Archives & History Reports (2010-19)
Welcome to the Louisiana Annual Conference's Commission on Archives & History. This web site will present information on the Commission's members, activities, and reports.
The Commission usually meets at the Archives on the first day of Annual Conference.
It is composed of 7 members ... clergy and laity from around the Conference.
Each year, the Commission submits a report for the Journal. All of those reports can be found below, at the bottom of this web page.
Applications for Historic Site designation should be submitted to the Commission for consideration and presentation to Annual Conference. For more information and an application, go to the Historic Site page.
2012-2016 Membership
Chair Pro Tem: Chris Brown (SH)
Clergy: Rev. James A. Graham (SH), Darlene A. Moore (AC), Steven J. Porter (AC), William V. Turner (SH)
Laity: Ellen DeWitt (LC), Joyce Henson (AC), Willie Mae Kimbrough (NO), Nola Mae Ross (LC), Paul Warner (LC)
Honorary Member: Wadsworth Davis (NO)
2015 Report to Annual Conference
COMMISSION ON ARCHIVES & HISTORY
The mission of the Conference Commission on Archives and History is to manage the historic records of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and its predecessor conferences. During 2014, our work with the Conference Archives at Centenary College of Louisiana included significant achievements in collecting, preserving, and making available the historic records of our conference.
Accomplishments from 2014
Research requests using Louisiana UMC records = 169.
Acquisitions of historic records created by Louisiana United Methodist churches, district offices, and individuals = 9 collections (6.75 linear feet).
Collections processed with finding aids available online = 7 collections (11 linear feet).
Exhibits created using Louisiana UMC records = The Presence of African-Americans at Centenary, 1871-1965 (214 online views); Permission to Publish: Material from Centenary College’s Archives (154 online views); Centenary College’s Christian Leadership Center, 1974-2014 (94 online views).
Digitized Louisiana Methodist Episcopal Church conference journals, 1865-1938 (5,200 pages). These publications are now accessible online. Partnership with Dillard University Archives and Special Collections, and Northwestern State University College of Nursing and Allied Health Shreveport Education Center Library.
Led workshop for Shreveport District church historians. Attended by 8.
Managed student intern from Centenary’s Christian Leadership Center. Intern worked 40 hours and processed the Norma Winegeart papers, 1844-2006.
Goals for 2015
Prioritize unprocessed Louisiana UMC collections, then process and create online finding aids.
Migrate old website for Conference Commission on Archives and History onto the website maintained by Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Offer workshops for church historians outside of Shreveport District.
Restore online access to conference newspaper, New Orleans Christian Advocate, 1850-1946.
Chris Brown, Chair Pro Tem
2014 Report to Annual ConferenceCOMMISSION ON ARCHIVES & HISTORY
No report was filed.
2013 Report to Annual ConferenceCOMMISSION ON ARCHIVES & HISTORY
No report was filed.
2012 Report to Annual ConferenceCOMMISSION ON ARCHIVES & HISTORY
We, the members of the Commission on Archives and History pause to remember our Chairperson Mr. Tim Hebert. Tim passed away in early 2012 leaving a void in our hearts.
His professional dedication and personable commitment to the history of Louisiana
Methodism has set a benchmark that shall remain our goal.
To be sure the Commission will complete the work laid out before us of preserving all relevant material and artifacts. Per the Book of Discipline our mission statement is "to collect, preserve and make accessible the historically significant records of the annual conference". Underlying that directive is our commitment to enlighten all members of this Conference of its rich Methodist history and fulfillment of Christ's directive to make disciples. To that end the 2012-13 year will be one of seeking new ways to remind each of us of our core Wesleyan beliefs. We ask for your prayers as we celebrate our heritage, preserve our artifacts and allow for future generation to add new pages to the story of Methodism.
Russ Clunan, Vice Chair
2011 Report to Annual ConferenceCOMMISSION ON ARCHIVES & HISTORY
The focus of our efforts in 2010 was to digitize the Louisiana Conference journals and make them available online. We began with the earliest issues available from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Methodist Protestant Church. Having the journals available online, along with the thousands of issues of the New Orleans Christian Advocate posted online a year ago, allows churches across the conference to research the history and heritage of our conference more easily and inexpensively. We plan on continuing the digitization project by continuing to digitize conference journals in 2011.
Our archivist, Chris Brown, is working hard to preserve our materials at Centenary. Since they are storing important materials in the non-climate-controlled attic, we hope that the college finds a way to better protect our materials. It is a concern that we have thousands of pieces of material stored in the library's attic.
The maintenance of an Archives & History website <www.iscuo.org> is an ongoing process. Numerous resources on our heritage can be found there. For churches needing to research their histories, the website is a good place to start. It contains the links to access both the New Orleans Christian Advocate and journal PDF files.
We'd like to remind everyone once again that a petition was passed after Katrina requiring churches to send copies of their records and vital documents/images to the archives for safekeeping. More information about making digital copies of church records is available at the Archives & History website www.iscuo.org. With the ever-present threat of hurricanes, fire, tornado, etc., we need to make sure we have our historical information available for our future.
Tim Hebert, Chair
2010 Report to Annual ConferenceCOMMISSION ON ARCHIVES & HISTORY
The maintenance of an Archives & History website <www.iscuo.org> is an ongoing process. Numerous resources on our heritage can be found there. For churches needing to research their histories, the website is a good place to start.
The latest resource to be added is the complete surviving set of the New Orleans Christian Advocate. The entire collection on microfilm at Centenary was digitized and is available in PDF format online. The collection will also be stored on hard drives located at both Centenary and Dillard.
We celebrate the return of our archivist, Chris Brown, to Centenary. We hope that he can help the college move forward with plans to put records being stored in the Magale Library attic into better facilities.
We plan on continuing the digitization project by beginning to digitize conference journals in 2010. This project is larger in scope and will require several years to complete.
We'd like to remind everyone that a petition was passed several years ago requiring churches to send copies of their records and vital documents/images to the archives for safekeeping. More information about making digital copies of church records is available at the Archives & History website <www.iscuo.org>. With the ever-present threat of hurricanes, fire, tornado, etc., we need to make sure we have our historical information available for our future.
Tim Hebert, Chair
