| | LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION: | Fonds | | No.: | PR3466 | | TITLE: | Methodist Church Edmonton West District fonds | | CREATOR: | Methodist Church Edmonton West District | | DATE RANGE: | 1901-1922 | | EXTENT: | 0.09 m of textual records | | ADMINISTRATIVE | | HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Edmonton West District, a court of the Methodist Church, first appears in the 1895 Conference Proceedings of Manitoba and North-West Conference under the name Edmonton District. In 1904, Edmonton District was transferred to the newly created Alberta Conference. The original bounds of Edmonton District in 1895 included circuits in the northern half of Alberta from Red Deer north that were previously situated in Calgary District. Changes over time are documented in the year books published by the Methodist Church. There is evidence in the records to indicate that this geographically large district was divided ca. 1912, with the original Edmonton District renamed Edmonton West District, and the newly split district called Edmonton East District.
As with all Methodist Church districts, Edmonton West District had oversight of the Methodist congregations within its bounds, and for clergy, laymen, the examination of students, church property, finances and social work. Officers of the district included the Chairman and a number of secretaries, including Financial, Journal, Statistical, Evangelism and Social Service, Missionary, and Religious Education Secretaries.
Edmonton West District continued to exist until the Methodist Church united with the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Congregational Churches of Canada to form the United Church of Canada and the new entity known as Edmonton Presbytery was formed.
| | CUSTODIAL HISTORY: | Records deposited under accession number PR1975.0387 were acquired sometime prior to 1975 however there is no surviving record of the details. In 1975, the Conference entered into a permanent loan agreement with the Provincial Archives of Alberta (PAA) for the physical custody and control of the holdings of the Conference Archives and the records were relocated to the PAA in that same year. Records received after 1975 have come from the congregation, church members, or officers of the presbytery or the Conference. | | SCOPE AND CONTENT: | The fonds consists of minutes of annual Ministerial Sessions and District Meeting minutes (1901-1921, with gaps) and Financial District meeting minutes (1918-1922). | | RELATED RECORDS: | For additional materials please see the Methodist Church Alberta Conference fonds PR3460 in the United Church of Canada Alberta and Northwest Conference Archives, located at the Provincial Archives of Alberta. | | GENERAL NOTE: | Information in the Administrative History was sourced from the fonds. |
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