Saddlebag Selection of the Historical Society of The United Methodist Church

This designation will be given to the outstanding book on United Methodist history or a related subject published during a given year.

Previous Winners:

• 2010: Russell E. Richey, Kenneth E. Rowe, and Jean Miller Schmidt, The Methodist Experience in America, Volume 1, Abingdon Press.
• 2009: John Wigger, Francis Asbury and the Methodists, Oxford University Press.
• 2008: Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., John McEllhenney, Kenneth Rowe, United Methodism at Forty: Looking Backward, Looking Forward, Abingdon.
• 2007: Dr. Rex Matthews. Timetables of History for Students of Methodism Abingdon Press.
• 2006: Dr. John R. Tyson. In the Midst of Early Methodism: Lady Huntingdon and Her Correspondence. Scarecrow Press
• 2005: Dr. Robert Bray Peter Cartwright: Legendary Frontier Preacher. University of Illinois Press.

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 2008 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 March 1, 2012 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

Saddlebag Entry Form

The selection committee will complete its deliberations by April 15 and announce the result immediately thereafter. HSUMC members and others may make nominations to Dr. Sledge, who will complete the process with the publishers.