Correspondence, 1632-1637, 1710, 1738-1966, 1988, and undated

Extent:

17 boxes, approx. 3000 items

Scope and content:

Series is divided into thirty-six subseries for individuals and four subseries classified by groups. Primarily contains loose letters, letterbooks, broadsides, and other materials sent by and to Methodist ministers and laity from the time of the Wesleys through the 19th century. A significant portion of the material was created by people contemporary to the Wesleys. Some items are in short-hand - a sample of Wesley's own shorthand (without a key, however) is included in an information folder in box WF1.

The series includes official and personal correspondence, theological discourse, poems, journals, biographies, and notes that reveal daily life among the early British Methodists, the external growth and internal establishment of Wesleyan Methodism, and important controversies in the church at the time, especially the Calvinist-Arminian controversy and arguments over the sacraments and the relationship of Methodism to the Anglican Church. There are also materials referring to ecclesiastical controversies after the death of the Wesleys.

Other important topics include early Methodist missions; early training institutions; Methodism's relation to church and state; the split with the Church of England; and important debate over women preachers and the role overall of women in the church.

Contents

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