African Americans–Genealogy

ATHENS, Ga., June 8, 2023 — Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, this collection is the Pitts Theology Library’s first collaboration with the DLG and is available here: Georgia Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church Collection.

The collection is comprised of bound conference journals dating from 1867 to 1939, produced by the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC), a Northern church that established missions in Georgia during the Reconstruction Era, working closely with the Freedman’s Aid Society to find schools and colleges for the formerly enslaved while integrating the then-separate Black and white churches into the same conference. MEC churches were established in both rural and urban areas throughout the state.

The conference journals contain the minutes, reports, and statistics of the Methodist Episcopal Church and its individual congregations throughout the state of Georgia. They present value for researchers interested in the history of religion and race in Georgia, genealogical records of the clergy, the disparity between Black and white congregations, and other statistical data. The materials are useful for genealogists, scholars of Methodism, and historians of Georgia during the Reconstruction Era as well as the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

Thomas Elliott, Jr., D.Min., associate professor in the practice of practical theology and Methodist studies and the director of Contextual Education II, Teaching Parish, and Internships Candler School of Theology, Emory University, defines the importance of digital access to this content:

“This particular subset of Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) journals, 1867-1925, documents an important period in Georgia Methodism spanning from the Reconstruction Era to the period preceding the unification of the MEC with two other Methodist denominations. As a lifelong Methodist and Elder in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, these journals significantly contribute to my own denomination’s history despite the relatively small size of the MEC Georgia conferences. These materials are essential tools for researching Methodist history, and having them more accessible to my students and the wider public further helps preserve the Methodist tradition. I know I speak for my “Methodist at Candler” colleagues in saying that interaction with these types of primary sources is a significant part of the educational experience in Methodist Studies at Candler.”

[View the entire collection online]

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About the Pitts Theology Library

Pitts Theology Library, one of Emory University’s six instructional libraries, holds a distinguished collection of theological materials and is one of the premier theological libraries in North America. Supporting the students and faculty of Candler School of Theology at Emory University and researchers from around the world, Pitts is home to superb collections in theology and cognate disciplines, housed in a new state-of-the-art facility and served by a highly trained professional staff. For more information, visit pitts.emory.edu.

Image courtesy of Pitts Theology Library
Title: Minutes of the Seventh Session of the Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held at Atlanta, Ga., beginning October 15th, 1873

https://dlg.usg.edu/record/emt_gcmec_8354

Description: The minutes of the 7th Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 15-21, 1873.

Image courtesy of Pitts Theology Library

Title: Journal of the Sessions of the Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church from the Reorganization, as the Georgia Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Atlanta [on] October 10, 1867, by Bishop Davis W. Clark

https://dlg.usg.edu/record/emt_gcmec_8390

Description: The journal of the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church from its reorganization as the Georgia Mission Conference in 1867 through the split of the Georgia and Savannah Conferences in 1897.

Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, over 3,000 pages of digitized African American funeral programs from Evans County, Georgia, and other Southeastern towns and cities are now freely available in the Digital Library of Georgia and can be seen online here:

African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022

The collection of 637 individual programs dates between 1961-2022, with the birth dates of the people represented going back to 1870.

Pharris D. Johnson, former mayor of Bellville, Georgia, chairman of the Savannah College of Art and Design Board of Trustees, and Vice President of the Evans County Historical Society says:

“The Evans County Community Center and African American Archive Museum serves our community in an outstanding manner. They accomplish their mission with a small budget and through dedicated volunteers. As we know, funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information. [These materials from] the Evans County Community Center Archives are an important resource for the residents of Evans and surrounding counties.”

Documenting an underrepresented region of Georgia, this collection provides important information for genealogical research and for understanding African American life during different time periods.

Funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information and typically include a photograph of the deceased individual, an obituary, a list of surviving relatives, and information about the funeral service. Some programs provide more extensive genealogical information such as birth and death dates, maiden names, past residences, accomplishments, affiliations, and burial locations. For marginalized populations, this information can often be difficult to find, as the records of many in these communities were often either destroyed, kept privately, or never created in the first place.

The Evans County African American Archive Museum has collected funeral programs for over twenty years. Since then, residents have contributed to the collection.

Darin McCoy of the Evans County Historical Society notes:

“[Our] facility operates within an under-served rural county in terms of digitized African American history. However, the Evans County Historical Society alumni and the Evans County African American Archive Museum leadership team are well-known advocates for the preservation and collection of local African American history and artifacts. Our featured displays, public events, and family presentations are unique and emphasize the historical value of these entities. The vision, collections, and the preservation of artifacts, begun over twenty (20) years ago, have now come to fruition.”

Digitization and access have been made possible through the Digital Library of Georgia’s competitive digitization subgrant program and are displayed and searchable within their online portal. The Digital Library of Georgia has also partnered with local libraries and the Georgia Public Library Service to digitize African American funeral programs for people connected to the Atlanta, Augusta-Richmond County, and Thomas County areas.

About the Evans County African American Archive Museum (Claxton, Ga.)

The mission of the Evans County African American Archive Museum is to provide means for all citizens of Evans County to obtain an excellent quality of life through programs and services. The Archive was the recipient of a 2021 GHRAC Award for History Advocacy. Their Facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/Evans-County-Community-Center-343942125941003/

Selected images from the collection: