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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

'We are gathered in a cloud of witnesses today,' the Rev. Emora Brannan told the crowd who gathered to celebrate the 150th founding of the Conference Historical Society, held in the historical Lovely Lane UMC, the 'mother church of Methodism.'

Also celebrated was the 50th anniversary of the Lovely Lane Museum, which houses many historical artifacts, books and information that dates back to Bishop Francis Asbury in the mid-1700s, as well as memorabilia of John Wesley.

While many attending were not actual 'witnesses' to the historical events that led to the beginning of the society, they had a part in sustaining it and helping it to grow and flourish.

Three such people shared during the two-hour program of Scripture, music and messages, reflecting on the past, present and future.

The Rev. Bruce Poynter, retired, was pastor at Lovely Lane UMC when the decision was made to start a

museum. He read parts of a letter he received from the Rev. Kenneth Rose 50 years ago, which said, 'First Church (as it was known then) can be the most significant church in the denomination' by keeping alive the knowledge of Methodism?s beginnings. 'This is the rightful home of all those documents that have made this church from 1784,' the letter continued.

Doris Shaw, who was secretary at the church for 49 years, also remembered Rose and his dream that Methodists all over the world should see the church.

Shaw recounted stories of people who she?d met through her decades of showing the church and teaching some of its history to tour groups, including 'thousands of school children,' confirmation classes, pastors and bishops. She recited from memory a poignant love letter from Thomas Coke to his invalid wife, Penelope, which is found in the museum.

The Rev. Ed Schell, the conference historian, spoke of the future, but not without making links to the past.

Schell, whose family belonged to the church 200 years ago, spoke of the archives, not seen on the regular tourist visit, but open for research. 'We have more researchers than the archives have in New Jersey,' he said, referring to Drew University, where the national United Methodist archives are housed.

Schell acknowledged the importance of putting archival material on computer, but said that the paper must not be destroyed. For example, he said, there were no records of Old Otterbein UMC until one day they were found jammed into an old archive in a box.

'We?re looking at how we can make research material available,' said the Rev. Tom Connar, chairman of the Commission on Archives and History.

He acknowledged the current space limitations. Future plans include an expansion of the museum and upgrading it to be more interactive, Connar said.

The dual celebration focused on an exhibition of 35 quilts, including a half dozen of the unique Baltimore Album Quilts, that were on display Nov. 3-5.

In her welcome, the Rev. Nancy Nedwell, pastor of Lovely Lane UMC, commended the quilt-makers, both alive and dead, for 'the talent,

creativity and all the love that has gone into these quilts.'

Each quilt embodied a unique

history, either the occasion for which the quilt was stitched, the persons or events depicted in the designs, or for the age of the quilt.

Hundreds of people came for the exhibition, which was co-sponsored by the Baltimore Applique Society, and coordinated by Jane Thursby. People came from as far away as England, Texas, Florida, California and Minnesota to see (and help with) the show, according to Wanda Hall,

assistant archivist.

Many visitors came to see the 'Mayflower Quilt,' an off-white, trapunto-style creation.

The tiny handmade stitches were made with indigo-dyed threads, which have bleached white on the topside, but still retain some of their blueness on the reverse.

The Mayflower Quilt was recovered in 1638 from a shipwreck off the coast of Maine, by members of the Cogswell family, whose descendents sold it in 1897, as a gift for the Rev. J.D. Goucher, president of the Women?s College of Baltimore (now Goucher College).

Goucher?s daughters donated the quilt to the museum in 1956.

It was last on display 27 years ago. The museum is hoping to find a buyer for the Mayflower Quilt, to help defray

expenses of organ repair and renovation, Nedwell said.

Four of the Baltimore Album quilts, all made in the mid-1880s, are part of the museum?s collection, and are named for the clergy who received the gift from the congregation. The quilt blocks are full of biblical events and symbols, the local church?s building and signatures of the quilt-makers. One other, the John Wesley quilt, is owned by Asbury Village and shows several squares with figures, including Wesley.

A coverlet in the exhibition was woven by Francina Evans, a great-granddaughter of John Evans, the first American convert to Methodism. It was created in the 1840s.

Several commemorative quilts were known as 'signature quilts' because they displayed hundreds of people?s names, stitched or inked into the blocks and squares of each quilt. Most were 'red-work' quilts, typical of the style, and dated in the early 1900s.

Quilts were also made to celebrate anniversaries. At least three quilts were made in 1976 to celebrate the bicentennial of the United States. Asbury UMC in Annapolis made one to celebrate its 155th anniversary, and members of Millian Memorial UMC made one to honor their pastor?s 20 years in ordained ministry. Anniver-sary quilts, like the Album quilts, often use quilt blocks to highlight events in the person?s or church?s history.

The celebration of the past helped 'recall events in which our lives are changed,' Brannon said, 'and define us, of where we?ve been in order to point to what we might become.'