The Methodist Societies Series (Volumes 9-10), 1739-1799, 1864-1869, 1958-1991 and undated

Extent:

12 boxes

Scope and content:

The Methodist Societies unit is divided into two volumes and subseries: History, Nature, and Design (Vol. 9); and Minutes of the Conference (Vol. 10). Completed in 1989, History, Nature, and Design collects a variety of documents, published intermittently throughout Wesley's life, in which in which he attempted to define what a Methodist and Methodism were, and how its societies were to be organized within the Church of England. The materials gathered here contain research, typescripts, and proofs that outline the entire history of the volume's inception, development, and publication. Minutes of the Conference, on the other hand, did not appear until 2011, some twenty to thirty years after these materials were researched and written, so this subseries reflects only the early stages of the volume's development. The subseries consists mainly of photocopies, although many have been densely annotated by Baker, collated, and transcribed into preliminary typescripts. The highlight of this subseries may lie in Baker's unpublished index of John Wesley's preachers. Deemed too long for the published volume, this work compiles brief but detailed chronologies of some 600 18th-century Methodist preachers in England: where they served, when they moved, and other highlights of their lives and careers.

Arranged in two subseries that comprise volumes 9 and 10, respectively: History, Nature, and Design; and Minutes of the Conference. See subseries notes for further detail.

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