The Theological School
and the Drew University Library
invite you to a

Book Reception

April 24, 4:00 p.m.

Library Lobby

To celebrate the publication of two books by

Chris Anderson

Methodist Librarian and Coordinator of Special Collections

The Centenary Celebration of American Methodist Missions: the 1919 Worlds Fair of Evangelical Americanism (Edwin Mellen Press, 2012) and
Voices from the Fair: Race, Gender, and the American Nation at a Methodist Missionary Exposition (Emeth Press, 2012).

Light refreshments will be served.

-Christopher J. Anderson, Methodist Librarian and Coordinator of Special Collections, Drew University Library

The United Methodist Archives and History Center

Hosts a reception to celebrate the exhibit of

“ . . . For the Cause of Freedom”
The Prophetic Ministry of Bishop Gilbert Haven and the Rev. Frank Mason North

An Exhibit of the Papers of Gilbert Haven donated by the Charles Eric North Family

Tuesday, April 9, 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Methodist Center Lobby

Comments by Dr. William B. Gravely, biographer of Haven
and holder of the B.D. degree from Drew

Light refreshments.  All welcome.

The exhibit includes photos, letters, and other texts related to these two important individuals in the history of Methodism. The exhibit has resulted from the generous gift of the Charles Eric North Family to the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church containing possibly about 1000 letters to and from Gilbert Haven, a vocal abolitionist and advocate for the rights of African Americans. The family are also descendants of Frank Mason North, hymn writer and advocate for social reform, and thus the exhibit recognizes the work of both men.

Gilbert Haven was editor of Zion’s Herald and a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1872-1880. Frank Mason North is best known for the hymn, “Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life.” The desk used by North sits in the lobby of the Methodist Archives Center and his papers are housed at Drew. This exhibit is the reminder that the quest for “liberty and justice” for all is ongoing but one with deep roots in Drew’s and in Methodism’s past.

Work is scheduled to run from December 2012 through August 2013. Collections housed on the second floor will be moved to temporary storage areas. These collections include all Methodist books, periodicals, pamphlets and serials, as well as the Byron Society of America collection and the Society for Biblical Literature archive. They will be unavailable for the duration of the renovation project. All Methodist manuscript collections, microforms, Drew University Library’s special collections and Drew University Archives will continue to be available.

For further information or to check the availability of collections, please contact Chris Anderson at cjanders@drew.edu.

“Land of the Morning Calm”
Drew Theological Seminary and Early Christian Missions to Korea

Methodist Center Lobby
September 27, 2012 – January 31, 2013
Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

The Drew University Library exhibit “Land of the Morning Calm”: Drew Theological Seminary and Early Methodist Missions to Korea examines the origins of Korean Methodism and the historic links between Drew Theological School and American missionary presence in Korea. The exhibit highlights the Henry and Ella Appenzeller family and brings attention to five lesser known Drew graduates and their families between 1885 and 1920. Attention is also given to the origins of Western medical and educational work in Korea.

Materials for the exhibit have been drawn from several collections including: Chung Dong First Methodist Church in Seoul, Korea, the Drew University Archives, Drew Methodist Library and the General Commission on Archives and History for The United Methodist Church. Historical items include manuscript journals, denominational records, photographs, ephemera, and film footage documenting the lives and work of Drew Alumni during the initial years of Methodist missionary outreach to Korea.

The exhibit is housed at the United Methodist Archives and History Center on the campus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. The free exhibit runs from September 27, 2012, to January 31, 2013, and is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For questions please contact Christopher Anderson, Director of the Methodist Library and Coordinator of Special Collections at Drew University. He can be reached by phone (973) 408-3910 or by email cjanders@drew.edu.

For additional information about the project please contact Chris Anderson at cjanders@drew.edu.

A Drew University Exhibit, Madison, New Jersey
Curated by Christopher J. Anderson, Ph.D.
Methodist Librarian and Coordinator of Special Collections
September 22, 2011 – April 30, 2012

On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address confirmed that American citizens and armies both North and South believed that God was on their side of a national conflict that has been called among other names the Civil War, the War Between the States and the War of Northern Aggression. From 1861 to 1865 several hundred thousand Methodists from the United States and the Confederate States of America preached, fought, and labored for both sides. During the conflict Methodists served as government officials, soldiers, chaplains, nurses, and church leaders while fighting for state’s rights and against the institution of slavery. With adherents in the millions, American Methodists played a crucial role in the struggle for racial and sectional freedoms.

Drew University, founded shortly after the conflict, had several direct connections to the Civil War. Drew landowners, trustees, administration, faculty, and students participated in the conflict. Those links are highlighted in two cases in the University Library. A second section of the exhibition, mounted at the United Methodist Archives and History Center, showcases the historic tensions within American Methodism over racial identities that led to denominational fracturing and ultimately to sectional conflict.

The exhibit highlights ten historic Methodist traditions and includes manuscripts, photographs, printed texts, and material objects from the collections of the Drew University Archives and Methodist Library as well as the General Commission on Archives and History for The United Methodist Church. The exhibit continues through April 30, 2012, and is open to the public in the Methodist Center Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The main Library display is on view during regular library hours. For more information about the exhibit, or to arrange for a class tour or individual tour, contact cjanders@drew.edu or call the Methodist Library at 973.408.3590 weekdays.

Many of us have used Google Maps for directions to places we want to visit. Others use the mapping software to discover the history of geographical locations. Recently, I received a Drew Geospatial Information Systems faculty workshop grant to develop an online program that uses Google software to create an interactive map that traces the history and locations of historic African American Methodist churches.

Using ArcMap 10 software, addresses are entered and then geocoded to find their spatial location. Once addresses are mapped, latitude and longitude coordinates are calculated. These coordinates are then entered into an Excel database andmapped across several states that were part of the Delaware Annual Conference of the Methodist Church. The data is then converted to Google map software that identifies the current and/or former location of each church. The software highlights images of the church, digitized published histories, statistical information and links to current churches if still operational.

The project focuses on churches that were part of the Delaware Annual Conference of the Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church, the first alignment of African American churches segregated by action of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The conference was organized in 1864 at John Wesley Church in Philadelphia, and included congregations in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
and Virginia.

The later Central Jurisdiction was a racially segregated grouping of African American churches located throughout the United States. The jurisdiction originated in 1939 with the Plan of Union that merged together the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South, and Methodist Protestant Church. Nineteen annual conferences were eventually formed as a result of the Plan of Union. These segregated conferences existed from 1939 to 1973. The Philadelphia and Wilmington districts, specifically the segregated New Jersey churches of the Delaware Annual Conference, were the initial focus of this GIS project.

This article appeared in Visions, the Library Newsletter, Fall 2011.

This article appeared in Visions, the Library Newsletter, Fall 2011.