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Waldheim United Methodist Church (Waldheim, La.) records

 Collection
Identifier: LACUMC-1978-107

Scope and Contents

This collection documents the activities of Waldheim United Methodist Church (Waldheim, La.). The collection includes membership records, administrative board records, church histories, cemetery records, photographs, and newspaper clippings.

Dates

  • 1878 - 2022

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Physical rights are retained by the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.

Biographical / Historical

Waldheim United Methodist Church was located at 77068 Louisiana Highway, Covington, Louisiana.

Services might have begun at Waldheim as early as 1860 in an old log church, though records are lacking. It is known that a new church was built and dedicated in 1875. The church was 41 by 25 feet and had a steeple with a bell. J. B. A. Ahrens wrote that he had "opened a new field" and had a society of 22 members. The congregation was a part of the German Mission Conference. It was called Boniface Church, after the apostle of the Germans. Through the years, it has also been called St. Tammany Mission, Camp Ground, Talisheek, German Settlement, and now, Waldheim.

On August 29, 1884, John J. Ryan sold 40 acres (which encompassed the church property) to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, German Mission Conference of Texas and Louisiana. In 1887, a "tabernacle" (shed) of 40 by 60 feet was built for the Camp Ground. It had a dirt floor covered with pine needles. Fires were lit on several stands around the shed to provide light at night.

In the early 1930s, an addition was built onto the back of the church. A Fellowship Hall was added in the mid-1950s. Various improvements have been made over the years, such as a new organ (1952 and 1967), air conditioning (1971, though the units were stolen the following year), and furnaces (1974). It is thought that a parsonage was built about the same time as Boniface Church.

Waldheim United Methodist Church disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church in November 2022.

Source: Timothy Hebert, “The Historical Register of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church,” (Louisiana: Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, 2004), page NO-75.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

This item is organized by subject, then chronologically.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Collection consists of multiple accessions. The audiocassette (accession number 1978-107) was likely received from Edmund L. Andrews in 1978. The church history correspondence (accession number 1979-011) was received from Andrews in 1979. The church register was received from an unidentified person likely between 1980 and 2016. The remainder of the collection was dropped off by an unknown person at the Louisiana Conference Office of the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, then transferred by Rhonda Whitley (Ministry Coordinator, Congregational Development and Transformation) in 2023 (accession number 2023-154).

Related Materials

Waldheim United Methodist Church (Waldheim, La.) charge conference records and administrative board records from 1979-1995 can be found within the Fitzgerald United Methodist Church (Covington, La.) records (accession number 2023-148).

Title
Finding Aid to the Waldheim United Methodist Church (Waldheim, La.) records
Author
Beth Vogler, Olivia Brignac, and Chris Brown
Date
2024
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
2911 Centenary Blvd.
Shreveport LA 71104 US
(318) 869-5462