The records of the School Defense Committee total one linear foot of correspondence, mailings, published information, clippings, and campaign miscellanea relating to the successful opposition to the 1920 and 1924 ballot proposals that would have abolished parochial schools in Michigan. The record group consists of copies of the originals scheduled to be deposited with the denominational archives. The files have been grouped into two series: Committee Records and Clippings.
During the elections of 1920 and 1924, there were in Michigan two ballot proposals that would have effectively abolished all private and parochial schools in the state. The first proposal would have made public school attendance compulsory for children between the ages of five and sixteen until they graduated from the eighth grade. The 1924 proposal was similar, with ages of the children affected changed to between seven and sixteen.
Spearheading the campaign for the passage of the proposals was James Hamilton of Detroit, Michigan, a man who was attempting to capitalize on growing anti-Catholic feeling to bolster his gubernatorial ambitions. The organization through which he worked was called the Wayne County Civic League. Lining up against Hamilton and his supporters were various church and civil libertarian groups. In addition to the Catholic Church, foremost among the churches actively opposing the school amendment was the Michigan District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod which established and orchestrated a campaign to inform and mobilize local churches to the "threat" posed by these amendments to their religious freedom.
The organizational vehicle that the Lutheran Church used to oppose the "parochial school amendments" was its Lutheran Schools Committee. There were other related groups, but these all seemed directed by the Lutheran Schools Committee, and most of them had similar membership to the LSC. In 1920, the principal Lutheran church groups formed were the Lutheran Campaign Committee and the Campaign Committees for the Defense of Our American Institutions and Our Parochial Schools. The campaign manager of both organizations was the reverend Henry Frincke. The 1920 amendment was defeated by a margin of 2 to 1.
After the election, no one doubted that the issue would surface again in 1922 and perhaps in 1924. Knowing the value of organization to any successful campaign effort, the Lutherans formed a School Defense Committee within their standing Lutheran Schools Committee with the Reverend John C. Baur as executive secretary. Baur, over the next several months, led the successful opposition to the 1924 ballot proposal (also 1922, although the proposal never made it on the ballot in that election). He was a skilled and tireless campaigner who worked with local pastors throughout the state, organizing rallies and distributing informational tracts. Baur and his Lutheran colleagues devised different administrative units: the Lutheran Campaign Committee, the School Defense Committee, and in 1921, the Lutheran Campaign Committee in Behalf of Christian Day Schools.
