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Start Over Repository Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Subject Lay ministry -- Society of Friends Year 1750 to 1799

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Public Friends manuscripts collection, 1656-1899 (inclusive)

Extent:
.3 linear ft. (1 document box)
Abstract:
While the Society of Friends is a "ministry of all believers," historically certain members have been recognized for their spiritual gifts. Those who undertake to travel and preach with the approbation of their home meeting are known as Public Friends. Especially in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century, traveling ministers served a key role in forming Quaker social and theological networks, fostering unity within the Society of Friends, and providing spiritual enrichment to Quakers across the world. Ministers who felt a spiritual opening directing them to travel would tell their Monthly Meeting, and if approved, the meeting would write a minute for the minister to carry on their journey and present to the Meeting(s) they visited. Quaker Meetings would often keep records of the Public Friends who visited them. This collection consists of lists of Public Friends, as well as minutes from Quaker meetings approving ministers to travel. Items were written by various Quaker meetings or...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Friends Historical Library collection of memorials, 1760-1920 (inclusive)

Extent:
.1 linear ft.
Abstract:
Memorials are brief biographical essays which testify to the spiritual values of a Quaker's life. Early meetings only wrote memorials for ministers, but today some meetings continue the practice to memorialize all deceased members. In the 19th century, in particular, some Yearly Meetings periodically published compilations of memorials. This collection consists of miscellaneous memorials, from various meetings and regarding various Friends, collected by the Friends Historical Library over time.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Smedley Family Papers, 1751-1996 (inclusive) 1821-1950 (bulk)

Extent:
12 linear ft. (23 boxes plus photographs)
Abstract:
The collection contains correspondence, journals and other writings, business and legal papers, and miscellaneous items of the Smedley family, a large and prominent Quaker family of Penncrest Farm, Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The family was related to the Kite and Sharples/Sharpless families of Chester and Delaware Counties. The papers include significant correspondence of the Kite family, especially Thomas Kite (1785-1845) and Mary Kite (1792-1861), both prominent Quaker ministers, and Thomas's daughter, Susanna Kite (1809-1844) who married Aaron Sharpless. Their daughter, Elizabeth S. Sharpless married Edward G. Smedley of Middletown, thus merging the Smedley-Sharples-Kite families. In the 20th century, the property became the home of Edward Smedley's nephew, Walter Smedley (1862-1939), a Philadelphia architect, and his wife, Ida Wilkins Roberts Smedley (1896-1993). She married second C. Canby Balderston. The papers cover a wide range of subjects...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Ann Jones Papers, 1793-1831 (inclusive)

Extent:
6 folders
Abstract:
This collection contains letters and other manuscripts relating to visits of English Friends to America in the 1820s and the controversies which led to the Hicksite-Orthodox Separation. Also included are letters from Elizabeth Rathbone, Liverpool, England, to "My Beloved Uncle;" Joseph Bringhurst, Philadelphia, to "My Esteemed Friend;" also Abel Thomas to Thomas and Mary Wistar (copy) as well as some miscellaneous Quaker papers.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Emlen Family Papers, 1740-1886 (inclusive) 1817-1849 (bulk)

Extent:
0.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Abstract:
Contains papers relating to the Emlen family, residents of Middletown and West Chester, Pennsylvania. Chiefly correspondence (1817-1849) of Sarah Foulke Farquhar Emlen (1787-1849), Quaker minister, relating to her travels to visit Friends' meetings in England, Ireland, New England, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. Also correspondence of Quaker ministers 1740-1790, copybooks, and memorabilia. Includes material relating to Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in Chester County, Pa., where both Emlens taught; the Hicksite-Orthodox separation; slavery, the free produce movement and other Quaker concersn. Correspondents include Moses Brown, John Churchman, Samuel Emlen (ca. 1765-1837), Josiah Forster, Samuel Fothergill, Isaac Hadwen, Thomas Kite, Thomas Shillitoe, Esther Tuke, Joseph Whitall, and John Wilbur.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Jackson-Conard Family Papers, 1748-1910 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.2 linear ft. (5 boxes)
Abstract:
The Jackson-Conard Family Papers include correspondence and other manuscripts of the Jackson and Conard families of London Grove Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The primary recipients are William Jackson (1746-1834), a Quaker minister, and his nephew, William Jackson (1789-1864), who served a single term in the Pennsylvania State Senate and was active in the anti-slavery movement.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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John Hunt Papers, 1770-1928 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)
Abstract:
John Hunt, a Quaker minister from Chester, New Jersey, was born in 1740, the son of Robert and Abigail (Wood) Hunt. He kept a journal for more than 40 years, recording Quaker concerns and daily events. This collections consists primarily of the manuscript journal, 1770-1800; fragments of 1805, 1806 & 1808; and 1814-1824. There if also an account book, some correspondence received, and other miscellaneous materials.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Lewis-Garrigues collection of family papers, 1753-1840 (inclusive)

Extent:
.1 linear ft. (.1 linear feet (11 folders.))
Abstract:
This collection centers on the correspodence and family history of the Garrigues family and the Price family, to whom the former were linked with the marriage of Edward Garrigues and Margaret Price. The correspondence, received by Edward Garrigues, is from many prominent Quaker ministers, including Isaac Hicks as he travelled with his cousin, Elias Hicks. Other correspondents include Rebecca Jones, Sarah Scattergood, Stephen Grellet, Charity Cook, Deborah Darby, and Martha Routh. The letters relate the travels of these ministers to meetings in both Europe and the United States, and their thoughts on spirituality.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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Job Scott letters, 1788-1790 (inclusive)

Extent:
.1 linear ft. (.1 linear feet (3 folders.))
Abstract:
This collection contains three letters written by Job Scott to fellow Quaker Hugh Judge. Scott wrote the letters while travelling in religious ministry in Oxbridge, Philadelphia, and Charleston, S.C. The letters mostly contain spiritual musings.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

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