Archives & History

Sometimes history holds the key to the future. The TWKUMC Archives is here to help you discover and preserve that history.

We serve as a resource to individuals, local churches, and conference leadership.

We collect, preserve, and maintain the historical records of the conference and its antecedents.

We are also available to help churches:

  • Research, preserve, record, and celebrate their history.
  • Establish retention schedules and processes for both paper and digital documents.
  • Rescue records, photographs, and artifacts from environmental damage and wear.

The Heritage Center is presently open to researchers by appointment. Please contact us at archives@twkumc.org to schedule a time.

If you have specific questions regarding the history of churches or pastors in our conference, please feel free to contact us through our Ask the Archivist form.

Inquiry About Our History

To make an inquiry with our archives, please complete this form. We receive many requests. Please give us a few days to respond. If there is a specific date by which you hope to have information (i.e. an anniversary or publication date) please note that in your comments on this form.

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Name of person(s) or church(es) or Methodist affiliated entity (college, camp, hospital, etc.) you are inquiring about Describe your inquiry with as much detail as possible, including what you already know about the person, church, or Methodist entity. Details on people such as spouse & children, birth and death dates, burial location, which church they were connected to, relevant dates, etc. is helpful. For churches and Methodist entities, the full name as you know it, city/county/state where it is located, and what specifically you are looking for about it is helpful.

The Pioneering Women in Methodism

2025 SEJHS Annual Meeting

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By Faith...

“BY FAITH…” a Memphis Conference history video, debuted as part of our virtual annual conference session. The dramatization offers a glimpse at 200 years of history during our 182ndand final Annual Conference virtual gathering.

Jacob Taylor of St. Luke’s UMC in Memphis and volunteer producer Mark Matheny created the video.

TNUMC History Video Series

During the 2021 Tennessee Annual Conference held online in June, a series of videos were shared to celebrate the history of the conference.

These videos were developed by Gratia Strother, conference archivist, and produced by GNTV. Photography of artifacts was done by Kylie Marino.

A beautiful Commemorative Quilt, depicting historical ministries of the Memphis Conference and the Tennessee Conference, once divided but now united by the Tennessee River was gifted to the conference in 2021.

“Threads of Faith Ministry” of Temple UMC in Millington, Tennessee, made the quilt for the Future Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference.

Description of the Quilt

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