Howard Center for the Family, Religion, and Society Records (Rockford)

Collection

Identifier: RHC-RC-238

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society records date from 1956 to present and are divided into nine series: General Administrative Records, Ingersoll Prize Records, Publications, Conferences, Public Relations Records, The Center on Religion and Society Records, John Howard Papers, Allan Carlson Papers, and Michael Warder Papers. A majority of the records document the history of The Rockford Institute rather than The Howard Center. The General Administrative Records series includes information on the creation of The Rockford Institute, Board and Executive Committee meeting minutes, annual reports, financial statements, and fifth and tenth anniversary files. Series II, Ingersoll Prize Records, consists of objectives and purpose statements, press packets and newspaper clippings, correspondence, programs, biographies and publications, and other information pertaining to the prize winners. The Publication series contains the publications of The Rockford Institute including: The Chronicles of Culture, The Family in America, Main Street Memorandum, Persuasion at Work, The Religion and Society Report, The Encounter Series, and This World. Also included are general articles on The Rockford Institute and publications by The Rockford Institute staff members: Harold O.J. Brown, Christopher Check, Bryce Christensen, Thomas Fleming, Leopold Tyrmand, Richard John Neuhaus, and Theodore Pappas. Series IV includes information on conferences sponsored by The Rockford Institute. This information includes conference development, arrangements, participants lists, correspondence, and presenter’s papers. The fifth series consists of files from the Public Relations Office. The files, arranged alphabetically, include records kept by Katie Pauley, Matthew Kaufman, and Carole Lax with the majority from Pauley. Included in this series are meeting and conference, correspondence, and publication files. Series VI contains records generated by The Center on Religion and Society. A majority of the files consist of conference and consultation information containing correspondence, presenter’s papers and lectures. An addendum was added to this series at a later date and includes two subseries: Paul Stallsworth Files and This World Files. The John Howard Papers series is divided into four subseries: Personal and Business Records, Publications and Speeches, Correspondence, and Radical Left Research Material. The Personal and Business subseries consists of two Rockford College histories, correspondence and memorandums from Rockford College while the Institute was still located on the campus, folders on Howard’s 10th anniversary celebration and Horatio Alger Awards, and information on organizations involved with and conferences attended by Howard. Subseries B and C include publications, speeches, and correspondence created by John Howard. The last subseries, Radical Left Research Material, consists of information collected by Howard. The material documents his interest in countering the counter culture which rose to prominence in America in the sixties. The subseries contains The Berkeley Barb, The Guardian, and In These Times publications. Additional material will be added at a later date. The addendum transferred from the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming includes John Howard papers consisting of his publications, correspondence, and subject files. Arranged alphabetically, the majority of the material pertains to his research into Federal Aid in Higher Education. The subject files contain addresses, essays, lectures, correspondence, financial records, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, notes, pamphlets, periodicals, and photographs. The pamphlets include booklets, brochures, fact sheets, and leaflets. The Allan Carlson Papers series is divided into five subseries: Business Records, Fundraising, Publications and Speeches, Conferences and Meetings, and Correspondence. The Business Records subseries includes annual report and publishing information. Subseries B, Fundraising, includes files pertaining to Carlson’s involvement with donors. The last three subseries contain publications, speeches, conferences, meetings, and correspondence created by Allan Carlson. Included in the Correspondence subseries are folders containing letters written from and to other staff members. An addendum was added to this series at a later date and includes another subseries, National Commission on Children. The Michael Warder Papers series is divided into four subseries: Business Records, Fundraising, Publications and Speeches, and Correspondence. The Business Records subseries is arranged alphabetically and includes material that Warder used while working for The Rockford Institute. This subseries includes correspondence, annual reports, and information on board meetings, management retreats, and lectures. The fundraising subseries consists of files pertaining to Warder’s involvement with donors. The last two subseries consist of publications, speeches, and correspondence created by Michael Warder. Contained in the Correspondence subseries are letters, memorandums, and faxes written by and to Warder. Also included in the correspondence subseries are folders containing letters written from and to other staff members

Dates

created: 1911+
Other: Date acquired: 04/13/1999

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on access to the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights in the collection belong to the Regional History Center; literary rights are dedicated to the public.

