The largest amount of material consists of sermons. The sermons range in date from 1933 until 1993, with revisions of previous sermons as late as 1996. Sermons were arranged either alphabetically or topically. The topics generally deal with special events such as the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi, VE Day, VJ Day and funerals. There are also notes and reference material which he used to write the sermons. Also included are his orders of worship, or bulletins, and copies of the prayers he used in worship or collected. There is also correspondence, poetry and biographical information on Christman in these papers. The biographical material deals with his childhood, his seminary days and his ministry and family. There is also reference material used in his sermons and in his historical writings for the Northeast Jurisdictional newsletter.

This collection contains items related to the Karl E. Anderson family. The bulk of this collection are Karl Anderson's diaries which are dated 1897-1905, 1914-1915, 1924, 1926-1927, and 1929-1934. The diaries contain information about his daily experiences and religious observations. Other records include sermons and writings which are in outline format (undated), notes from which Anderson preached (undated), and a poem (undated). There are also several biographical materials (1931-1970) in this collection. Dorothea Anderson's materials of creative writings (undated) are located in a single folder. These items are mostly plays and articles on Indian mission subjects.

There is also a folder of letters and articles (1933- 1945) by or about Bishop William F. Oldham. This includes correspondence from Oldham and a copy of his funeral service bulletin. Oldham was the subject of a 3,000 word biography written by Emma Anderson. Helen Rieger Emmerson has a manuscript (1970) on the history of the Lisbon, Iowa, United Methodist Church. This piece covers the time period when Anderson pastored the church. In addition there are two photographs: one of the General Committee of the Foreign Mission Board from November 1913, and a second picture of the General Executive Committee of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society in October 1923. The two artifacts in this collection include a Bidar metal vase (undated) with a copy of a legend and a woven straw tray (undated).

The Sherertz Family Papers cover the time period from about 1870 to 1970. These documents were created by several generations of missionaries assigned to China and Africa.

The focus of the collection is divided between China and Africa. China constitutes the earlier period from about 1855 to 1945. The Sherertz' activity in Southern Rhodesia begins in 1953 and ends in their retirement in 1958. Of particular interest is the first Methodist deaconess from Southern Rhodesia, Mai Mhlanga (1007-2-7:04).

Because of D. L. Sherertz's propensity for documentation, the bulk of the collection directly reflects his life and career. Two highlights include his role in the national government of the Republic of China and his internment in Pootung by the Japanese. He also preserved family genealogies and memoirs.

The Park family is represented by William Hector Park's memoirs, several photographs, and a few letters by his wife, Nora Lambuth Park, which were written during the years after her husband's death.

The Lambuths' papers include one letter from Mary McClellan Lambuth in Chinese and English as well as a number of photographs from this early period.

Upon reviewing the entire collection, it becomes apparent that Margarita Park Sherertz played the central role in the family's development. Her papers are not as voluminous as those belonging to her husband, but it is clear that she was a charismatic and intelligent individual. Margarita's strength reveals itself when her husband was interned by the Japanese in China after Pearl Harbor. Her letters written during this period and those she wrote shortly before she left China illustrate her cognizance of political and social events which occurred locally and internationally.

Margarita's mother, Nora Lambuth Park, similarly remarks in a few of her letters about local political developments as they relate to the welfare and fate of the missionary community. Nora's experience as a seasoned missionary in China during several periods of social upheaval is demonstrated in her comments about the events in Soochow leading up to Pearl Harbor. Her work was indispensable to her husband's career as wife, mother, caretaker, nurse, teacher, cook and social secretary. She was equally revered by the Chinese community.

Nora's mother, Mary McClellan Lambuth was an extremely intelligent individual who mastered written and spoken Chinese during her tenure as a missionary (see 1005-6-1:18). She also provided the means for her children's education and was an active and vital force in the Chinese community according to her daughter and granddaughter.

Nora Lambuth Park and Mary McClellan Lambuth are two figures who deserve further illumination because of their pivotal role in family development and stabilization, community work and religious dedication.

Diaries and journals belonging to Mary Isabella McClellan Lambuth and Walter R. Lambuth can be found at the J.B. Cain Archives, Millsaps-Wilson Library, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi.

