Our Staff
973-408-3189
Alfred T. Day, III ,General Secretary
Michelle Merkel-Brunskill, Executive Assistant
Jay Rollins, Director of Communications
L. Dale Patterson, Archivist-Records Administrator
Mark Shenise, Associate Archivist
Frances Lyons, Reference Archivist
Brian Shetler, Head of Special Collections & University Archives and Methodist Librarian
Cassie Brand, Methodist Library Associate and Special Collections Cataloger
Charles Yrigoyen, Jr. , General Secretary Emeritus
Robert J. Williams , General Secretary, retired
Alfred T. Day, III
General Secretary
atday@gcah.org
973-408-3191
Graduate studies, Drew University and Temple University
M. Div. Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, 1975
B.S., Houghton College, Houghton NY, 1972
Alfred T. Day , beginning in 2014, is the General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History . He is a clergy member of theEastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference. He also serves as editor of Methodist History.
Prior to his present appointment, Day served local churches in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference including a term as District Superintendent and most recently as Pastor of Historic St. George's Church, a United Methodist Heritage Landmark.
Michelle Merkel-Brunskill
Executive Assistant
mmerkel@gcah.org
973-408-3189
Michelle has been with GCAH since 2000. She provides administrative support for the Commission's General Secretary. Michelle is the public's contact at the Archives to answer questions about general information, subscribing to Methodist History, Historic and Heritage Landmark applications, purchasing GCAH publications, and updating the GCAH directory.
Jay Rollins
Director of Communications
jrollins@gcah.org
Jay Rollins has more than ten years of experience in various capacities in communications, development, public relations, and marketing roles, with extensive work in more than 20 developing countries.
With the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), he was responsible for the brand and messaging of an organization with a staff of almost 500 in more than 80 countries. He was responsible that all staff was trained in basic communications functions, brand promise/awareness, social media and crisis communication. Additionally, he ensured that these concepts were translated into the country-appropriate language and context. He has been called a pioneer in social media for non-profit organizations and quoted in several books including Elizabeth Drescher’s Click 2 Save.
Additionally, he has extensively traveled and reported around the world. From the border of Syria to the emerging nation of South Sudan, he has been a one-person producer, photographer, reporter, videographer, grip, and editor.
L. Dale Patterson
Archivist-Records Administrator
dpatterson@gcah.org
973-408-3195
Dale has worked on the Commission Staff since 1994. Prior to that time he was Associate Archivist and Co-Director of the Oral History Center at the University of Louisville. Dale is involved in his local church and in adjunct teaching at Drew University. Contact him if you have questions about sending records to the Archives Center, curious about workshops, or if you wonder what types of records your office or church should be keeping
Mark Shenise
Associate Archivist
mshenise@gcah.org
973-408-3194
Mark is the Associate Archivist. His major responsibilities are processing agencies and personal papers, handling reference requests, working on museum displays, overseeing basic conservation needs, working with computers and databases, and preserving/cataloging the artifacts collection. Mark first worked for the archives in 1983 as a Student Assistant. After graduating from Drew Theological Seminary in 1985 and serving as an Associate Pastor in High Mountain Church of the Nazarene, Mark came back to work full-time for the archives in the Fall of 1986. He is a member of the Mendham United Methodist Church. Mark is also a member of the Greater New Jersey Commission on Archives and History.
Frances Lyons
Reference Archivist
flyons@gcah.org
973- 408-3196
Frances joined the staff of the Commission as Reference Archivist in March 2008. She previously managed the Archives and Special Properties Collection at American International Group, Inc. in New York City. Prior to working at AIG she was the archivist for The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Brian Shetler
Head of Special Collections & University Archives and Methodist Librarian, Drew University
bshetler@drew.edu
973-408-3910
M.A., Drew University, 2016
M.S.L.I.S., Simmons College, 2013
B.A., American University, 2002
Brian has worked with the Commission as part of Drew University Special Collections since 2013. He has held the position of Methodist Librarian since February, 2017. Prior to arriving at Drew, Brian completed his Masters in Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston. Since his undergraduate days at American University, Brian has worked at numerous rare book libraries and archives in Washington, DC, Boston, and New York City. In addition to his library experience, Brian is also a PhD candidate in the History and Culture program at Drew University, where he focuses on book history and print culture in early Modern England. Among the projects he has worked on while at Drew is an article for Methodist History related to the printing history of John Wesley and the Arminian Magazine. He is currently completing his dissertation on the printing history of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
Cassie Brand
Methodist Library Associate and Special Collections Cataloger, Drew University
cbrand@drew.edu
973-408-3590
B.A., Goucher College, 2009
M.L.S., Indiana University, 2011
Ph.D., Drew University, expected graduation 2016
Cassie joined the staff as a full time employee in October 2013 after having worked with them in her previous position as a student assistant. She is currently working on her PhD in History and Culture with a focus on Book History. Previously, she has worked at the Library of Congress, Folger Shakespeare Library, Lilly Library at Indiana University, and Goucher College Library.
Charles Yrigoyen, Jr.
General Secretary, Emeritus
Chuck was the GCAH General Secretary from 1982-2005. He is an ordained clergy member of the Eastern Pennsylvanian Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He lives in retirement, with his wife Jean, in Lancaster, Pennsylvannia.
General Secretary, Retired
Ph.D., Drew University, 1983
M.Div., Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1973
B.A., M.S., University of Pennsylvania, 1970
Bob was the General Secretary from 2006 through June of 2014. He is an elder in the Greater New Jersey Conference and lives with his wife, Renee, in Ocean City, NJ. He currently serves as treasurer of the Charles Wesley Society and staff to the World Methodist Historical Society.