THE MEMPHIS CONFERENCE ARCHIVES

The Memphis Conference collection is located with the Lambuth University Archives in the Luther L. Gobbel Library and is available weekdays by appointment. Email, mail, and phone queries are welcome and are addressed in the order they are received, and as time allows. Jackie Wood serves as the archivist on a part-time basis.

The Archives collection pertains mostly to the Conference and its activities and records. There is some biographical material on ministers, especially those who died while serving in the Memphis Conference. There is a small amount of early local church material that has been rescued and donated to us.

Files are kept on all of the local churches in the Conference, but the materials for these files must be sent to us by the local churches. If the church has not sent us copies of historic materials, we have nothing on the history of that church except in those rare cases when old record books have been found and donated.

Most of the materials must be painstakingly dug out bit by bit by reading the old Journals page by page, checking Women’s Society Yearbooks, reading District records, etc. The Archives does not have the staff to do lengthy research, but we will answer simple requests whenever possible and as time allows.

The following items in our collection may be of help:

Minutes of the Annual Conferences, 1773-1956.

Condensed minutes of all the Annual Conferences in the United States. They include ministers admitted on trial, ordained, retiring and deceased; membership numbers by district; appointments by district. These are the only records we have of the Memphis Conference until 1862. For the years before the Memphis Conference was formed, it is helpful to check the Kentucky and Tennessee Conferences.

Journals of the Memphis Annual Conference, 1862 to current.

Minutes of the sessions of the Annual Conference. There is no listing of individual local churches, only of circuits, until the mid-1920s when local church statistics are listed. There is no indexing of these volumes except for 1862-67. Conference minutes do not contain founding dates of local churches.

General Conference Minutes, Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Fairly complete collection with a few gaps in early years.

South-Western Christian Advocate (microfilm) 1838-1846 and Nashville Christian Advocate (microfilm) 1846-1861, 1869-1914.

Memphis Conference officials and churches often sent important news to the Advocate, even when it was not the official Conference newspaper. Births and deaths of ministers' families and of local church people often appear, as well as some information on local churches.

Western Methodist, Index and Abstracts of Obituaries, 1833-1834.

This is the predecessor of the South-Western Christian Advocate and the Nashville Christian Advocate.

Nashville Christian Advocate, Index and Abstracts of Obituaries, 1838-1861, 1869-1893, 1897-1919, 1929.

Wesley (or Wolf River) Circuit Quarterly Conference Minutes (microfilm and handwritten paper) 1830s to 1885.

These are the oldest records in the Archives. They cover the area between Jackson and Memphis during the very earliest days of settlement. At one time most of the churches in the area were on this circuit as it developed and changed. As more circuits were formed, churches dropped out of the listing. A name and place index for extreme West Tennessee, prepared by Joy Rosser and Bernice Cargill, is available.

Wadesboro-Murray Circuit Quarterly Conference Minutes (microfilm, very poor condition) 1832-1878.

Our oldest Kentucky records, this major circuit covered a large area around Calloway County. An abstract and name index prepared by Pat Crawford is available. Microfilm labeled Alphabetical List of Ministers and Histories of Local Churches (very poor quality and difficult to read) may contain the Kentucky church histories taken to Paducah and microfilmed by the University of Kentucky in 1963.

Deceased Ministers Files.

Covers ministers who died while connected to the Memphis Conference. These files contain obituaries from the Conference Journal and, occasionally, material donated by families, clippings from Conference newspapers, and photocopies of other biographical material. These files may be accessed by cards that note the year joined, year ordained, located or transferred, and whether the minister's picture appears in a Memphis Conference Journal.

Local Church Files.

These files contain materials donated by the churches, such as histories, pictures, copies of historic materials, clippings. They are indexed by county.

Yearbooks for the Women’s Society and its antecedents.

Fairly complete from about 1890. These files contain some records of local church units being formed and lists of donations by local units. Sometimes this is the only clue to the existence of a local church.

Disciplines from 1840 to present.

Fairly complete set of M.E., South; some M.E., all United Methodist.

Diaries of early Memphis Conference ministers including James Blackard, Joseph T.C. Collins, Thomas J. Lowrey, collection of Peeples family materials, R.V. Taylor collection.

Quarterly Conference Records from a variety of churches or District Superintendents.

 No complete runs; just scattered record books.

Records of Closed Churches.

Materials regarding over twenty discontinued churches. Although most of these records are incomplete, they still may provide useful information to the researcher.

Marvin College Materials.

One book of assorted bulletins from 1888 to 1920; a few letters and pictures. No student records.

RARE BOOKS

LAMBUTH UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

The Lambuth University Archives includes records and documents from the Memphis Conference Female Institute. Old record books include names of students, guardians’ and parents' names, tuition, and grades. There are a number of photographs and memorabilia from MCFI as well as of Lambuth College (University). President A.W. Jones' diaries and Sarah Clement's original manuscript of the history of the school are highlights of the collection. With the exception of a few years, there is a full run of catalogs and annuals for the school.

A card file includes names of MCFI students gleaned from sources within the archives and provides a valuable searching aid.

Last Updated January 22, 2008