Research Catalog

Title

Zoar United Methodist Church records, 1841-1984 [microform].

Author

Zoar United Methodist Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

12 microfilm reels.

Summary

The records of Zoar United Methodist Church are divided into four series: Delaware Conference; Delaware-Philadelphia District; Zoar United Methodist Church; and St. John's Church, Spring Lake, New Jersey. The Zoar Methodist Church series, largest of the four, is divided into seven subseries: history, vital records, organizational records, pastors, financial, legal, and bulletins and miscellaneous printed material.

Donor/Sponsor

Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Project funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Subjects

• African American clergy
• Licorish, Joshua E., 1911-1987
• African American Methodists
• African Americans > Religion
• African American churches > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia
• St. John's Methodist Church (Spring Lake, N.J.)
• United Methodist Church (U.S.) > Delaware Conference > Philadelphia District
• Zoar United Methodist Church (Philadelphia, Pa.) History

Reproduction (note)

• Microfilm.

Original Location (note)

• Originals in Zoar United Methodist Church;

Terms of Use (note)

• Permission from church is required to purchase copy of microfilm. Letter authorizing reproduction should be sent to the Curator of Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York, NY 10037.

Source (note)

• Originals at Zoar United Methodist Church

Biography (note)

• Zoar United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the oldest African-American congregation within the United Methodist Church, was founded in 1794 by eighteen free African-American men and women. The founders had separated themselves from the white-dominated St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church, which administered Zoar and supplied its pastors; in 1835 Zoar's first African-American pastor was appointed.

Processing Action (note)

• Processed
• Microfilmed
• Cataloged

Call Number

Sc Micro R-1183

OCLC

NYPW93-A152

Author

Zoar United Methodist Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Title

Zoar United Methodist Church records, 1841-1984 [microform].

Reproduction

Microfilm. Archival Survival, Inc.-d1992. 12 microfilm reels.; 35 mm. (MN *ZZ-32727).

Original Location

Originals in Zoar United Methodist Church; 1204 Melon Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19123.

Terms Of Use

Permission from church is required to purchase copy of microfilm. Letter authorizing reproduction should be sent to the Curator of Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York, NY 10037.

Biography

Zoar United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the oldest African-American congregation within the United Methodist Church, was founded in 1794 by eighteen free African-American men and women. The founders had separated themselves from the white-dominated St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church, which administered Zoar and supplied its pastors; in 1835 Zoar's first African-American pastor was appointed.

A series of conferences of Colored Local Preachers held at Zoar in the 1850's and 1860's resulted in the creation of the Delaware Annual Conference by the 1864 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Delaware Conference was comprised of twenty-one African-American Methodist churches from Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Its creation allowed for the ordination of local preachers and travelling elders and gave African-American congregations greater control over their own affairs. All African-American conferences were organized into the Central Jurisdiction with the 1939 reorganization of the Methodist Church. The Central Jurisdiction existed until the mid 1960's when it was dissolved into the mainstream geographical structure of the Methodist Church with Zoar joining the Philadelphia Conference of the Northeast Jurisdiction. Reverend Joshua E. Licorish served as pastor of Zoar from 1957 to 1981 and played a role in urban renewal and civil rights issues in Philadelphia during the 1950's and 1960's. During Licorish's administration, the membership of Zoar numbered around 900.

The trustees of Zoar also acted as trustees for the St. John's Methodist Church of Spring Lake, New Jersey. The Church, founded in 1887 and open only during the summer, served members who were employed at the resort hotels of Spring Lake or as domestics for summer residents.

Finding Aids

Finding aid available.

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Finding Aid

Research Call Number

Sc Micro R-1183