The records are arranged alphabetically into three series: Methodist Children’s Home series, Epworth School for Girls series, and the Epworth Children and Family Services series. The records date 1864-c.1992, and 2013; the bulk of the records date 1864-1982. There are no records from 1993 to 2012.

The Methodist Children’s Home series is the largest series in the records and spans from 1864 to circa 1970. This series includes the records of its predecessor institutions: the Central Wesleyan Orphans Home and the Methodist Orphans Home. There are only two newspaper clippings about the Central Wesleyan Orphans Home and one register of orphans, 1864-1938, which is a transcription of the records held by the Warren County Historical Society in Warrenton, Missouri.

There are seventeen volumes of records from the Methodist Orphans Home. These include seven monthly meeting minute books from the Methodist Orphans Home Association’s Board of Managers dating from 1883 to 1913 (B1/f.8-B2/f.2; vol. 5-11). There are three accounts volumes (vol. 2-4): two for the Methodist Orphans Home for Boys, 1890-1901; and one for the Methodist Orphans Home, 1921-1924.

There are seven volumes of registers for children admitted to the Methodist Orphans Home, dating from 1865 to 1947 (B2/f.3-8; vol. 12-18). The volumes cover the years sporadically and are often arranged differently. However, most of the registers provide: name of child, date received/admitted, date of birth, place of residence when received, parent/guardian, address, date dismissed, and remarks.

Newspaper clippings from scrapbooks have been photocopied for preservation. They range from 1870 to 1969 and provide information about the home’s facilities, its board members, and events. Many of the clippings from the 1920s and 1930s were taken from the St. Louis Christian Advocate, including a brief, regular column written by the Home’s dog and mascot, Snowball. There are small amounts of correspondence and publications from the Home that includes annual reports, brochures, events. There is also an invitation to the dedication of Hayes House in 1970, the only record relating to this location (B1/f.5).

The Epworth School for Girls series dates from circa 1915 to 1968. There are five volumes of accounts dating from 1935 to 1947 recording donations, receipts/income, and individual accounts for the girls in residence (vol. 19-23). Publications in the series include annual reports, two brochures, blank forms, and two resident handbooks. There are also scripts for radio and television advertisements for community fundraising.

Most of the correspondence is legal, between school board members and attorney Homer Hall, and covers a variety of topics from 1946 to 1951 (B4/f.7-9). Most notably, in 1946, the school needed to name new trustees as property holders for its Webster Groves estate. Such action required cooperation from both the St. Louis County Court and the Woman’s Division of Christian Service of the Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Church.

The Epworth Children and Family Services series is the smallest series in the records and spans from 1970 to 2013, with the bulk of the series dating 1970-1992. There are no records from 1993 to 2012. This series represents records created after the 1975 merger of the Epworth School for Girls and the Methodist Childrens Home, when the home was incorporated as the United Methodist Children and Family Services of Missouri. However, the first of two volumes in the series, registers of girls and boys in the dormitories, dates from before and after the merger, 1970-1978.

Newspaper clippings cover events such as the Webster Groves campus expansions in the 1980s and 1990s and the 125th anniversary in 1989. There are also brochures explaining the mission of the agency and a comic from the Epworth News (12/87; B4/f.16). The only item dating after the 1996 name change is a poster for the 2013 Ladies Auxiliary Luncheon.