Saddlebag Selection

Announcing the 2007 “Saddlebag Selection” of the Historical Society of the United Methodist Church

The Historical Society of the United Methodist Church wishes to announce the third year of its annual “Saddlebag Selection” award. This designation will be given to the outstanding book on United Methodist history or a related subject published during 2007. The first “Saddlebag Selection,” for entries published during the calendar year 2005, was Peter Cartwright: Legendary Frontier Preacher, written by Dr. Robert Bray and published the University of Illinois Press. The 2006 winner was In the Midst of Early Methodism: Lady Huntingdon and Her Correspondence, by Dr. John R. Tyson. Scarecrow Press was the publisher.

The following selection criteria have been adopted:

1. The selection should achieve a balance between the scholarly and the popular. The selection should be respectable and readable, serious and accessible.
2. The selection should be on a significant subject of general interest to United Methodist audiences, that is, related to Methodist history or polity or theology or biography or similar matters.
3. The entry will have been published during the specified calendar year.
4. A publisher may submit more than one entry in a given year.

The Society, upon making the selection, promotes sale of the book among its membership and beyond. This is done through public announcement in the church press, through encouragement in the publications of the Society, through celebration of the book at the Society’s annual meeting and in other venues. The publishing company is free to engage in whatever promotional activities it may choose in connection with the award. Appropriate plaques are presented to the author and to the publisher.

The Selection Committee for the 2007 competition is composed of Dr. Charles Yrigoyen, former General Secretary of the Commission on Archives and History of the UMC; Rev. Lyle Johnston, pastor of Globe United Methodist Church in Arizona; Ms. Linda Schramm, secretary of the Detroit Annual Conference; and Dr. Rob Sledge, Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus at McMurry University in Texas.

Entries should be submitted before April 1, 2008 by completing the attached entry blank and sending it, along with four copies of the work, to:

Dr. Robert W. Sledge
Box 637, McMurry University Station
Abilene, Texas 79697
rsledge@mcm.edu
325-793-4699

2007 Saddlebag Entry Form

The selection committee will complete its deliberations by June 1 and make announcement of the result by August 1.