Vermont Congregational Conference and Vermont Domestic Missionary Society Collection

The first formal statewide organization of the Congregational Church in Vermont began in 1795 under the name General Convention of Ministers in the state of Vermont. The aims and responsibilities of the Convention broadened gradually in the early nineteenth century, and the constitution was altered in 1822 to admit lay delegates from the Consociations. The title of the body changed in 1841 to General Convention of the Congregational Ministers and Churches of Vermont, and in 1892 the membership was increased to direct representation of the pastor and a lay delegate from each member church. The organization's name underwent further changes, from the Congregational Convention of Vermont in 1898, to the Vermont Congregational Conference in 1908, to the Vermont Congregational Conference and Domestic Missionary Society, Inc., in 1926. The Vermont Congregational churches voted in 1961 to act as a conference of the nationwide United Church of Christ, and in 1966 the state organization changed its name to Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ, Inc.

The Vermont Domestic Missionary Society traces its origins back to 1804, when the Consociations of the Western District of Vermont appointed a committee to begin home missionary work within the state. This committee became the Vermont Missionary Society in 1807 and eleven years later reorganized as the Vermont Juvenile Missionary Society. The Society began holding its annual meetings in conjunction with the General Convention in 1823 and in 1826 became an auxiliary of the American Home Missionary Society under the name for Vermont Domestic Missionary Society. The VDMS provided missionaries for Vermont throughout the nineteenth century, sending its representatives and young theological students around the state to provide both brief itinerant visits to faltering churches and longer, more regular assistance to churches seeking permanent ministries. Although the VDMS maintained close ties to the Congregational Conference, the two did not merge formally until 1926, under the name Vermont Congregational Conference and Domestic Missionary Society, Inc.