Search

Scholar, editor, collector, and Duke University faculty member specializing in the history of English and American Methodist history, and the life and career of minister John Wesley. Collection documents the professional career and life of Frank Baker, historian of Methodism and particularly of the founder and Methodist minister John Wesley. Materials are arranged in the following series: Baker Collections Files; Correspondence; Libraries and Archives; Ministry; Personal Files; Printed Materials; Professional Service; Scrapbooks and Albums; Subject Files; Teaching Materials; and Writings and Research. Topics covered include: the history of the Baker book and manuscript collections in the Duke University libraries; the history and development of Methodism and of the Wesley family; the Church of England; the Methodist Church in England, the U.S., and other countries; the development of academic research on Methodist history; music and hymnology; and material on the Wesley Works Series, a publishing project headed by Baker. There are abundant research materials on notable individuals associated with Methodism such as Charles Wesley and many other Wesley family members, William Grimshaw, and Francis Asbury. Printed material abounds, and includes many maps, articles, clippings and newspapers, pamphlets, and religious music.

Collection comprises a 35-page memorandum book maintained by the Haulsey family of London, England, from 1646-1846. The memoranda usually record marriages, births, christenings, deaths, and burials, but there are also separate notes on family genealogy, as well as a few notes on land tenancy transfers, and money lent and received. There is one record regarding numbers of silver trays and candlesticks. Volume entries are handwritten on varying types of paper, and are not in chronological order. The volume also features an embroidered binding and a metal-clasp closure with initials G.W. (one clasp is missing). The embroidery includes images of day and night, as well as a dog, monkey, church, house, windmill, swallow, snail, and various plants and flowers.