Archivist
Dr. Milton Loyer
917 Emily Drive
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
717-766-0977

Making Contact
The archivist lives 100 miles from the archives and makes weekly visits to manage the site. Unless indicated otherwise in the special message at the end of this website, the archives is always open Mondays (including holidays) 9 am to 8 pm. In addition, the archivist is usually on site Sunday evenings from 8 pm to 11:30 pm. During the summer and breaks between semesters, at times when the library is not open, you may have to call into the archives room (570-321-4088) for the archivist to come and admit you. The telephone at the archives is answered only when the archivist is present. Mail and e-mail are answered weekly. If you are planning a visit to the archives or wish to speak with someone Tuesday through Saturday, please contact the archivist at his home.

What We Have
The United Methodist Church includes three distinct predecessor denominations: The Evangelical Church (including the Evangelical Association and the United Evangelical Church), The Methodist Church (including the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church) and the United Brethren Church. The Evangelical and United Brethren denominations united in 1946 to form the Evangelical United Brethren (or EUB) Church. The archives maintains an historical file on each active church and each known former church within these traditions. The archives has complete sets of local conference journals and many denominational materials from each of these traditions.

What We Don't Have
In the United Methodist Church, each congregation is responsible for maintaining its own records of membership, baptisms, marriages, etc. The archives does not attempt to gather information of this nature from individual congregations. The archives will, however, attempt to put individuals seeking such information in contact with the proper local congregation.

Special Collections
The Central Pennsylvania Conference archives seeks to be an active United Methodist research facility. We have extensive collections of artifacts, disciplines, yearbooks, histories, hymnals, books, periodicals and other publications from each of our predecessor denominations. The following collections are representative:

* Major gospel songbook collection (which we are in the process of indexing)
* Secular historical material for the 28 counties within our conference
* Biographical materials on local clergy and nationally prominent religious figures
* A collection of Wesleyana
* Three large museum-type display cases -- one Evangelical, one United Brethren, one Methodist -- of artifacts suitable for viewing by confirmation classes or interested individuals

On Line Data Bases

1. PASTORS:
    a. Pennsylvania UB Pastors  gives basic information (birth, death, spouse, appointments, obituary reference, notes and other relevant references) on every person known to have (1) been licensed or ordained in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania, East Pennsylvania or Allegheny Conferences of the United Brethren [and EUB] Church or (2) served an appointment in the one of those Conferences.  The list includes the years 1964-1968 when these churches and pastors were part of the Susquehanna Conference of the EUB denomination.  The list is currently complete for the Pennsylvania and East Pennsylvania Conferences.  Inclusion of those serving only in the Allegheny Conference is in progress.
    b. Central Pennsylvania Methodist Pastors  gives basic information (birth, death, spouse, appointments, obituary reference, notes and other relevant references) on every person known to have (1) been licensed or ordained in Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Methodist Episcopal [and Methodist] Church or (2) served an appointment in that Conference 1868-1968. 
    c. East Baltimore Conference  gives basic information (birth, death, spouse, appointments, obituary reference, notes and other relevant references) on every person known to have (1) been licensed or ordained in East Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church or (2) served an appointment in that Conference 1856-1868. 

2. CHURCHES:
    The following are works in progress.  The goal is to have two links, one to closed churches and one to present churches, that will give information arranged by county about every United Methodist (and predecessor denomination) church building known to have existed within the boundaries of the present Central Pennsylvania Conference.
    a. closed churches. Closed Churches
    b. present churches. Open Churches

3.MEMOIRS:
     Central Pennsylvania United Methodist Memoirs  gives an alphabetic list of all obituaries appearing in the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church (1970 to the present) for pastors, spouses of pastors, and missionaries.

4. CONFERENCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS: (in progress)
    a. The Chronicle.  The Historical Society of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church has produced a quality scholarly yet readable journal every year beginning in 1990.  Some back issues are available, and several libraries and other facilities have complete sets, but several volumes and the information they contain are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.  It is our intention to place all the back issues on line, beginning with 2009's Volume XX and working backward.  That material will be available at this location as soon as it ready.
    b. James M. Black and Friends, Contributions of Williamsport PA to American Gospel Music.
    c. Autobiography of John Fohl

5. OTHER ITEMS:
     a.  Central Pennsylvania United Methodist gives in Word format a brief article on some matter of current interest related to the history of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church and its predecessors.


RELEVANT and/or INTERESTING LINKS

General Commission on Archives and History
This is the website of the denominational archives of the United Methodist Church, located on the campus of Drew University in Madison NJ. There is an explanation of what is available, instructions for making contact and asking questions, and contact information for every individual United Methodist Conference in the United States -- as well as directions for determining which conference you should be contacting.

Central Pennsylvania Conference
This is the website of the Central PA Conference of the United Methodist Church, the parent body of this archives. The site contains information about and links to congregations, personnel, districts, and agencies of the conference. There is also (fairly) current news, announcements of special events, job listings, etc.

NEJ Bulletin
This is the current issue of the NEJ Bulletin, issued quarterly by the Commission on Archives and History of the Northeastern Jurisdiction.

Weekly Update: last modified 2/1/2010

MEETINGS/COMMITMENTS for the next few weeks.
Thu 3/11 - 10 am, Conference Commission on Archives and History, place TBA.
Fri 3/12 to Sat 3/13 - all day both days, Planet Wisdom Youth Conference in Washington DC.
Sat 3/20 - all day, research and meetings in Lancaster County.
.

REGULAR ON-GOING COMMITMENT
Sundays 6pm to 8 pm - youth fellowship, Shepherdstown UMC