Archivist

Archivist – John Tranter

The role of the District Archivist is to ensure that all Methodist Church records are managed efficiently and to provide support to church offices and ministers in management of historic records.

Archives are important both written and increasingly electronic in preserving the heritage of the church. Standing Orders and the Connexional Archive Liaison Officer give a legal framework as to how this is to be achieved. It is necessary to work closely with the Record Office-we have three in this district-and also with the local history departments of the public libraries throughout the area. This means working with all to ensure that the records are placed in the most appropriate deposit.

In addition help is offered to requests from local historians, family history groups, writers and all those trying to trace family or church connections. Enquiries come world wide.

I represent the District at Connexion Archive Conferences, until recently at the Society of Cirplanologists and in the future at the Wesley Historical Society. Increasingly I am called to advise on articles of a heritage nature and their preservation.

I have been DA for ten years, but Circuit Archivist in Chesterfield for over forty years and look forward to undertaking that role in the new Derbyshire North East Circuit.

I am available to talk to church or history groups on the work of the archivist or on aspects of Methodist History and Heritage.

You can contact me at trants10@tiscali.co.uk or by phone 01246 942 539