The lives of William Hector Park and Dwight Lamar Sherertz illustrate the more public and well known series of events among missionaries in China. Their letters, memoirs, diaries and public statements give a broad view of events in China before and during World War II. As a whole, this collection provides a valuable glimpse of their private family life as well. Specifically, the lives of Margarita Park Sherertz, Nora Lambuth Park and Mary McClellan Lambuth come into focus as "the thread which binds" generation to generation.

The Rose Thomason papers document her work as a church leader, educator and writer. Here the researcher will find evidence of her efforts on women’s issues as well as her personal struggles with career, illness, and relationships which can be found in her writings.

In the COSROW series there are a number of areas covered in a variety of genres which include: Equal Rights Movement, women’s liberation, inclusive language, women being fairly represented in the church, minutes, correspondence, legislation for General Conference, regional training events, etc. One item of provenance note is an oversized working notebook of COSROW related documents which are broken up into multiple file folders while the original order is maintained. The contents reveal and encapsulate the breath and scope of Rose’s work which include topics such as national issues, correspondence, supporting documents for publications, petitions to General Conference, dialogue with the Council of Bishops, regional work in the form of events notes, caucuses, as well as annual conference activism in the Florida Annual Conference on the themes of advocacy, language, monitoring agencies, etc.

The UMWC series one will find similar issues as those in the COSROW series in the forms of minutes, correspondence, the Caucus’ newsletter entitled “The Flyer” which deals with the issues such as ordination of homosexuals, Equal Rights Amendment, sex roles in the denomination to name just a few items. The documents reveal how the Caucus partnered with Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministry, General Commission on the Status and Role of Women and Pew Women brought great change in the way women were treated and perceived as persons and leaders. The caucus and Pew Women were the grass roots, boots on the ground part of the above-mentioned quadrilateral. Officers of the caucus, like Rose, also became leaders in the two general agencies.

The Study Commissions series have a number of standard record types that include news releases, minutes, reports and manuscript papers. If one area stands above all others in this series, it would be documents related to the Itineracy Study. These files are loaded with resources that range from articles to resource papers by various authors. This section is worth researching if you are looking for historical materials related to the questions of handling clergy couples, spouses with careers outside the church, hardships caused by the itineracy on families, etc.

In the Writing Series you will find a large collection of Thomason’s poems, speeches, manuscripts in both published formats or personal unpublished manuscripts. It should be noted that there are unfinished works as well. The fan letters’ folder contains a number of correspondences between Rose and her close friends, people inspired by her writings - especially "Shoring Up My Soul, A Year with Cancer", as she only has days and hours left to live. Robert, her husband, sent emails to a number of her friends and fans on a daily basis giving updates to Rose’s condition during her last moments. He also sent emails out announcing her death. The letters are testimonials to those who were personally touched by her life and work. The manuscripts of poems and stories illustrate her struggles with health, social issues and relationships. These documents show who Rose is and why she did the work deemed important to her on all levels of her life. A number of the poems and stories reflect filial relationships.

The Education series contains elements of Thomason’s life as a student along with her teaching career as a Reading Comprehension and English teacher on both a secondary and college. There is an oral history done by Mary Elizabeth Moore for the Program for Women in Theology and Ministry at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, which features both Rose Thomason and Nancy Grissom Self in dialogue about their shared experience and continued friendship on women’s fight against institutional sexism and racism during the last half of the twentieth century. Many of the essays in the Student and Professional Papers date from Thomason’s higher education.

The Family series primarily contains documents created by Thomason, her husband Robert and their children, Mark and Bryan.

The papers contains file folders on various places, organizations, and people Ralph T. Templin associated with during his missions. There are five files while he was at Central State University. Eight files directly related with missionary work in India but there are a number of others also pertaining to the India Missions. Eight files on the Puerto Rican independence nationalist movement which Ralph Templin strongly supported. There are various amounts on information pertaining to the Peacemaker movement and a number of files on personal correspondence. The other folders are manuscripts and published works. Some files contain photographs and newspaper clippings. The last box of the collection contains three large copies of Templin's, "Farewell Address" at Clancey High School. Two of the copies are in English and the final copy is in Sanskrit.

