This group photograph depicts the attendees at the 8th International Secretaries Conference of the YMCA held in Buffalo, N.Y. in 1878. The photograph was taken outside a house. In the first row men are shown seated, and on the second row men are shown standing up. The 1878 Buffalo Conference is remembered for being the one where it was resolved that “no young man can become an active voting member of the Young Men’s Christian Association, or be admitted as a delegate to the Conventions, unless he is a member in good standing of an evangelical church”. It was stated that the YMCA has a “closer relationship to church and supported church work more than any other organization”. These statements came as a response to “persons connected with the Association that engaged in criticism of the official action of clerical ecclesiastical bodies”.
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