Archives | VAUMC

The Virginia Conference archivist is Stephanie Davis, (804) 521-1132 [email protected]

If you have a research question or would like to make an appointment to visit the Archives, please call or email first. Contributions of suitable records and memorabilia are welcomed, but advanced notice is required before bringing materials to the Conference Center. Donors will be asked to sign a Certificate of Gift agreement.

Located on the second floor of the Virginia United Methodist Center in Glen Allen, Virginia, the Virginia Conference Archives contains a rich treasury of artifacts and records from the history of the Conference, its churches and its people. The current Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church is the successor to seven denominations and 38 conferences. Preserving the record of this historic conference is the task of the Conference Archives.

The CD, “The Ministerial Heritage of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church,” is for sale in the Archives. Created by Rev. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr., this database of pastoral records is a valuable research resource.

Guidelines for Historians and Managing Records

Guidelines for Managing Records of the Annual Conference & the Local Church (pdf)
Guidelines for Retaining the Records of Closed United Methodist Churches (pdf)
Church Historian Guidelines (pdf)

Types of items the Archives contains

Please contact the Archivist for precise holdings information:

Records of Conference Agencies

Clergy memoirs, pastoral records, and photos

Conference Journals and Minutes

District Records

Church histories

The Virginia Advocate

The Richmond Christian Advocate

The Christian Advocate

Closed church records

Heritage Magazine

Methodist Magazine

Information about Virginia United Methodist colleges

Special Collections: Collins Denny, Jean Craig, and Jacob Peyton Simpson.

Various Artifacts and pictures

Archives Donation Policy (pdf)
Archives M ission Statement (pdf)

The Virginia Conference is unquestionably the most complex and the most richly historic of any conference in Methodism. After all, the current Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church is the successor to seven denominations and 38 conferences. Preserving the record of this historic conference is the task of the Conference Archives, housed in the Virginia Conference Center.

That record includes the minutes of the predecessor conferences — admittedly with some gaps — and the current Virginia Conference. In fact, the archives collection includes the leather-bound, handwritten minutes of the first 10 conferences of American Methodism — 1773 to 1783.

A museum collection which may be viewed near the entrance to the building includes historic items such as the pine pulpit used in the first conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Petersburg, May 1846. Also on exhibit there is a mantel from “Church Hill,” the Fairfax County home of William and Ann Adams, whose home was an early meetinghouse and often welcomed Francis Asbury. Also housed in the archives are the records of conference agencies, clergy, and closed churches, and several special collections, including a significant collection inherited from the United Methodist Historical Society of Northern Virginia.

Conference Archives is creating a database of pastoral records for everyone who has served in full connection within the bounds of the present Virginia Conference. Stephen E. Bradley Jr. is building this valuable resource. The archives collection offers a helpful research facility for genealogists and church historians. The collection includes a rich treasury of artifacts from the history of the conference, its churches, and its people.

Since its founding in 1932, the Conference Historical Society has encouraged individuals and churches to preserve their historic artifacts and, where appropriate, to place them in the Conference Archives. The Conference Archives welcomes contributions of suitable records and memorabilia, but please inquire in advance before bringing materials to the Conference Center. Donors will be asked to sign a gift agreement.

The archives are housed in a secure, spacious, and well-appointed facility where the valuable records of the conference are maintained in a controlled environment for the use of the conference and its staff and members. Contact Conference Archives at (804) 521-1132.

Related Boards and Commissions:
General Commission on Archives and History