| Catalogue Reference | D/MS56 |
| Title | Records of Elm Park Hall Wesleyan Methodist Church |
| Description | Summary
Society administration
Trustees' meeting minutes, 1905-1961; trust accounts, 1905-1956; plans and elevations of church, 1904, 1959-1960; papers relating to alterations to church, 1959-1961; deeds of church site, 1824-1905; leaders' meeting minutes, 1905-1921, 1937-1957; church accounts, 1905-1940; cash accounts, 1943-1956; collection journals, 1905-1914, 1944-1960; annual statements of accounts, 1956, 1959.
Society organisations
Women's Own (later Sisterhood) minutes and reports, 1905-1944, and photograph, n.d. [c.1922]; Women's Slate Club minutes, 1916-1929; Pleasant Sunday Afternoon committee minutes, 1905-1918; Youth Council minutes, 1947-1957.
Registration
Baptism register, 1905-1933.
Membership
Class books, 1948-1962.
Sunday School and Sunday Institute
Sunday School teachers' meeting minutes, 1905-1911; Sunday School Council minutes, 1912-1933; Sunday School superintendent's register, 1911-1914.
Printed material/Miscellaneous
Newsletter, 1958-1959; Band of Hope Union Conference handbook, 1961. |
| Date | 1824-1962 |
| Repository | Berkshire Record Office (code: GB 005) |
| Level | Fonds |
| Extent | 21 vols, 7 bdls, 4 docs |
| Admin History | The Wesleyans began holding services in a former Salvation Army hall in 1901.
Elm Park Hall opened in 1905, in Oxford Road, Reading (next to Battle Library).
In 1961 the society united with West Reading Methodist Church (D/MS62) to form a new society, under the name of West Reading (D/MS61), in the Elm Park premises. Discussions to this effect began in 1948. |
| Acquisition | Deposited in April 1975 (acc. 2002 part); August 1978 (acc. 2333 part); March 1983 (acc. 3212 part); September 1997 (acc. 6097); March 1998 (acc. 6210 part); May 2023 (acc. 11128)
Schedule of accessions
Acc. 2002 (part): 1C/4
Acc. 2333 (part): 1C/1-3; 2B/5/3; 5A/1
Acc. 3212 (part): 1A/1-2; 1D/1; 2A/1,4; 2B/1-4; 2B/5/1-2; 2D/1; 3A/1; 3C/1; 3D/1; 7A/1-2; 7C/1
Acc. 6097: 2A/3; 3A/2-5
Acc. 6210 (part): 6A/1-2; 8/1-2
Acc. 11128: 3A/6
Concordance
The following documents were previously catalogued as D/N:
Old reference - New reference
D/N5/7/2/1-11 - D/MS56/1C/4
D/N6/3/2 - D/MS56/5A/1
D/N6/3/3 (part) - D/MS56/1C/1-3; 2B/5/3 |
| Arrangement | Classification scheme for Methodist society (chapel or church) records
[This scheme shows how the collection is arranged. This collection does not include every type of record in the scheme. See the summary for records included in this collection.]
1 Trustees
1A Trustees' meeting minutes
1B Trust accounts
1C Chapel property [deeds, certificates, licences, appointments of trustees]
1D Correspondence
1E Related committees
1F Other property [eg manse, hall, school]
1G Other
2 Leaders and society stewards/Church Council)
2A Leaders' meeting/Church Council minutes
2B Accounts
2C Committees
2D Correspondence
2E Other
3 Society organisations
3A Women's groups [except Women's Work
3B Men's groups
3C Joint fellowship [except Sunday Institute]
3D Youth organisations [except Sunday School]
3E Missions [including Women's Work]
3F Other
4 Service of the church
4A Pulpit notices
4B Orders of service
4C Ministers' papers
4D Other
5 Registration
5A Baptism
5B Marriage
5C Burial
6 Membership
6A Registers, class books and directories
6B Young disciples
6C Other
7 Sunday School and Sunday Institute
7A Sunday School minutes and accounts
7B Sunday School registers and cradle rolls
7C Other Sunday School records
7D Sunday Institute
8 Printed material/Miscellaneous |
| Related Material | Records in other collections
D/MC1, 5: Circuit records
D/MS61: Various records, 1941-1961 |
| Access Conditions | With the exception of registers of baptism, marriage and burial, and other material whose contents have been made public, records of the Methodist Church are closed for 30 years, and pastoral records for 75 years, in accordance with Methodist Church standing orders.
Applications for access to closed records must be made in writing to the County Archivist. |