Methodist Library Blog

Over the past year I've been at work revising Ken Rowe's United Methodist Studies: Basic Bibliographies (4th edition - 1998). The new 5th edition will include many of the resources gathered by Ken as well as additional materials published between 1998-2008. The resource will likely reside online rather than in print and should be available at the Drew Methodist Library website by the end of August. If you have questions about the new publication please contact me at cjanders@drew.edu.

This Fall the staff of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church will process over 10 linear feet of material related to the life, work and family of Joseph Crane Hartzell (1842-1929). This collection is a part of the Methodist Library at Drew University and will provide researchers with primary resources related to world missions, race relations, and agency work of the Methodist Episcopal Church during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Bell Fund will support the staff of the GCAH toward the completion of this collection. 

 The Methodist Library recently acquired two collections related to 18th and 19th century U.S. Methodist history.

One collection is the papers of a minister from New York State named Desevignia Starks (1808-1887). Starks was an ordained elder with the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1835 to 1880. The collection includes letters, Bible text books, financial matter, Prohibition handbills and other writings.

A second collection was recently donated by a family from New Jersey. The papers of Daniel Mulford highlight the work of local Methodists in the Morristown/New Providence area of New Jersey from 1780-1820. The collection includes letters and journals in addition to other writings.

Both collections provide insight into the life and work of local ministers and their families during the 18th and 19th centuries.

This past week I attended the annual meeting of the American Theological Library Association. This year's meeting was held in Ottawa, Canada. On Saturday I gave a presentation titled 'Before PowerPoint: Lantern Slides in Theological Collections' that sketched the history, uses and preservation practices related to magic lanterns and glass lantern slides. Michael Boddy (Union Theological Seminary - NYC) and Martha Smalley (Yale Divinity School) also participated in the session and discussed their respective collections.

During the week I also participated in a poster session for the International Collaboration Committee. I discussed our current digitization project between Africa University and Drew University. The Methodist Librarians' Fellowship meeting was also on the agenda. It was nice to learn what some of the other schools affiliated with the Methodist tradition are doing in the way of publications and projects. There is current interest in digitizing various Books of Discipline and conference journals. I'm currently searching for funding to begin a project to digitize all of our annual conference journals (several thousand publications) over the next academic year (2008-2009). 

The next installment (I-Me) of the Methodist Library Pamphlet Collection is now available online.  

The past few days in Melbourne have been eventful. During the Sudgen Symposium I learned a great deal more about the history of Queen's College, the University of Melbourne, Edgar Sugden & his family, and the history of Methodism in Australia. Around 15 papers were presented by lecturers, librarians, archivists, and ministers - each dealing with a segment of Sugden's life, work and family.

The use of primary sources was especially present throughout the conference. The sources included diaries, letters, photographs, pamphlets, flyers, portraits and ephemera. The early photographs were of special interest to me and a short silent film gave moving glimpses of Sudgen and Queen's College. The contacts made at the conference will continue into the future. I presented a short talk discussing trans-Pacific collaborations and a number of people seemed interested in helping Queen's and Drew build each other's collections on Australian and New Zealand Methodism. I was given two books by Sudgen to add to our collection when I return.

Today (Sunday) I had the opportunity to wander around Melbourne a bit more. I did not have a car (a good thing actually since I've never driven on the left side) so I hiked around town. I spent some time on Lygon Street - full of shops and eateries. I also walked through the Melbourne General Cemetery for about two hours and then worked past an Australian Rules football game and a large stadium.

I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow at noon. Though I'm ready to get back to New Jersey - a part of me will miss the people and the places of Melbourne.