Biographical or Historical Information

The Rockford Institute, a conservative think tank located in Rockford, Illinois, was founded in June 1976 by John A. Howard then President of Rockford College. It was established to promote the cultural values and beliefs which encourage responsible citizenship and freedom. The Institute was located on Rockford College’s campus under the name of The Rockford College Institute with Howard becoming full time Director in July 1977. In August 1976, Leopold Tyrmand was hired as the Associate Director and the first full time employee. Together with Howard, Tyrmand published the Chronicles of Culture, The Rockford Papers, and Persuasion at Work and hosted several conferences. The first conference, held in September 1977 and entitled “Capitalism and Culture,” attempted to bring positive changes in American society and provide an educational forum in which key issues could be debated through scholarly discourse. In June 1978, a second conference, “Corporate Responsibility,” considered various militant demands which most companies did not know how to handle. In June 1979, the Institute hosted a third conference entitled “The Family: America’s Hope.” This conference focused upon the concerns of the American family. In February 1980, The Rockford College Institute received its charter from the State of Illinois. Now independent of Rockford College, the name was changed to The Rockford Institute and moved off campus to 928 North Main Street. The first Board of Directors was established in September 1980 and included Robert Krieble, Ed Meyer, Clyde Sluhan, Fred Wacker, John Howard with Clayton Gaylord as chair. Allan Carlson joined the staff in July 1981 as Executive Vice President. The Rockford Institute became internationally known with its conference in Frankfurt, Germany entitled, “For Your Freedom and Ours” held on November 18-20, 1982. In 1983, The Ingersoll Milling Machine Company of Rockford, arranged, under a management contract, to have The Rockford Institute conduct the work of its corporate foundation. John Howard became President of the Ingersoll Foundation. The Foundation Directors approved Leopold Tyrmand’s proposal to present annual prizes to scholars and authors whose works reflect “... the creative articulation of permanent values–truth, faith, integrity, reason, conscience, tradition–rendered with merit in works of art or intellect.” Tyrmand was named Executive Secretary of The Ingersoll Awards. Two awards, The T.S. Eliot Award for creative writing and the Richard M. Weaver Award for scholarly letters were presented annually beginning in 1983. The Rockford Institute created The Center on Religion and Society under the directorship of Reverend John Richard Neuhaus in January 1984. The Center on Religion and Society was established to encourage the reestablishment of religiously grounded values as the basis for private and public decision making. Headquartered in New York, the Center hosted “The Erasmus Lectures,” and published The Religion and Society Report. The Center also mounted a series of conferences, the speeches presented at them being published by Eerdmans, in a number of books entitled “The Encounter Series.” In 1984 Thomas Fleming joined the staff. He became the editor of the Chronicles of Culture in 1985 after the death of Leopold Tyramand, and soon changed the periodical’s name to Chronicles. Michael Warder joined the staff in 1985 as Director of Public Affairs later becoming Executive Vice President. Howard retired as president August 1, 1986, and became counselor to The Rockford Institute and continued as President of the Ingersoll Foundation. Allan Carlson became President of The Rockford Institute while Norman McClelland succeeded Clayton Gaylord as chairman of the Board Directors of The Rockford Institute. The Center on the Family in America was established under the temporary directorship of Allan Carlson. The Center on the Family in America sought to continue the scholarly work of The Rockford Institute in providing research supporting the family unit within American society. A conflict between Neuhaus and The Rockford Institute resulted in the releasing of Neuhaus as the director of The Center on Religion and Society in 1989. The office moved to Deerfield, Illinois, under the directorship of Harold O.J. Brown. The Rockford Institute split for philosophical and practical reasons in 1997. In October of that year, the Board of Directors of The Rockford Institute unanimously voted to divide The Institute into two separate corporate entities, creating a new one, The Howard Center on Family, Religion and Society. Thomas Fleming became President of The Rockford Institute and continued to publish the Chronicles and administer the Ingersoll Prizes. Carlson, former president of the Rockford Institute, became the President of The Howard Center on Family, Religion, and Society. The Center, named for the founder of The Rockford Institute John Howard, “endeavors to reinforce the family as the first and irreplaceable social unit, to renew the religious foundations of virtue and liberty and to restore the education of the young in the duties and responsibilities incumbent on free men and women.” The Howard Center incorporated The Center on Religion and Society directed by Harold O.J. Brown and took over the publication of both The Religion and Society Report and The Family in America. The World Congress of Families, inaugurated in 1997, also became a Center project. Int 1998, Dr. Robert Preston, President of Belmont Abey College in North Carolina, was named the successor to Tom Fleming as Executive Secretary of the Ingersoll Prizes and in 1999, a decision was made to increase the Prize Honorarium to $25,000 and discontinue the T.S. Eliot Prize for scholarly letters. John Howard continues as President of The Ingersoll Foundation. Norman McClelland served as president of both Boards of Directors for one year to ease the transition. The Rockford Institute continues to be housed at 928 N. Main Street and The Howard Center on Family, Religion and Society is next door at 934 N. Main Street.

Note written by

Extent

143.25 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement Note

The collection is divided into nine series: General Administrative Records, Ingersoll Prize Records, Publications, Conferences, Public Relations Records, The Center on Religion and Society Records, John Howard Papers, Allan Carlson Papers, and Michael Warder Papers.

Source of Acquisition

John Howard and Allan Carlson

Method of Acquisition

John Howard and Allan Carlson, acting as agents for the Board of Directors of The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society, donated The Howard Center’s records to the Northern Illinois Regional History Center on April 13, 1999. Additional records were added at later dates. An addendum to the collection of Howard Papers was transferred from the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming in January 2001.

Accruals and Additions

Additional records were added at later dates. An addendum to the collection of Howard Papers was transferred from the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming in January 2001.