This collection contains materials related to the lives and careers of Rev. Samuel Berry McKinney and his wife, Louise McKinney, particularly from the family’s time in Providence while Rev. McKinny was pastor of the Olney Street Baptist Church from 1955 to 1958.

Materials include three copies each of the memorial service programs for Rev. McKinney and his wife, Louise McKinney, copies of articles written about Rev. McKinney, a 1957 Christmas letter written by Louise McKinney to friends, a 1960 letter from attorney Charles Stokes in Seattle with an included letter from William P.H. Freeman regarding an offer to buy the McKinney family home in Providence, a 2016 Christmas card from Rev. McKinney, a collection of photographs of Rev. McKinney, Louise McKinney, their daughters, Lora-Ellen and Rhoda, and an undated photograph of the Olney Street Baptist Church choir, a 1965 booklet by Rev. Leandrew Leonard Johnson of Congdon Street Baptist Church, the June/July 1980 Rhode Island Black Heritage Society Bulletin! newsletter, the August 24, 1980, Annual Commemoration Service of the First Rhode Island Regiment program, a program for the memorial service of Rev. Roscoe L. Nelson, a flyer for The Notorious Triangle by Jay Coughtry, a 1982 program for the installation service of the Ministers’ Alliance of Providence, a sticker reading “Rev. Dr. S. McKinney Ave,” Rev. McKinney’s book, Church Administration in the Black Perspective, a 1955 booklet for youth counseling by the Urban League of Greater Providence titled “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down,” and the Classical High School 1956 yearbook. The collection also includes a digital copy of Rev. McKinney’s Spiritual Autobiography (1973).