Conference Archives

Troy Conference Historical Society to be Reactivated

The Troy Conference Historical Society, originally organized in 1996 at the Round Lake Methodist Church, has been somewhat inactive during the past few years.  This year, the Society is being revitalized and people are invited to become Society Members for $10 a year. Members of the Society receive The Dispatch, which will keep you abreast of historical happenings in Troy Conference and The Bulletin, the quarterly publication of the Northeastern Jurisdiction Commission on Archives and History. The Society is also considering establishing joint membership with the Historical Society of The United Methodist Church, which would result in a $2 reduction in dues for the HSUMC. Members of HSUMC receive Methodist History, the official journal of the United Methodist Church, as well as Historian’s Digest, the newsletter for the HSUMC.  Both are published quarterly. Download a membership brochure and the most recent issue of The Dispatch.

Conference Archivist

Karen Staulters, a member of the Ballston Spa United Methodist Church, is the Conference Archivist. A volunteer, Staulters is the office on Tuesdays, from 9 a.m. to noon, or by appointment. She may be contacted at (518) 584-8214, ext. 23, or (800) 684-9377; Fax (518) 584-8378; e-mail.

Ask the archivist for:

  • full names of clergy and dates of service at a church
  • biographical information and photographs of clergy
  • early history of a local congregation
  • annual statistics of a congregation 
  • previous names of a congregation 
  • baptismal, marriage, and membership records of churches no longer in existence 
  • help with genealogy research 
  • past actions of conference committees and teams 
  • how to care for local church records

Genealogy research

To request research from the archives, download the Request for Research Form

The Historical Society of the United Methodist Church offers information and guidelines on researching ancestors with ties to the Methodist Church.

Local Church Archives

Resources for church archivists

Guidelines 2005-2008 Church Historian: Remembering the past and inspiring the future, by Janice Christian; published by Abingdon Press, 2004, ISBN 0687001900. (Cokesbury)

Guidelines for Managing Records of the Annual Conference and the Local Church, 2005 edition, the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church

The General Commission on Archives and History

The Historical Society of the United Methodist Church

The current president, the Rev. Patricia Thompson, is a member of the New England Annual Conference serving at the Puffer-Morrisville United Methodist Church in Vermont.

The World Methodist Historical Society

Conference Commission on Archives and History

In 1968, when the Methodist-Episcopal and Evangelical United Brethren churches merged to become the United Methodist Church, the General Commission on Archives and History was formed. At the same time, an Annual Conference Commission on Archives and History was mandated by the General Conference, which took over the collection and preservation functions previously undertaken by the historical society. The Commission was also authorized to organize a Historical Society with dues-paying members, whose officers would be the same as the officers of the Conference Commission.