Realizing that “when an elder passes, a history perishes,” AAMHC aimed to document the presence and contributions of African Americans in Methodism. Collections of memorabilia and writings needed to be gathered, preserved, and archived in one place, so that all could come, see, celebrate, witness and learn how God delivered and delivers the faithful.

Numerous collections have been acquired by the African American Methodist Heritage Center. Two acquisitions of note are pictures of the Historic Black Colleges and the Bishop W. T. Handy Jr. Collection.The Heritage Center is housed in the General Commission on Archives and History’s state-of-the-art, climate-controlled building on the Drew University campus in Madison, NJ. AAMHC’s collections are augmented by many GCAH cross-over collections, including Central Jurisdiction Christian Advocates,which were published during the painful era of institutional segregation in the denomination.

The African American Methodist Heritage Center,Inc. (AAMHC) has, indeed, come this far by faith,leaning on the Lord. The Heritage Center is an offspring of Black Methodists for  Church Renewal, Inc. (BMCR)