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Museum of Methodism
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The United Methodist Church’s heritage dates back 300 years. This rich history comes to life in a collection found at Drew University. Lilla Marigza leads a video tour of this treasure trove. |
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SCRIPT:
(Locator: Madison, New Jersey)You might call this place the Smithsonian of United Methodism.
The Rev. Robert Williams, Chief Executive, Archives & History: “You are in the richest collection of Methodism of a global scope anywhere in the world.”
An astonishing six miles of carefully cataloged documents…
L. Dale Patterson, Administrator, Archives & History: “…letters going back to John and Charles Wesley, to the latest newspaper that came out let's say last week....”
…250,000 photographs…
L. Dale Patterson: “…probably around the 1920s.”
…plus one-of-a-kind artifacts.
L. Dale Patterson: “The British Methodist home was not complete without a Wesley on the mantelpiece.”
The General Commission on Archives and History is housed at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
L. Dale Patterson: “This is the surviving death mask of John Wesley.”
Most of the treasures here are on paper, and it takes time and technology to maintain the data.
L. Dale Patterson: “Much of what we do here is just sorting.”
Audio/visual archives capture important chapters of the church’s history, too—like the 1939 General Conference.
Archive: “The plan of union as adopted is the constitution of this united church...”
Robert Williams: “Unless we work together at record keeping, at archiving, and telling the stories of the past, we will lose a part of who we are.”
L. Dale Patterson, Administrator, Archives & History: “Our history isn’t just our history. It impacts other people in this country and literally around the world. We’d be so terribly diminished without it.”
TAG:
The General Commission on Archives and History Web site offers a virtual encyclopedia of United Methodist history with featured stories, biographies, and family genealogy search tips. For more information, visit www.gcah.org or call 973-408-3189.
Posted: January 7, 2010