churches in Texas by Methodist circuit riders and served as a resource for others on this subject. Rev. Schmidt helped create the Texas United Methodist Historical Society and subsequently filled the role of editor for its yearly newsletter the Texas Methodist Historical News for 15 years. In 1984, Schmidt accepted an appointment to the Travis County Historical commission and served as chairman.
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, minutes & proceedings, printed materials, financial documentation, photographic material, legal & legal-style documentation, and creative works compose the materials created and maintained by Reverend Bruno C. Schmidt. The bulk of the materials concern Schmidt's time spent as Chairman of the Southwest Texas Conference Commission on Archives and History. Well represented are materials regarding historic marker declarations for Rutersville (91 items) and Oak Island (52 items). Rev. Schmidt received brief early histories of Methodist churches in Texas (180 items). Materials are not as strong in the series for the First United Methodist Church, Texas United Methodist Historical Society, and the Travis County Historical Commission. Items of interest in the First United Methodist Church of Austin series include heated correspondence about the Hispanic Caucus of the United Methodist Church (4 items). Other items of interest are three items concerning the Pre-Conference Task Force on Homosexuality in the Southwest Texas Methodist Conference series (4 items). In addition, the Methodism series contains a February 15, 1851 edition of the "The Methodist Protestant" published by Methodist Protestant Church in Baltimore, MD. Limited amounts of obituary notices (5 items) and genealogical information (6 items) document area Methodists. In addition to early church histories, the papers contain bulletins for Texas churches of a contemporary and commemorative anniversary nature (35 items). The Personal series shows a small window into Schmidt's religious mindset in the creative works subseries with notes for a Bethel evangelism class and an archives clinic.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 8 series:
- I. Southwest Texas Conference Commission on Archives & History
- II. Southwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church
- III. United Methodist Church-National
- IV. First United Methodist Church
- V. Texas United Methodist Historical Society
- VI. Travis County Historical Commission
- VII. Methodism
- VIII. Personal
Separated Material
General Collection
- Beaman, Margarine G., ed. Our Ethnic History. Austin: Travis County Historical Commission, 1998.
- Morrow, Rosemary, ed. Our Ethnic History Austin: Travis County Historical Commission, 2003.
- Koenig, Robert J. Pause to Ponder: A History of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in Texas. Texas: Texas District, The Lutheran Church, 1980.
- Owens, Mulkey. Methodist Church Historical Marker Texts in Texas. Austin: Travis County Historical Association, 1988.
Austin Files
- Texas Land Office materials transferred to AF L1300 Land Office
Deaccessioned
- Our Ethnic History. Austin: Travis County Historical Commission, 1997, 2001, 2002.(copies already in the collection)
- Agnew, Theodore L. The South Central Jurisdiction 1939-1972: A Brief History and Interpretation. Oklahoma City: The United Methodist Church Commission on Archives and History, 1973.
- Blinn Memorial College materials transferred to Blinn College Library, Brenham, TX.
Related Material
Index Terms
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Persons:
Schmidt, Bruno C., Reverend
Organizations:
First United Methodist Church (Austin, Tex.)
Southwest Texas Conference Historical Commission.
Texas United Methodist Historical Society.
Travis County Historical Commission (Tex.)
Rutersville College.
La Villita.
Fredericksburg College.
Oak Island Methodist Church.
Places:
Austin (Tex.)
Subjects:
Methodist Church--Texas--Austin.
Methodism
Travis County (Tex.)--History.
Austin (Tex.)--History.
Document Types:
Correspondence
Photographs
Financial documents
Newspaper clippings
Printed materials
Legal documents
Creative works
Meeting minutes
Restrictions on Access
Open to all users.
Restrictions on Use
None.
Preferred Citation
Reverend Bruno C. Schmidt Records (AR.2005.039). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Acquisition Information
Donor #: DO/1977/107
Donation Date: 2005
Processing Information
Initial inventory created by Angelica Degado & Lauren Goodley/2006. Encoding and finding aid updates by Molly Hults/2009 October.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Southwest Texas Conference Commission on Archives & History,
1965-1980, undated
Markers,
1965-1976, undated
Rutersville-Fayette County,
1965-1976, undated
1
1
General,
undated
1
2
Correspondence,
1965-1976
1
3
Printed material,
1971, undated
1
4
Legal and legal-style documents,
1969-1971, undated
1
5
Financial documents,
1971
1
6
Photographs,
undated
Oak Island and La Villita - Bexar County,
1968-1971
1
7
Historical,
undated
1
8
Correspondence,
1968-1971, undated
1
9
Printed material,
1969, 1971, undated
1
10
Legal and legal-style documents,
1969, undated
1
11
Fredericksburg,
1971-1976, undated
Administrative files,
1967-1980
1
12
Correspondence,
1967-1980
1
13
Minutes and agendas,
1968-1972
1
14
Financial documents,
1967-1972
1
15
Creative works,
undated
II. Southwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church,
1964-1972, undated
1
16
"Southwest Texas Methodist Conference News" newsletters,
1964-1967
1
17
Annual conference,
1971, 1972
III. United Methodist Church - National,
1969-2001
2
1-2
Commission on archives & history newsletters and directories,
1969-2001
2
3
South Central Jurisdiction newsletters and minutes,
1969-1971
IV. First United Methodist Church,
1923-2001, undated
2
4
Historical,
1923, undated
2
5
Correspondence,
1969-2001
2
6
General,
1983-1997, undated
2
7
Printed material,
1984-1985, undated
qAR
01/18/005-006
Oversized printed material,
1983-1984
2
8
Agenda and calendar,
1983, undated
V. Texas United Methodist Historical Society,
1979-2002, undated
2
9
Constitution,
1980
2
10
General,
1979-2002
2
11
Correspondence,
1982-2002
2
12
Minutes, agendas and proceedings,
1983-1984
2
13
Treasurer's reports,
1982-1983
VI. Travis County Historical Commission,
1982-2004, undated
2
14
Correspondence,
1982-2004
2
15
Minutes and agendas,
1984-2004
2
16
Printed material,
1989, 1996, undated
VII. Methodism,
1851-2002
In Texas,
1851-2002
3
1
Church histories,
1851-1975
3
2
General and historical,
1867-1999
3
3-4
Commemorative church bulletins,
1934-1936, 1972-2001
3
5
General printed materials,
1972-2002
National,
1882-2002, undated
3
6
Printed materials,
1970-2002
qAR
01/18/007
Oversized printed materials,
1851 February 15
3
7
Photographs,
undated
VIII. Personal,
1969-2001, undated
3
8
Printed materials,
1969-1992
3
9-11
Creative works,
1971-1974, undated
3
12
Genealogies,
1984-2000, undated
3
13
Obituaries,
1970-2001