Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1800-2008 (Creation)
Extent
133 cubic feet
Name of creator
Administrative history
The General Conference has been the supreme governing body throughout the history of the United Methodist tradition. It has generally met once every four years. The General Conferences' origins lie in John Wesley's conferences with his assistants held in England.
The Methodist Tradition. The General Conference traces its origins back to the Christmas Conference of 1784, when the Methodist Episcopal Church was formed. The growth and development of the General Conference in the Methodist tradition may be outlined through three successive periods. The first was from 1792 to 1808, at which time a delegated General Conference came into being. During this first period, every minister was a member of the Conference. The second period was from 1808 until 1940. Even though separate Methodist denominations came into existence, all used delegated General Conferences. These meetings made legislation for the denomination, elected denominational presidents or bishops and acted as a judicial review body.
After 1940, the powers of the General Conference regarding election and judicial review were delegated to new bodies, but it still retained the legislative function for the denomination. The General Conference is still the only organization which can 'speak' for the entire denomination.
The Evangelical United Brethren Tradition. In 1946, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ merged with the Evangelical Church to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ began with the preaching of Philip William Otterbein and Martin Boehm in the 1760s.
On September 25, 1800 at a meeting of Otterbein, Martin Boehm, and other lay ministers at the home of Peter Kemp in Maryland , the church was formally organized under the name, "Church of the United Brethren in Christ." In 1815, the first General Conference was held near Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. . A second General Conference was held June 2, 1817 which arranged for quadrennial sessions of the General Conference.
The Evangelical Association of North America was founded by Jacob Albright. Jacob Albright whose itinerant preaching resulted, in 1803, in the organization of a group called "Albright's People" (Die Albrecht's Leute).
In 1807, the first conference was held at Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania but it was not until 1816 that the first General Conference was held which, among other activities changed the Church's name to "The Evangelical Association" (Evangelische Gemeinschaft).
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The collection holds petitions and committee minutes from the various General Conferences for the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Uniting Conference of the Methodist Church (1939), and the United Methodist Church. The Methodist Episcopal series begins in 1800, with hand- written minutes and concludes with 1938. The United Methodist Church series begins with 1972. The material deals with all matters which came before the committees of the General Conference. Actions of the committees where passed onto the floor of the General Conference and if passed where incorporated into the Discipline. The minutes of the committee work usually does not include a transcript of their discussions, only their actions on the various petitions before them. The distinction between the petition original and copy is that the original was kept by the General Conference's administrative office, while the copy went to the committee. Late petitions arrived at the administrative offices after the filing deadline. To see actual floor debates or the reports of agencies or special commissions to the General Conference see the Journal of the General Conference and/or the Daily Christian Advocate.
The Evangelical United Brethren records begin with 1946 and end with 1966 The Church of the United Brethren in Christ records begin with 1901 and end at 1945. There is also a folder with some records for the 19th century. There are no records for the Evangelical Association.
System of arrangement
This collection is arranged by series and subseries.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Denominational agency journals, reports and committee minutes are open to the pubilc unless they have been closed in accordance with requirements specified in the Discipline. Denominational agency staff office records are closed for twenty- five (25) years after creation. Personnel records are closed for at least 75 years. Appeals can be made to the General Commission on Archives and History, P. O. Box 127, Madison, NJ 07940.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Detailed use restrictions relating to our collections can be requested from the office of the archivist at the General Commission on Archives and History. Photocopying is handled by the staff and may be limited in certain instances. Before using any material for publication from this collection a formal request for permission to publish is expected and required.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, Records of the General Conference, United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey. Do not make use of the items' call number as that is not a stable descriptor.
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Prepared by Morris Davis and Elizabeth Pullen, student assistants, and Robert Simpson, Assistant Archivist in the original processing. Jean Yrigoyen, Assistant Archivist in later additions. L. Dale Patterson, Archivist
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Evangelical United Brethren Church. General Conference (Subject)
- Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New constitution). General Conference (Subject)
- Methodist Episcopal Church. General Conference (Subject)
- Methodist Episcopal Church, South. General Conference (Subject)
- Methodist Church (U.S.) . General Conference (Subject)
- Methodist Church (U.S.). Uniting Conference (Subject)