Dr Gareth Lloyd writes:
The collection of Methodist archive and rare print materials deposited at the John Rylands Library is widely acknowledged to be one of the world’s finest research collections for the study of Methodism and related evangelical movements in the English-speaking world. This collection – the official special collection of the British Methodist Church – spans the history of the movement from the early 18th century to the present. In addition to central governance records, the collection contains the personal papers of hundreds of ministers and lay people including the founders, John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and other leading figures from evangelical history.
Online access to a catalogue of a major part of the archival part of the collection was first made available in 2012. This finding aid has now been upgraded to include collections deposited since the catalogue first went live as well as additional features to improve searches and data retrieval.
The new catalogue can be accessed, together with an introduction and explanatory text, at: http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/search-resources/guide-to-special-collections/methodist/methodist-archives-collection-catalogue/.
This represents a significant addition to an already extensive online library of Methodist finding aids and catalogues, which includes the print collections (http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/search-resources/) as well as subject guides (http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/search-resources/guide-to-special-collections/methodist/using-the-collections/)
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