Columbia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, Collection, 1866-1893
0.1 cubic foot
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists primarily of photocopies of selected
pages from the handwritten journals of the Columbia Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. These include minutes
of the annual meeting of the conference and reports of the Conference's
Board of Education. These materials include many references to
the establishment and early administration of Corvallis College.
The collection also includes a 13-page typed transcript of portions
of the handwritten journals that specifically pertain to Corvallis
College.
Provenance
These photocopies were made in 1966 at the request of OSU Archivist,
William F. Schmidt, from original journals held at that time by
the Willamette University Library (see "Related Materials"
section below) and the typescript was prepared soon thereafter.
In 1995, both the photocopies and typescript were transferred
to the Manuscripts Collection.
Historical Note
The Columbia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
was organized on October 26, 1866, in Corvallis, Oregon. However,
representatives of the ME Church, South, had been present in Corvallis
since the arrival of Orcenith Fisher in 1858. In 1859, Fisher
purchased Corvallis College which had encountered financial difficulties
and placed the new property (on Fifth Street between and Madison
and Monroe) in the hands of the local church which used it as
both a church and college building.
W.A. Finley was appointed as both the pastor of the church and
president of the college in 1865. In 1866, James Kelsay was appointed
to the Corvallis church, but Finley served as the pastor again
in 1869-1870 while college president. College faculty member,
Joseph Emery, also served as the church's pastor for several years
in the late 1860s through 1870s.
In 1868, Corvallis College was adopted as the agricultural college
of Oregon under the provisions of the Morrill Act and was thereafter
administered by a Board of Trustees and then Board of Regents.
However the Board of the Education of the Columbia Conference
continued to have a strong interest in the operation of the College.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, congregation in Corvallis
(later known as the Madison Street Methodist Church) was united
with the northern Methodist congregation in 1941 to form the First
Methodist Church of Corvallis.
Related Materials
Other materials relating to the early history of Corvallis College
are available in the Board of Trustees
(RG 33), Board of Regents (RG
8), and President's Office (RG
13) Records. The William A. Finley Scrapbook
includes materials pertaining to Finley's association with Corvallis
College and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, both in Oregon
and California.
The original handwritten journals (3 volumes) of the Columbia
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South are held by
the Archives of the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist
Church, which is located in Waller Hall at Willamette University
in Salem, Oregon.
Shelf Locations:
7/1/1/b [12x17 oversize box]
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