This collection contains sermons by Paul R. Koontz. There are approximately 1,800 sermons. The sermons were handwritten or typed on small pieces of paper or note cards. Most of the sermons have notations on them regarding when and where the sermon was preached. There are a few other items in this collection. One folder contains a few notes on Bible chapters and themes. There is also a folder of hymns and poems Koontz used to supplement his sermons. Finally, there are eight church bulletins in this collection. These are dated 1918-1931.

The Bishop Gilbert Haven papers currently consist of correspondence, various writings in the genres of addresses, essays, notes, poems, sermons, speeches along with printed matter and ephemera. There are approximately one thousand and five hundred plus letters between colleagues, friends, abolitionists, ministers, bishops, editors, business persons, strangers, etc. Haven's elevated status in the Methodist Episcopal Church and in New England abolitionist circles is evident from the considerable number of letters from major figures in both the denomination, American politics and intellectual movements during the mid-19th century. The correspondence includes letters from philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, abolitionist and editor William Lloyd Garrison, suffragists and abolitionists’ Lucy Stone and Frances Willard and Frederick Douglass, Bishop Matthew Simpson, Bishop Edward Raymond Ames, Bishop Willard Francis Mallalieu, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, Massachusetts governors’ John Albion Andrew and William Claflin, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Vice President Schuyler Colfax, and Civil War general and President of the United States Ulysses Simpson Grant to name a few. Topics include slavery and the abolitionist movement, denominational issues regarding church polity, viewpoints on race, mission work, the church’s role during reconstruction in the southern states and the treatment of free and ex-slaves as equals in post Civil War America.

There are a few persons or topics Haven collected in correspondence form which needs to be highlighted. The Reverend John N. Mars was a freed slave who worked with a couple of protestant denominations who eventually became a clergy member of the New England Annual Conference. His letters reflect not only the state of race and the need for status change during the Civil War but also his subsequent work as a missionary to the fledgling African American Washington Annual Conference. John Brown makes a short appearance in the correspondence though he personally is not writing Haven but there is one glowing letter Haven wrote Brown just before his execution. There is another letter to a former follower of Brown. Correspondence with national figures such as Grant, Colfax and Emerson are few in number with the originals closed to the public. Letters to and from former classmates of Wilbraham Academy and Wesleyan University are not only worth noting because of their intellectual content of that period which, in turn, produced many abolitionists. Yet the correspondence also illustrates how the two schools produced many leaders in both the Methodist Episcopal Church and influential figures in the New England area and later beyond as these men spread across the United States.

Haven’s family correspondence is insightful for a number of reasons. One of the first observations the researcher will find is the close relationship Haven had with family members both biologically and by marriage, especially the women. He maintains a robust correspondence with his cousin, Bishop Erastus Haven. Mary Ingraham Haven’s correspondence is primarily incoming correspondence from family that Haven maintained close contact with after her premature death. The letters to William Ingraham, his son, one of two children that survived childbirth, reveals a doting father whose pathos and love are apparent in good times and bad. These same letters speak to Haven’s compassionate character which defined his ministry and political views. All the letters to his mother and sisters reveal a “journal” of his career as well as giving support and advice which became bilateral in direction.

The Writing series is composed of different genres that include a variety of mediums by which one can discover the orthodox Protestant viewpoint the Haven maintained despite his liberalism in the areas of racial equality and abolitionism. The largest genre would be the sermons but there are exceptions to this specific genre such as his student commencement speech at Wesleyan. It is often difficult to distinguish between sermons, speeches and addresses by length or Scriptural notation in the titles. The topics are diverse as witnessed in the container list. The documents illustrate a snapshot of higher education’s intellectual training and praxis in the mid-nineteenth century. Haven had a gift for writing poetry, especially the few examples which resonate the sadness over Mary’s death. The essays and musings are a light-hearted romp into Haven’s soul.

The Printed Matter contains published articles related to Haven’s 1862-1863 trip overseas and Mexico in the early 1870s when Haven helped William Butler establish mission work for Northern Methodism. There are also articles on pertinent topics related to the church such as camp meetings, discord over the hymnal, race and Methodist Itinerancy. Almost all of these clippings were published in the denominational newspaper, the Christian Advocate.

