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.

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.

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