Missionary Society of Gettysburg minutes, 1865-1877
1 volume
Between March 1865 and May 1877, officers of the Gettysburg Sunday School Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church recorded 120 pages of minutes from the society's monthly meetings in this volume. The society collected donations, heard addresses from ministers and other speakers, and participated in collective worship.
Each set of minutes records the proceedings at one of the society's monthly meetings, held within the first two weeks of the month. Most meetings included an address by a minister or other speaker, collection of donations, prayers, singing, and reports from affiliated auxiliary societies. Occasionally, new auxiliary societies were announced, such as the Eva Society, Goodwill Society, and Rough and Ready Society. Minutes regularly report the amount of money collected each month, and on February 6, 1869, one of the leaders proposed giving a pocket Bible to the child who raised the most money for missionaries. During its meeting of October 1871, the society discussed an upcoming mission trip to India; the minutes from this meeting include a poem dedicated to those missionaries. The minutes of May 5, 1867, suggest the possibility of purchasing a half dime found during the Battle of Gettysburg, and the February 4, 1872, entry has a 3-page report on the society's history from its president and a 5-page list of its former officers. Both men and women contributed and belonged to the society.