- Creator
- Methodist Episcopal Church
- Call number
- MssCol 1978
- Physical description
- 70 linear feet (490 boxes); 40 microfilm reels
- Language
- A few records in Bulgarian and Romanian
- Preferred Citation
Methodist Episcopal Church records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Manuscripts and Archives Division
- Access to materials
- Request an in-person research appointment.
- Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in the U.S. in 1784. The first general conference was held in 1792 and the constitution was adopted in 1900. In 1939 the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Protestant Church united to form the Methodist Church (U.S.). Collection consists primarily of records of Methodist Episcopal churches in New York City and vicinity with scattered records from churches in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York State, Africa, and Europe. Materials include correspondence, reports, minutes, church records (births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, membership, etc.), sermons, diaries and journals, financial records, literary papers, sketches, scrapbooks, photographs, and printed matter. Most of the records are from churches in New York City with lesser amounts from churches in the suburbs of New York City, upstate New York, and some general records of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Administrative information
Custodial history
The records have been placed on indefinite deposit in the New York Public Library by the Methodist Historical Society, and the Methodist Book Concern, 1931
Processing information
M. E. Church
Note: revised 10/79
1. Arrangement within the group is as follows: Those registers which contain name-lists only, or those volumes largely made up of such lists, precede other material [minutes, etc.] and have their own alphabet.
2. Board Minutes frequently include attendance records of board members.
3. Burials of dependent members are noted in the Poor Fund Accounts.
4. Church History has not been attempted and information concerning the formation, pastors and history of NYC churches will be found in the following: Seaman, Samuel A. Annals on New York Methodism... 1766-1890. NT: Hunt & Eaton 1892.
5. Classbook and Classes should not be confused. Classbook is an attendance record of one or two classes. Classes is a list of names of those comprising the several classes of a church.
6. Class Records, usually wanting dates, are dated from external evidence only and such dating is not assumed to be exact.
7. Early Registers will also be found under the heading: New York City, General Records Methodist Episcopal Church of New York In the early days, records were also kept for the entire church in the city. However, in agreement with paragraph #1, these specific records preceded the General Records.
8. Obituaries will occasionally be found in those volumes containing an historical or pastorical record.
9. Officials, being appointed by the proper Quarterly Conference, may be found in the Minutes of the body, if no separate list is available.
10. Overlapping records exist owing to the popularity of starting a new volume with a new pastor or a new recorder, and thus the resulting necessity of copying the old recrods in the new.
11. Two Circuits were created in 1832, before there were no records for either East or West Circuit. Later separate records appeared, although some of the bodies continued meeting jointly for some years after the division.
Key terms
Names
Subjects
- Church management
- Church records and registers -- Bulgaria
- Church records and registers -- Connecticut
- Church records and registers -- Liberia
- Church records and registers -- New Jersey
- Church records and registers -- New York (State)
- Church records and registers -- New York (State) -- New York
- Church records and registers -- Romania
Material types
Using the collection
Location
Manuscripts and Archives DivisionStephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Alternative form available
Items 1-488 available on microfilm; New York Public Library
Letters to Phoebe Palmer, ca. 1839-1856, available on microfilm; New York Public Library