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Special Collections Guide for Student Classes

Visiting the Special Collections

The Special Collections Department is located on the second floor of Beeghly Library, adjacent to the Bayley Room.

The Reading Room is open Monday-Friday, 8:30am-Noon, and 1-5pm.

Students are highly encouraged to schedule appointments, but walk-ins are also welcome.

Contact information for appointments:

  • OWU Historical Collection

Stacy Chaney-Blankenship (Curator), historicalcollection@owu.edu, 740-368-3288

  • Rare Books, Manuscripts & Artifacts

Staffing in transition. Please email sbchaney@owu.edu or call 740-368-3288

  • Archives of Ohio United Methodism

Sharon Monigold (Archivist), aoum@owu.edu, 740-368-3285

Archives of Ohio United Methodism (AOUM)

AOUM is the official repository of the records of the East and West Ohio Conferences of The United Methodist Church. Items which represent the heritage of The United Methodist Church in Ohio from its inception up to and including the present are collected. Ohio Wesleyan University is the custodian of these materials, not the owner. 

What’s in the Collection?

  • Books about the history of United Methodism in general 

  • Manuscripts and conference proceedings relevant to the history of Ohio United Methodism 

  • Artifacts, photos, and other museum objects of good quality that depict the history of United Methodism in Ohio 

  • Publications of The United Methodist Church 

  • Local church history files 

  • Records of closed and abandoned churches 

  • Dead Ministers file (index to clergy who have died - service records & locations of memoirs, photos, etc.) 

  • Newspapers, journals, and periodicals including Western Christian Advocate, Ladies' Repository, Der Christliche Apologete, Haus und Herd, Der Christliche Botschafter, Methodist History 

  • Personal papers and diaries, including J.B. Finley letters, Bishop Thomas A. Morris' papers, and the Roy Leedy Evangelical collection