The Conference Commission on Archive & History Team (CAH) reports to the conference director of finance and administration. The conference archivist, a part-time conference staff person, sits on this commission. There are currently 11 people who serve on the CAH.
According to The Book of Discipline, the duties of the CAH are “to collect and preserve the historically significant records of the annual conference and its agencies...to encourage and assist the local church in preserving their records, compiling their histories, and celebrating their heritage (¶640.1).”
Its work also includes acquiring and maintaining records of closed churches, as well as nominating and promoting historic sites within the conference. The team designates both a conference historian and a secretary of memoirs.
The team meets quarterly, usually the second Tuesday of February, May, September and November.
Key initiatives:
There are 15 historic sites within the conference that this Commission promotes. They are: Kaposia Mission (Dakota County), Missionary Log Cabin and Red Rock (Newport), Jacob Fahlstrom’s Grave (Afton), Market Street Church (St. Paul), Hamline University (Red Wing), Old Salem Church (Inver Grove Heights), Lenora Church (Lenora), Portland Prairie Church (Portland Prairie), Wesley Church (Minneapolis), Ottawa Church (Ottawa), Taylors Falls UMC, Lake Koronis Assembly Grounds (Paynesville), Olivet UMC (Robbinsdale), Finnish Church (Moose Lake), and Hamline UMC (St. Paul).
The CAH has registered each of these sites as historic sites with the General Commission on Archives and History.
The CAH offers grave markers to those who have served as United Methodist clergy in Minnesota.
Find agendas, minutes, and elected team members for the CAH.
Follow the Minnesota United Methodist History and Historic Sites Facebook page.
Conference Archivist Heidi Heller is available to consult with churches on safekeeping of their historical records, as well as research about the history of the church and the conference.
heidi.heller@minnesotaumc.org / 612-230-6149
Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
122 West Franklin Avenue, Suite 400 Minneapolis, MN 55404
(612) 870-0058