Methodist Church letters

Collection

Identifier: 1000-394

Staff Only

Abstract

A collection of Methodist letters from the library of Albert Sanford Hunt (1827-1898) of Rhinebeck, New York. The letters were originally bound in two volumes, one labeled "Methodist Autographs, English", and one "Methodist Autographs, American". Many of the letters are addressed to Freeborn Garrettson (1752-1827), an important figure in the establishment of Methodism in North America.

Dates

Creation: 1770-1827

Creator

Methodist Episcopal Church (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

In public domain - No Copyright - United States

Biographical / Historical

These letters were formerly in the possession of Albert Sanford Hunt (1827-1898) of Rhinebeck, New York. Hunt had had them bound into two large albums, in quarter leather, with spines reading “Methodist Autographs,” English and American respectively, and with Hunt’s initials stamped in gold.

Many of the letters are addressed to Freeborn Garrettson (1752-1827), an important figure in the establishment of Methodism in North America. Hunt noted in one of the albums: “Many of the papers in this collection belonged to him [Garrettson] and were left as a legacy to me by his only child, Miss Mary R. Garrettson, who died in 1879.” Garrettson’s daughter and widow had also resided in Rhinebeck.

Extent

1.5 Linear Feet (2 half hollinger boxes and 2 empty scrapbooks)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The letters have been filmed in the order in which they appeared in the albums, together with a few of ASH’s notes and any portraits included. (The latter sometimes serve as the only identification of the writer.) Hunt apparently had some mending and strengthening done before mounting them in his albums; no conservation work has been attempted before filming.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The albums came to the Wesleyan University Library in 1898 with Albert Sanford Hunt’s library of nearly 6000 volumes, rich in Methodistica. A prominent Methodist minister and secretary of the American Bible Society, Hunt graduated from Wesleyan in 1851 and served as a Trustee from 1888 until his death in 1898.