Association for Creative Change Collection

Introduction
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Contents
Box and File List

Introduction

Dorothy J. Britain donated the Association for Creative Change collection on behalf of the organization first on November 20, 1978. Since that time, the Association has made additions to the collection including a final deposit when the Association disbanded in 1996. The collection spans 1968-1996 and is approximately 5.5 linear feet. Areas of strength in the collection include steering committee and other committee minutes, financial records, and the Association's professional recognition system. Weaknesses include general member correspondence and photographs. The last certificate of gift indicates restrictions on the files used to verify a member's professional certification. That restriction would no longer be valid.

Back to Top

Biographical Sketch

A small group of behavioral scientists founded the Association for Creative Change (ACC), originally The Association of Religion and Applied Behavioral Science (ARABS), in 1968. The group was primarily a means of networking and professional development for behavioral scientists, who worked in religious systems such as a denomination's administrative offices, as an ordained or lay minister, or Christian education professional. The organization held annual conferences, produced a newsletter and then journal, and offered professional certification. The two levels of certification included as a Laboratory Trainer and as a Professional Member. The ACC expanded to include partner membership organizations in Canada and South Africa. Dwindling membership led to the organization's ultimate dissolution in 1996.

Back to Top

Scope and Contents

Series I: Administrative/Organizational
This series contains the administrative and organizational records of the Association for Creative Change (ACC). The series contains the organization's mission statement and bylaws through their many revisions over the years. It also contains a history of the organization written in 1996 for the dissolution of the group. There are many files that contain Steering Committee and other committee meeting minutes and correspondence. This series also contains the financial and tax documents for the organization.

Series II: Conferences
This series contains the brochures and program details of the ACC annual conferences. There are also sporadic records of the conference committee notes and minutes organized with the conference materials by year. There have been a few annual conferences held at the Bergamo Center in Dayton, which is affiliated with the University of Dayton.

Series III: Professional Recognition
This series includes records of the professional recognition program through the ACC. Members completed a paid recognition program to obtain certification as a Laboratory Trainer or a Professional Member. Certified members were reviewed every three years. Certification was a substantial source of funds for the ACC.

Series IV: Publications
Publications are divided into four categories: membership directories, the newsletter, the loose leaf journal, and the journal Creative Change. The newsletter went through many changes over the years but tended to come out at least twice a year and sometimes quarterly. The loose leaf journal was a project to disseminate professional articles at low cost to members in the early 1970s. By 1979, the ACC started The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (later Creative Change), which they published until their dissolution in 1996.

Series V: Special Projects
The special projects series includes a master's thesis written about the ACC, regional development, and various research projects throughout the organization's history. There are also files that contain information on the ACC's outsourcing of administrative functions and database maintenance. This series also contains the dissolution file, which contains the Secretary of State filings, the dissolution plan, the ACC's Three Point Ritual Plan to celebrate the ACC. Minutes and correspondence about the dissolution can be found in the Steering Committee minutes and the General Member Correspondence for 1996.

Series VI: Photographs and Other Media
This series contains the few ACC photographs, arranged by decade. Several photographs are identified on the reverse side of the photograph. Many photographs are not identified. There are three boxes of projector slides, which comprise a retrospective created in 1996 for the organization's dissolution celebration. There is an audio tape that accompanies the slide show. Other audio tapes include conference presentations and another history of the ACC. There is one videotape that covers the ACC 1992-1993 years.

Back to Top

Box and File List

Back to Top

Electronic finding aid created in Oct. 2006 by Lisa Pasquinelli, from existing finding aid (original dated May 2005).