(March 19, 2015)

Centenary Archives partners to digitize African American Louisiana Methodist publications (1865-1938)

SHREVEPORT, LA — The Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections recently completed a collaborative project to digitize and make available 73 volumes of Louisiana Methodist conference journals (1865-1938).

"These volumes document the early history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the predominantly African American predecessor conference of today's Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church," said Chris Brown '01, Centenary Archivist. "They contain valuable information about conference proceedings as well as individual congregations and ministers. Also included are photographs of ministers and congregations, plus advertisements for Louisiana businesses. In total, the collection amounts to 5,200 pages of information."

Beverly Harris, Dillard University Archives and Special Collections Librarian, notes that "because of the condition of the paper in these volumes, this project was important." The public can now easily access them in a digital format, which avoids further wear-and-tear on the fragile original volumes.

This project was made possible thanks to a collaboration involving Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections, Dillard University Archives and Special Collections, and Northwestern State University College of Nursing and Allied Health Shreveport Education Center Library. Centenary scanned, cataloged, and uploaded the digital volumes. Dillard houses the original volumes and arranged for Centenary to borrow them. Northwestern's planetary scanner was used to digitize select fragile volumes.

To access this digital collection, visit centenary.edu/library/archives/methodist/digitalcollections.

For more information about the project and the works that have been digitized, contact Centenary Archivist Chris Brown (318.869.5462 or archives@centenary.edu) or Dillard Archivist Beverly Harris (504.816.4881 or bharris@dillard.edu).