The 50th anniversary celebration for Saint Paul School of Theology was held on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was a wonderful time, with packed rooms full of people you remember (though I confess my recall of names never was any good). During the opening reception on Monday, former Saint Paul presidents McElvaney and Weems spoke briefly, as did Heather Holter Ellis, daughter of our first president Don Holter. Current president McCoy also spoke.
Emmanuel Cleaver II flew in from Washington to deliver an opening sermon/address on appropriate use of anger, drawing on a temple scene in Mark's gospel where Jesus healed a man with a withered hand. On Tuesday, there was lots of food---a graduate council breakfast, a brown-bag lunch, and a BBQ dinner---and plenty of show. Susan Vogel planned and led a memorable worship service. Tex Sample talked overtime on the future of John Wesley's theology, especially as it could be complemented with a particular reading of Pauline theology; lots to think about there, and no one wanted it to end. Saint Paul faculty signed books in the afternoon, and there were campus tours--even to the library! Gene Lowry and a couple of 1976 grads entertained us with music and song through the dinner hour as we watched PowerPoint shows of schools pictures dug up out of the archives.
Thank God for archives and archivists! Sales of our 50th anniversary book, done by our own archivist Maggi Mueller, were brisk throughout the big event. Lots of great pictures in it. I wish I could say I could give you one, but I had to buy all six copies I wanted for our library. At $27 (plus $6 s/h), it's not a bad deal, and I'd be happy to hand deliver ($0 s/h) to anyone at next month's meeting who wants one. I'll bring one to the meeting for show and tell. Thanks, Maggi, for all those memories.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Welcome to our blog!
Greetings from the Missouri United Methodist Archives and History Commission!
Methodists in the state of Missouri have a rich heritage dating back to 1798 when Rev. John Clark crossed the Mississippi River by canoe to preach near present-day Herculanium, Missouri. As the Missouri United Methodist Archives and History Commission we have been charged by the bishop and the Annual Conference to assure that this rich heritage is preserved and made available to the people.
First of all, we would like to tell you a little bit about the archives. The Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church, through the Archives and History Commission, maintains a substantial historical collection in their archives inside the newly remodeled Smiley Memorial Library at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. These archives are open to the public (please call 660-248-6271 to confirm hours) and contain collections inlcuding annual conference journals and minutes, historical copies of The Book of Discipline, hymnals, and publications related to Methodism (including the most extensive collection of The Saint Louis Christian Advocate). All churches in the state of Missouri have been asked to complete a history of their congregation and those that have been submitted to the archives are on file. A database of ministers has been created and is available online. for more information on what is available at the archives, visit our web page. The History and Archives Commission also operates the Missouri Methodist Historical Society Which publishes the semi-annual historical journal Towards The Setting Sun. Snippets of journal articles will be featured in future blog postings.
One exciting project that the commission is working on that we would like to tell you about is a special recognition for the 6 Methodist ministers that were killed during the American Civil War. This project is planned to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war, which will take place in 2011. More information to follow in future blogs!
Lastly, we would like your input on topics you might like to see on our blog and ideas you might have for us on how we might communicate the great Methodist heritage of the Missouri people. Feel free to post comments on this blog posting or e-mail revnick1@gmail.com
Methodists in the state of Missouri have a rich heritage dating back to 1798 when Rev. John Clark crossed the Mississippi River by canoe to preach near present-day Herculanium, Missouri. As the Missouri United Methodist Archives and History Commission we have been charged by the bishop and the Annual Conference to assure that this rich heritage is preserved and made available to the people.
We have created this blog as an effort to make this history available to all people via the Internet. This blog will be updated frequently to share with you interesting pieces of Missouri Methodist history and to keep you informed of the materials and services that the archives have available and current projects that we are working on.
One exciting project that the commission is working on that we would like to tell you about is a special recognition for the 6 Methodist ministers that were killed during the American Civil War. This project is planned to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war, which will take place in 2011. More information to follow in future blogs!
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