4th Annual Conference: Bible Cause Committee report,, 1849
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the administrative activities handled at the annual meeting of the Louisiana
Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South (MECS). It consists of the following –
Series 1: Meeting minutes and statistical reports (1847-1913), Series 2: Administrative and committee
records (1843-1919), Series 3: Examination of character records (1847-1922).
“Series 1: Meeting minutes and statistical reports” consists of manuscript volumes, which commonly
include the following information: Louisiana Conference MECS detailed answers to a series of
administrative questions appearing in the denomination’s Doctrines and Discipline, appointments for
each pastoral charge (one or more churches assigned to a preacher), committee rosters and reports, and
resolutions. The statistical reports often provide numerical details about each pastoral charge’s
membership, baptisms, church property, finances, youth work, and Sunday Schools.
“Series 2: Administrative and committee records” includes material related to the conference’s
preachers, such as: recommendations for clergy, requests for transfers, and surrendered credentials. It
also includes reports from conference committees on topics such as: Bible Cause, Education (reviewing
the conference’s colleges), Memoirs (drafting biographical summaries of deceased preachers),
Periodicals (primarily regarding the conference’s weekly newspaper, The New Orleans Christian
Advocate), Sunday Schools, and Temperance. This series also contains some correspondence and
financial records.
“Series 3: Examination of character records” relates to charges brought against preachers. Most charges
relate to immorality or breaking Methodist doctrine. These records document the conference’s internal
proceedings and include testimony from witnesses.
Note: Series 1 and 2 contain information often appearing within the Louisiana Conference MECS annual conference journals in published or typescript form; however, some discrepancies exist (for
example: the typescript statistical table for 1847 contains multiple transcription errors when compared
to the original handwritten statistical table). Although much of the information in Series 1 and 2
appears in the published conference journals, it does include some unpublished material. Series 3
contains detailed information usually not published in the conference journals.
Dates
- 1849
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 4 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Creator
- From the Collection: Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Louisiana Conference (Organization)
Repository Details
Part of the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections Repository