Contact: Judy Williams, Director of Media Relations

1600 Washington Avenue, Conway, AR72032

For Immediate Release

Contact: Judy Williams, Director of Media Relations

Date: June 20, 2005

Office: (501) 450-1462 Cell: (501) 626-3042 Fax:(501) 450-4553

E-mail:  Hendrix news releases on-line at

Hendrix professor, students spend summer

uncovering Methodist history

By Laura Faulk

HendrixCollege junior

CONWAY, Ark.–A Hendrix College professor and two students are spending a large portion of their summer on a journey into Arkansas Methodist history. They are concentrating on the lives of clergy wives who experienced the transition of women in the late twentieth century America from that of stay-at-home wives and mothers to that of working wives and mothers.

It’s a project that actually began last summer and is continuing this summer. Dr. Jane Harris, Hendrix associate professor of religion, interviewed several Methodist leaders from Conway last summer, gathering information about their lives and churches, to begin the research project, Arkansas Methodism: An Oral History.

Dr. Harris and Emily Jenkins, a senior from Weatherford, Texas, began the collection during taped conversations with nine Arkansas Methodist leaders who have retired in Conway. These included the late Rev. Jim Beal and his wife Mauzel Beal, the Rev. Charles and Lois McDonald, the Rev. Dr. Joel Cooper, the Rev. John and Liz Workmanand the Rev. Frank and Sue Jones.

The tapes contain stories from their childhood, their years at Hendrix, their ministries during the years of the civil rights movement in Arkansas, their leadership roles in the late twentieth century Methodist Church and their reflections on the current life of the Methodist Church, Dr. Harris explained.

This summer Dr. Harris is working with two other Hendrix students, Juli Burrow, a senior history major from Searcy, Ark., and Lara McKain, a junior religion major from Dallas, Texas. The students are helping Dr. Harris withmore interviews andthe transcription of these tapes so that both the recorded conversations, transcript of those conversations and a synopsis of the interviews will be available in the archives of the Arkansas Methodist Church, which is housed inthe Bailey Library on the Hendrix campus.

“I became passionate about the topic because I know the people that we have interviewed, and I know what remarkable lives and ministries that they have had,” she said.“I wanted to preserve their stories, and oral history is an excellent tool for the preservation of the stories of people who may not be remembered in history textbooks but whose lives have made a difference in the places where they have lived and in the Methodist churches where they have served.”

She continued, “For clergy wives, the shift to having a professional identity of her own required the church to adjust to a new image of the clergy wife. I am interested in exploring what transpired for the clergy wives and the church as the life of the pastor’s wife did not center solely on home and church.”

Laura McKain, an active Methodist in her home church in Dallas, was attracted to the project for a similar reason. “I am interested in the work because Methodism is a big part of my life and history,” she said.“I want to learn more about Arkansas Methodism and its role in the civil rights movement of the 60s, as well as the role that women have played in the church over time. I think that women's voices have been largely ignored and that they have incredible stories and lessons to tell.”

Juli Burrow is not a Methodist, but she is involved in the venture for the opportunity it gives in exploring a different historical perspective.“These first-hand accounts arean invaluable resource that can and will aid in discovering a new piece of Hendrix history and the history of the Methodist church. I am very fortunate to be able to work on a project like this and see these stories unfold,” she said.

The heart of this project involves sitting for a long period of time with individual women and men and asking questions that encourage them to tell about their lives and their work, while the information is recorded.

“Oral histories are a unique form of hands-on research in that you are interviewing living subjects and learning about their lives and the important events in which they were involved,” Dr. Harris said.

The continuation of this project will allow the enrichment of the archives of the UnitedMethodistChurch in Arkansas. The advanced age and poor health of some of the individuals whose life stories have been recorded make these interviews particularly poignant and valuable.

Dr. Harris’s idea stemmed from her knowing several clergy couples in Conway, and she was happy to have an excuse to explore oral history. “I have wanted to work on an oral history project for quite some time, and having access to some of the leaders of the Methodist church right here in Conway made my decision to work on the project easy,” she said.

Burrow hopes the experience will help her develop her researching skills. She wants to gain a better understanding of Methodist and Hendrix history andof oral history in general. She is glad that their work will be available for others to read once the project is completed.

“Perhaps by learning about these people and their lives others will be more inspired to persevere and challenge the status quo as some of the clergymen and their wives have,” she said.

McKain’s incentive for working on the task comes not only from her desire to learn but also from her love of the church. “I hope that through this project I will come to understand the complicated history of social justice in the Methodist church, especially in the past 50 years,” she said.“I have always felt that Methodism offers a unique focus on service and justice to communities, and I hope that these interviews will show others that the church is not stuck in the past and traditions, but it is alive and growing in a positive way for Arkansas.”

Burrow and McKain are two of 33 students at Hendrix who have been awarded stipends this summer for learning projects funded through Hendrix’s new curricular program, Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning. Other summer Odyssey projects range from a Memphis, Tenn., student observing dolphin behavior and cognition at the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Miss., to a student from Little Rock who is studying ancient Roman architecture in Rome, Italy.

The Hendrix Odyssey program blends critical thought with action by allowingstudents to work and learn on-site instead of solely in the classroom. Beginning this fall, each student who enters the college will be required to complete at least three Odyssey projects before graduation. The projects will be in these categories: Artistic and Creative Expression; Undergraduate Research; Service to the World; Global Awareness; Professional and Leadership Development, and a self-designed Special Projects category.

Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college, emphasizes experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college, the recipient of the 2005 Arthur Vining Davis Foundations’ Award for Excellence, has been affiliated with the UnitedMethodistChurch since 1884. In April 2005, Hendrix was selected by the Princeton Review as the nation’s #4 "best value" college in its “Top 10 Best Value Colleges” ranking list. For more information about Hendrix, visit

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