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Everett Hosman Ushering Papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: UNO-0154

Content Description

The Everett Hosman Ushering Collection is one cubic foot of material, 1935 to 1973, and includes a majority of paper documents, pamphlets and booklets, photographs, and newpaper clippings. Everett Hosman gathered these items during his tenure as professor and dean of the School of Adult Education / College of Adult Education at the Municipal University of Omaha (OU). A majority of the collection relates to the correspondence course in ushering developed and taught by Hosman for the university's School for Church Ushering and the community courses Hosman taught around the country, building upon his correspondence course. The correspondence course largely related to ushering at churches, though other forms of ushering were also addressed.

The collection is a slice of post-World War II culture in the United States as people rushed to join community organizations, including churches. Hosman first developed his correspondence course for Omaha University in 1944-1945 and offered it into the 1960s at least. He found ready audiences for his course from Florida to California, attracting ushers from a wide range of Protestant church traditions, including Pentecostal Holiness, African Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran. Though Hosman advertised his courses as specifically for men--and men were a vast majority of his students--the collection includes evidence that women also took his courses.

The collection includes documentation of community courses taught by Hosman in multiple states, a correspondence version of the course, materials used in creating and updating the course, and related correspondence. Also included are documents about Hosman's professional development in church ushering. This includes his work with the Omaha Church Ushering Association, conferences for clergy education in Nebraska, and Hosman's ushering service at the First Methodist Church of Omaha.

The folders are divided into the following seven series: General, Correspondence, Courses from Hosman, News Clippings, Newsletters and News Releases, Photographs, and Professional Development. Further description for each series can be viewed by clicking on each series title.

For more information on the Church Usher program, see:



Source: "Time acclaims O.U. course on ushering." The Gateway (Omaha, NE). March 26, 1945.



Source: "Church usher job not an easy one." The Gateway (Omaha, NE). November 11, 1947.

Dates

  • Creation: 1935-1973

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the Nebraska Public Records Statutes (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 84-712 through 84-712.09), and other relevant regulations. Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Nebraska Omaha assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use

Donor did not claim any copyright at the time of donation. The Conditions Governing Use policy of UNO Libraries' Archives and Special Collections is available at https://www.unomaha.edu/criss-library/about-us/library-policies/archives-policies.php.

Extent

1.16 Cubic Feet (4 boxes) : Papers, reel-to-reel audiotapes; digital audio files

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

Collection has been arranged and described.

Custodial History

Everett Hosman was employed by the University of Omaha from 1932 to 1953. He served as Dean of Adult Education. After several deaths in the family, his granddaughter Nancy Partin and her sisters began sorting through the materials that their grandparents had collected over the years. Among the materials they discovered were a box of documents that their grandfather, Everett Hosman, had gathered during his years as professor and Dean of the College of Adult Education at the University of Omaha (OU). The collection includes 32 file folders and three envelopes. The majority of these items document the extensive Church Ushers programming sponsored by OU and the CAE during Hosman's tenure at OU. This collection also includes materials generated following Everett Hosman's retirement from the University of Omaha.

Related Materials

UNO College of Continuing Studies Records

General

The gift was made by the donor in memory of Richard S. Hosman, son of Everett Hosman.

Title
Everett Hosman Ushering Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Angela Kroeger, Michael Langdon (2022)
Date
2015-06-03
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
Les Valentine
Edition statement
2nd edition

Repository Details

Part of the University of Nebraska at Omaha Archives & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Archives & Special Collections
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
6001 Dodge St.
Omaha Nebraska 68182-0237 United States
402-554-6046