AMEC Archives Can't Wait!

(A portion of the collection handed down to the AME Church by the family of Bishop Reverdy C. Ransom)

It is incredible and puzzling to think that the oldest African American denomination in the United States does not have a centralized Archive. At the present moment, most of our material is spread out in libraries all over the world that we do not control. Some of our AME colleges and seminaries are doing their best to keep a handle on what little they have been given, by way of documents, rare books, and other items. But, when you consider the tight budget constraints that they face, they are often trying to make bricks without straw.

In fact, the collection from Payne Theological Seminary’s Archive is currently being housed at the library at Wilberforce University. These materials were moved from Payne to WU almost 10 years ago as a “temporary” move, but now they still sit in the same location (literally in the stacks) “boxed” off from the general public. But anyone can simply walk around the boxes as you can see demonstrated by the photo above which was taken during normal business hours of the library.

As the photograph shows, the holdings that were given by the family of Bishop Reverdy C. Ransom sit out in the open where the general public can just go through them at will.

Need I say that Bishop Ransom’s life is a vital link in the telling of the history of African Methodism? He walked with the leaders of the 19^th century church as a young man being ordained and sent out by Bishop Payne; he served as a pastor during the period of the Great Migration of Blacks from the South to the North in the early 20^th century and literally transformed urban ministry in Chicago; as pastor in Boston, he participated with W.E.B. DuBois in the founding of the NAACP where his speech to the group was described as “…the most stirring single episode in the life of the Niagara Movement”; and he personally influenced a great many AME Church leaders that shaped the denomination in the late 20^th century and even into this current millennium.

Yet, we allow his papers and records to sit unattended, like a barren grave and headstone that have been covered by weeds and shrubs due to neglect because no family member came back to care for it!

The point is not to cast blame on the library staffs of Payne or Wilberforce, or anyone else for that matter. No, the blame is to be shared by all of us for not making this more of a priority and the point is to demonstrate just how much of a crisis we face with regard to the preservation of our historical assets.

Some have said to me, “We can’t afford anything new added to the budget.” To this I say that we cannot afford NOT to build and maintain an Archive. When we forget the past, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

If elected to the office of Historiographer in 2008, I pledge to provide an Archive by the time we celebrate the 200^th year of African Methodism in 2016. If we take this mission serious, friends from inside and outside our great Church will rise up to help the AMEC build a first class Archive where God’s name will be praised because of the great things He has done!

I am interested in learning how others in the AMEC and the greater historical community feel about this issue. Please post a comment by clicking the comment button below (comments may be posted anonymously if chosen). Also, click the mail note below to share this posting with others by email.