Early Preachers Collection

Date range: 1737-1831

Medium: Archive

The Early Preachers Collection comprise two folio volumes or scrapbooks containing approximately 160 letters and associated papers relating to early Methodist lay itinerant preachers. The first volume consists of over 100 letters written mainly to Charles Wesley, while the second is more general in nature.

A wide range of correspondents is represented in the collection. There are papers of important Anglican evangelicals such as George Whitefield and William Grimshaw, as well as letters from preachers and lay people of every social class. The letters illuminate the lives and activities of John and Charles Wesley, and the development of what became the Methodist Church and related denominations. There are also items relating to early American Methodism and the Episcopalian Church. The subject range of the collection is extremely wide, as the correspondents write of official as well as personal matters.

Researchers from several different historical disciplines will find this collection invaluable.

Further information:

• Part of the Methodist Archives and Research Centre (MARC). For more information see our subject page for Methodist Collections.
• Catalogue available online via ELGAR.

Location:

• The John Rylands Library, Deansgate  [Map]
• Find out how to use the reading rooms in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library