A. Douglas Aldrich Papers
Allan Douglas Aldrich was an alumni of Wake Forest College and a Baptist pastor at churches in Tennessee and North Carolina between 1948 and 1985. He served as a trustee for various educational institutions. This collection includes news clippings, professional correspondences, and baptismal service records.
Biographical and Historical Note
A. Douglas Aldrich (Allan Douglas) was born to Allen Russell Aldrich and Marjory Lee Ross on December 16, 1921, in Painted Post, New York. His family moved to Orlando, Florida, where he graduated from Orlando High School. He attended Mars Hill College for two years and graduated from Wake Forest College in 1944 with a degree in English. He then attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for a Bachelor of Divinity degree (1947) and a Master of Theology degree (1948). In 1967, Wake Forest College conferred on him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.
Aldrich was ordained in December 1942, at Calvary Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., where he served as a student pastor. He was also a student pastor in churches in Florida and Tennessee. He worked full time as a pastor at First Baptist Church in La Follette, Tennessee (1948-1951), before returning to N.C., first pastoring Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh (1951-1963) and then First Baptist Church in Gastonia (1963-1985). After retiring, Aldrich served as an interim pastor for nearly two decades.
During his career, Aldrich held a range of leadership positions in higher education and Baptist organizations. He served as a vice president of the Baptist State Convention of N.C. and on its Executive Board. He was a trustee of Wake Forest University, Shaw University, Meredith College (1966-1969), Biblical Recorder newspaper, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was elected trustee chairman (1973). He wrote multiple series of Sunday school lessons for the Sunday School Publishing Board, publisher of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. Starting in the late 1960s, Aldrich served on the Gastonia Human's Relation Committee, which facilitated community meetings and relations during the period of school integration. Aldrich fostered an interest in ecumenical relations between various religious groups; he was a member of the Board of the Ecumenical Institute of Wake Forest University and Belmont Abbey.
Aldrich retired in 1985. He was married to Edna Lou Lamb for more than 64 years. They raised two children. Aldrich died on June 23, 2023, at the age of 101.
Sources:
"Obituary," Legacy.com as published in the /title> Charlotte Observer, 2023 June 25.
Bolick, R. L. "A History of First Baptist Church, Gastonia, N.C.," Divinity Archive, 1976 May. Available online at Divinity Archive Church Histories.
Collection Overview
This collection documents some of Aldrich's correspondence, from roughly 1963 to 1985, while he was pastor at First Baptist Church, Gastonia. Material types include news clippings, professional correspondence and related materials, and baptismal service records.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is organized into two series: Series 1. Biographical materials, and Series 2. Correspondence.
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by John Woodard; finding aid edited and put online by Emily Houlditch, 2023 September
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open for researchers.
- Conditions Governing Use
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Allan Douglas Aldrich (MS444), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.