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Preachers' Aid Society of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 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
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 Preachers' Aid Society of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized on March 22, 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and incorporated on April 2, 1869. The Society had three objectives: to assist the Philadelphia Conference's members and widows and orphans of members in obtaining a "comfortable support" each year, to assist ministers and their families in need due to circumstances outside their control, and to give a monetary sum to the widow and children (or executors, administrators, or assigns) of a deceased itinerant minister of the Philadelphia Conference from the Preachers' Mutual Relief Fund (a special fund comprised of annual contributions made from the itinerant ministers in the Philadelphia Conference and other donations).
Bibliography:
The Preachers' Aid Society. The Constitution of the Preachers' Aid Society of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church with the Act of Incorporation. Philadelphia, PA: Sylvania Printing Co. Ltd., 1895. Document viewed in collection.
This collection consists of minutes and reports (1869-1935), financial records from the Preacher's Mutual Relief Fund (1869-1894), certificate books with stubs (1893-1902), and a cash book (1912-1933). There is some, but not much, genealogy information available on some of the certificates (name of person, date, death date). The minutes include occasional information on deceased preachers.
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
- Preachers' Aid Society of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
- United Methodist Church (U.S.)
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.