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Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church manuscripts collection
Notifications
Held at: Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church [Contact Us]235 N. Fourth Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Methodism is a protestant Christian faith based in the teachings of John Wesley (1703-1791), who preached "practical divinity," emphasis on Christian living, and putting faith and love into action. The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1784 in Baltimore, Maryland with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as its first bishops and held its first general conference in 1792. In May of 1939, the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church united to form the Methodist Church (U.S.). In 1946 the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution) and the Evangelical Church united to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. In 1968 the Methodist Church (U.S.) and the Evangelical United Brethren Church united, forming the United Methodist Church (U.S.).
The collection includes the papers of various reverends, bishops, and other Methodists, including correspondence, diaries, religious commentary, sermon drafts, pastoral records, autograph books, scrapbooks, marriage certificates, deacons certificates, traveling connections, diplomas, district reports, printed engravings of Methodists (preachers), Methodist historical notes, photographs and photograph albums, and other documents. There is only a small amount of material (less than 1 linear foot) associated with any one individual. A shelf inventory covering the materials in this collection is available on-site.
Of special interest are items relating to prominent Methodists including John Wesley (his manuscript of Methodist hymns), Francis Asbury, Thomas Coke, Joseph Pilmore (missionary sent by Wesley to introduce Methodism to America; his manuscript journal, 1769-1774), and others. The J. D. Long (a Methodist reverend) papers include letters as well as a scrapbook of clippings on abolitionism as related to Methodism. Several women's papers are present in the collection, primarily diaries and autograph albums. Notably, papers and photographs of Anna Jarvis (founder of Mother's Day), circa 1900, are included.
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Materials collected from various sources over time.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Sarah Leu through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church for information about accessing this collection.