The Ephemera series contains photocopied documents with a few exceptions dealing with the history of Haven family’s finances, church activity, truncated genealogy, etc. These primarily deal with the Haven’s life in the Malden area starting in the late eighteenth century. The originals were donated to the Malden Historical Society.

Finally the Diaries series contains six folders ranging in date from 1841 to 1879. These items are not comprised of daily entries. One diary has copies of letter Haven wrote to various individuals. The 1861 diary records Haven's ninety day enlistment in the Union Army as chaplain to the 8th Massachusetts Militia Volunteers.

The researcher will notice photocopies of original documents in folders except the Ephemera series for the reason stated above. The originals either are too large to fit in the standard folder or closed to the public because of security issues. The oversize documents can be viewed by requesting permission from the attending archivist.

The Mellony Turner papers primarily documents her life as a missionary in Bulgaria. There is a number of records on the American School for Girls in Lovetch, consisting of photographs, textbooks, yearbooks, and financial records. Turner's notebooks and lecture notes are included in the collection. It should be noted that there is a single folder containing information on closing the school. Turner kept diaries during her tenure in Bulgaria as well extensive correspondence. There are general images in both photograph and slide format ranging from the royal family of Bulgaria to her own family in the United States. Turner has a copy of a sermon by Bishop Burt; the bishop who had established the Bulgarian mission at the beginning of the twentieth century. Clippings and other types of publications reflect Bulgarian life and politics. There are eight lectures and a sermon written by Turner. Artifacts are personal in nature, reflecting the clothing and accessories of mid-twentieth century Bulgarian dress. There is a pot in the artifact series as well.

The other series within the collection reflects Turner's immediate family. The few records relating to her parents deal with their will and a folder of letters. Mellony's brother, Ewart Turner's three folders are related to his spying for the United States War Department during the World War II. Though he was ministering to a church in the United States during the war, Ewart was familiar with German communities in Europe and South America. The War Department had Turner collect information on Germans, in the U.S., who were thought to be a threat to national security during the war. This information is elucidated in a correspondence folder.

Record types include journals, sermons, correspondence, bank drafts, ministerial licenses, circuit plans, and a legal document. There is also a typed manuscript of the journal. The journal is the handwritten original manuscript recording the events of York's daily life, as well as his physical and spiritual health, from 1869 to 1871. The typed manuscript is a transcription of this same journal by the donor, though the sequence of entries is not the same as in the original document. The original order of the journal entries is unclear, as the document arrived with the pages out of sequence, and much re- arranging was necessary. An exact match between the chronology of the manuscript journal and the transcription was not possible. The sermons consist of two handwritten sermon fragments on texts from Exodus and Galatians. There is also a short handwritten poem. The correspondence is two letters to York, one of which is from William Mugoleton and the other, from George Ripley. Both are handwritten originals. The bank drafts are receipts for money loaned. The ministerial licenses consist of four local preacher licenses issued to York by Quarterly Meetings from 1841 to 1856. The circuit local preacher's plans are from Market Darborough Circuit (Wesleyan Methodist Church, England, 1841) and New York and New York East Districts (Methodist Episcopal Church, 1852). Both show the locations in which local preachers are scheduled to take services during one quarter. The legal document is a court summons pertaining to the execution of York's will in 1884.

The John Dreisbach Papers contains his printed sermon book, sermon outline book (1853-1854), and a personal diary - all written in German. In the sermon outline book, there is a reference to an 1876 date which relates to A. E. Dreisbach's estate; a descendant's of John. After the A. E. Dreisbach entry, writings from the childhood of Arthur W. Dreisbach, another descendant, can be found. There are extra copies of his John's sermons with English translations. The images include two glass ambrotype portraits of John and his and two additional photographs of John. There is correspondence to a Reverend A. Stapleton, as well as other correspondence, which gives information about Dreisbach and items within the collection.

Records pertaining to Dreisbach's family history are in notation format. There are other personal papers which include poems, hymns, a copy of John's final testament and a couple of passages from his journal. These records are written in both German and English. The sole artifact is a lamp bracket from the First Evangelical Church in Dayton, Ohio, which was used by John Dreisbach as a potato masher.