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Edwin Warriner papers and photographs

Call Number

1977.255

Dates

1790-1958, inclusive
; 1860-1900, bulk

Creator

Methodist Episcopal Church. New York East Conference
Warriner, Edwin

Extent

6.25 Linear Feet in 15 manuscript boxes and 3 photograph boxes

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Abstract

The bulk of the Edwin Warriner (1839-1898) papers and photographs includes the research notes and related materials gathered during the last decades of the nineteenth century in preparation for a planned, but never completed, encyclopedia of Methodism on Long Island, New York. Warriner's files concern Methodist ministers, churches, circuits, and locales throughout Long Island. The collection includes correspondence, transcriptions, draft manuscript entries, clippings, and photographs, such as cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, and tintypes. Warriner's files also include some original documents dating from as early as 1791. The collection also includes printed material dating from the twentieth century that was added to the Warriner files after his death in 1898.This material consists mostly of special anniversary publications and other such documents that include historical notes on various Methodist churches.

Biographical / Historical

Edwin Warriner was born on January 19, 1839, in Ellisburg, NY. He was born into a religious family; his father, Solomon J. Warriner, was a farmer and local Methodist preacher. By the time he was fifteen, Warriner was teaching public school and had obtained a license to be a Methodist preacher. He went on to study theology at the Biblical Institute of Concord, New Hampshire, from which he graduated in 1861. Warriner then began his career in the ministry in South Meriden, Connecticut. At the beginning of the Civil War, a regiment of soldiers was garrisoned there and he began to minister to them. Warriner was appointed as chaplain to the regiment and traveled with them for three years during the war. Afterwards, he settled in Brooklyn as a Methodist minister.

By 1880, Warriner was Secretary of the New York East Conference Historical Society. His two published books, The Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklyn, NY, published in 1885, and The Warriner Family of New England Origin, a history of his family from 1628 to 1898, show his passion for both history and genealogy. Warriner died in 1898, shortly after finishing the Warriner Family manuscript, which was published a year later. Warriner's purpose in collecting the documents forming most of this collection was to write an encyclopedia of Methodism on Long Island. He died before producing a written manuscript based on his research. The bulk of the letters in this collection, in which Warriner asks for information about a certain church or reverend, dates from the 1870s-1890s, indicating that he had been collecting information about Methodism on Long Island for the last 30 years of his life.

Arrangement

The collection is organized in three series:

The collection is organized in the following three series:

Missing Title

  1. Notes and Ephemera
  2. Photographs and Other Images
  3. Later Additions to the Collection

Scope and Contents

The bulk of the collection includes the research notes and related materials gathered by Reverend Edwin Warriner during the last decades of the nineteenth century in preparation for a planned, but never completed, encyclopedia of Methodism on Long Island, New York. Warriner's handwritten notes concern Methodist ministers, churches, circuits, and locales throughout Long Island. African Methodist Episcopal (AME), German and Norwegian churches are included. Warriner's files include correspondence in response to his inquiries for information; transcriptions of church records, histories and other documents; draft manuscript entries; newspaper clippings; and photographs, such as cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, and tintypes. Warriner's files also include some original documents dating from as early as 1791.

The collection also includes printed material dating from the twentieth century that was added to the Warriner files by the Methodist Historical Society and donated with the collection to the Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society). This material consists mostly of special anniversary publications and other such documents that include historical notes on various Methodist churches.

Conditions Governing Access

The donor of the collection restricted its use to research in biography and church history. Nonetheless, to ensure against unwarranted denial of access to the collection, Brooklyn Historical Society interprets the scope of these subject areas broadly.

Conditions Governing Use

The donor of the collection applied a restriction that the collection was not to be copied in its entirety, except by Brooklyn Historical Society, if necessary for preservation.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Edwin Warriner papers and photographs, 1977.255, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

In 1955, the collection was initially placed in "permanent custody" with the Long Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society) by the New York East Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, through Reverend Robert H. Dolliver, Secretary of the Methodist Historical Society in the City of New York. Extant records suggest that, in 1958, the Conference agreed to change the status of the collection, making it a gift to the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Related Materials

Brooklyn Historical Society holds archival material concerning various Methodist churches:

Methodist Episcopal Church in Brooklyn quarterly conference minutes, 1824-1834 (call number 1973.294).

Good Ground Methodist Episcopal Church records, 1865-1867, including subscription lists, receipts, and accounts for the building fund (call number 1977.427).

An unidentified Methodist minister's marriage and baptism record book, 1844-1892 (call number 1978.050).

Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church class register (one) and church programs (three), 1850-94 (call number 1985.086).

Brooklyn Church Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church annual reports, 1883-1928 (call number 1985.095). The reports include charters, constitutions and bylaws, listings of officers and committees, listings of managers elected by each member church, listings of individual members, details regarding the value of member churches' properties and indebtedness, treasurer's reports, receipts of member church collections, annual meeting summaries, historical notes on member churches, and officiaries of member churches.

Methodist Churches of Brooklyn collection, 1856-1978 (call number 1986.027). The collection contains materials relating to sixteen Methodist churches located in Brooklyn and includes church histories, yearbooks, bulletins, invitations, directories, programs, and one scrapbook.

Hanson Place Central Methodist Church publications, 1909-75 (call number ARC.171). The collection is primarily comprised of The Messenger, a newsletter issued from 1958 to 1975.

Other Finding Aids

There is a record for the Edwin Warriner papers and photographs collection in PastPerfect, Brooklyn Historical Society's image database. That record is indexed with the names associated with images found in Series 2 of the collection. However, no images from the collection can be viewed in Pastperfect.

Collection processed by

Amanda Farley in 2009, modified for input to Archivists' Toolkit in 2011 by Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 11:17:28 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid is written in English.

Processing Information

The collection was processed in May 2009 by Amanda Farley, under the supervision of Chela Scott Weber. At that time, the collection's arrangement was returned to its original order, following Warriner's numeric sequencing, which had been disturbed over time. Also, photographs and other images previously separated from the collection were returned and now form Series 2. In 2011, Larry Weimer updated the collection description, principally to accommodate input to a collection management system, Archivists' Toolkit.

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201