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Upland United Methodist Church records

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

Call Number:
23
Repository:
Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church
Extent:
2.75 linear feet
Language:
English
Date:
1873-2003 (inclusive)
Creator:
Upland United Methodist Church (Brookhaven, Pa.)
Abstract:
The congregation for Upland United Methodist Church began meeting in 1866, although it was not until 1873 that construction began on a new church building, at Church and Eighth Streets in the nearby Borough of Brookhaven, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The final service was held at Upland United Methodist Church on Sunday July 13, 2003. The Upland United Methodist Church records, 1873-2003, consist largely of minutes of the official board, administrative board, and board of trustees; Charge Conference reports; and membership and vital records such as baptisms, marriages, and deaths. Also included are a small amount of property-related records (featuring blueprints of the church organ and a photograph of the church building), directories, bulletins, budgets, and other documents.

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.).

In 1866, residents of Upland Borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania organized a society to form a Methodist church in their community. They remained under the guidance of pastors from Madison Street Methodist Church in the City of Chester until 1875. The cornerstone for a new church building at the southwest corner of Church and Eighth Streets in the Borough of Brookhaven was laid in 1873 and the church society was legally incorporated in 1874. The first Pastor of Upland Methodist Episcopal Church after the erection of the new building was Rev. Chas. S. Daniels. The final service was held at Upland United Methodist Church on Sunday July 13, 2003.

Bibliography:

"Upland United Methodist Church." 2003. Old Chester in Delaware County, PA. Accessed August 18, 2014. http://www.oldchesterpa.com/churches/uplandmechurch.htm.

This collection, dating from 1873 to 2003, consists largely of minutes of the official board, administrative board, and board of trustees; Charge Conference reports; and membership and vital records such as baptisms, marriages, and deaths. Also included are a small amount of property-related records (featuring blueprints of the church organ and a photograph of the church building), directories, bulletins, budgets, and other documents. A folder-level inventory for the collection is available.

Some church records at the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, particularly membership and vital records, are available in digital form through Ancestry.com or on microfilm at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and/or the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church is the repository for records of member churches when they close.

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 the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories using data provided by the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church
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

Contact Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church for information about accessing this collection.

Collection Inventory

Leaders and Stewards/Official Board Minutes 1902-1916.
Box 1 Folder 1
Official Board Minutes 1916-1931.
Box 1 Folder 2
Official/Administrative Board Minutes 1951-1972.
Box 1 Folder 3
Administrative Board Minutes and Charge Conference Reports 1974-1977.
Box 1 Folder 4
Administrative Board Minutes and Charge Conference Reports 1978-1983.
Box 1 Folder 5
Administrative Board Minutes 1984-1986.
Box 2 Folder 1
Administrative Board Minutes 1989-1990.
Box 2 Folder 2
Administrative Board Minutes 1991-1992.
Box 2 Folder 3
Administrative Board Minutes 1993-1994.
Box 2 Folder 4
Administrative Board Minutes and Charge Conference Reports 1995-1996.
Box 2 Folder 5
Administrative Board Minutes 1997-1999.
Box 2 Folder 6
Administrative Board Minutes and Charge Conference Reports 2002-2003.
Box 2 Folder 7
Quarterly Conference Reports 1950-1967.
Box 2 Folder 8
Quarterly /Charge Conference Reports 1968-1971.
Box 2 Folder 9
Charge Conference Reports 1971-1982.
Box 3 Folder 1
Charge Conference Reports (Committee on Finance) 1999-2001.
Box 3 Folder 2
Board of Trustee Minutes 1897-1902.
Box 3 Folder 3
Board of Trustee Minutes 1909-1939.
Box 3 Folder 4
Board of Trustee Minutes 1939-1966.
Box 3 Folder 5
Board of Trustee Minutes 1967-1972.
Box 4 Folder 1
Board of Trustee Minutes 1982-1988.
Box 4 Folder 2
Board of Trustee Minutes 1989-1993.
Box 4 Folder 3
Board of Trustee Minutes 1994-2003.
Box 4 Folder 4
Photograph of Church c. 1883.
Box 4 Folder 5
Newsletters.
Box 4 Folder 6
Directories 1915-16, 1924, 1936, 1953, 1972.
Box 4 Folder 7
Bulletins.
Box 4 Folder 8
Mortgages, Deeds, Title Insurance.
Box 4 Folder 9
Wills and Trusts.
Box 4 Folder 10
Deed 1873.
Box 4 Folder 11
Church Closing 2003.
Box 4 Folder 12
Annual Budgets, 1987-2001.
Box 4 Folder 13
Charter.
Box 5 Folder 1
Charter.
Box 5 Folder 2
Organ Blueprints.
Box 5 Folder 3
Church records, 1874-1889.
Volume 1
Church records, 1888-2002.
Volume 2
Church records, 1886-1904.
Volume 3
Church records, 1904-1916.
Volume 4
Church records, 1916-1927.
Volume 5
Church records, 1928-1953.
Volume 6
Church records, 1951-1962.
Volume 7

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