Peter Mellette Papers, 1945-1993

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Creator:
Mellette, Peter, 1920-1993
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Papers, 1945-1993, of Dr. Peter Mellette (1920-1993), longtime director of the Virginia region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ). Almost all of the papers in the collection relate to Mellette's work with the NCCJ, and include correspondence; general NCCJ files, such as administrative reports, committee and local chapter files, manuals, news releases, and newsletters; outreach and program files, including brochures, discussion guides, manuals, resource packets, scripts for radio and television spots and plays, sound recordings, syllabi, and other materials from programs such as Brotherhood Week, Rearing Children of Good Will, and Police-Community Relations, as well as various awards programs; subject files reflecting Mellette's interests in education, race relations, religion, school desegregation, social justice, and other topics; financial papers including budget projections, financial statements, and fundraising files; and an extensive collection of clippings.

Biographical / historical:

Peter Augustus Mellette was born in Latta, South Carolina, on 10 January 1920, to parents Frank Mellette (1892-1944) and Floy Bethea Mellette (d. 1953). Although born in Latta, where his mother had family connections, Mellette spent his earliest years in Watkins Glen, New York. The family relocated to Latta in 1923, the first of several moves to various South Carolina towns (also including Lone Star, Boykin, and Sharon). He completed his undergraduate education at Furman University in 1940, then moved to Pennsylvania to attend Crozer Theological Seminary. It was during his time in Pennsylvania that Mellette met (Mary) Sue Jackson (1922-2000), whom he married on 16 June 1943.

After Mellette's graduation from Crozer in 1944, the couple moved to Columbus, Ohio. Sue Mellette worked on her medical degree at the University of Cincinnati while Peter served as pastor of a federated Baptist-Presbyterian church in Johnstown. Beginning in 1947, he pastored the United Church in Garrettsville, Ohio, while pursuing a master's degree in history at Case Western Reserve University. Upon completion of the degree in 1949, the Mellettes moved to New York City, where Peter earned a doctorate in education at Columbia University in 1951.

After a brief stint as pastor of Speed Memorial Church in Speed, Indiana, Peter Mellette accepted a position as assistant director for the St. Louis (Mo.) area of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) in 1952. The next year, he moved to Richmond to become the director of the organization's Virginia region. Here he spent the remainder of his career, taking on additional roles as field director for the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Tennessee in 1973 (later adding Ohio and Indiana); national vice president in 1975; and senior vice president in 1978. He entered partial retirement in 1981, stepping down from his Virginia directorship but continuing with his national-level responsibilities until retiring fully in 1982.

The NCCJ formed in 1928, when reactions to the presidential candidacy of Al Smith revealed a powerful strain of anti-Catholic sentiment in America. Aiming to combat such religious bigotry, the organization's founding focus was the promotion of interreligious cooperation and understanding, particularly among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Over the years, as the struggle against racial bias took precedence on the national stage, the NCCJ had to decide whether to advocate for interracial as well as interreligious harmony.

Mellette, heading up a Southern branch of the organization in the tumultuous decades of the Civil Rights Movement, fielded criticism from people on both sides of the issue. His papers highlight this variety of opinions and pressures, containing for example letters from individuals denouncing NCCJ for recommending even obliquely pro-integration literature, and others decrying the lack of diversity in the faces pictured in NCCJ publications. He was also frequently called upon to defend the organization's emphasis on education rather than activism.

At the end of his career, Mellette was praised for having a calming yet progressive influence during a difficult era. The various programs with which he was most closely associated--including Youth Seminars on Intergroup Relations, Dialogue groups, and Police-Community Relations workshops--were designed to bring people of various groups together to discuss human relations problems in an open and civil manner.

Mellette died of a heart attack on 3 February 1993. He was survived by his wife, Susan (a professor of medical oncology and director of the Cancer Rehabilitation Program at the Medical College of Virginia), their daughter, Susan Mellette Lederhouse, and son, Peter Mason Mellette.

Some of the above biographical information was taken from Peter Mellette's memoirs, Some of Life's Moments, which can be found at the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va. (Call number CT275 .M48)

Acquisition information:
The collection is made up of two accessions. The original accession (comprising almost the entire collection) was purchased from Crown Collectibles, Richmond, Virginia, on 10 April 2001 (Accession 39459). A handful of additional materials was donated to the Library on 3 December 2002 by Sommer Wickham, Richmond (Accession 40332). The two accessions have been combined and are filed here jointly as Accession 39459.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series I. Correspondence
  • Series II. NCCJ general files
  • Series III. NCCJ outreach and program files
  • Series IV. Subject files
  • Series V. NCCJ financial papers
  • Series VI. Clippings and magazines
Physical description:
37.2 cubic feet (78 boxes)