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Lewis Benson papers
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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Lewis Benson (August 15, 1906 - August 23, 1986) was born to Clara [Claretta] (Morris) and John Benson. He was born into and raised in Manasquan Friends Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting. He rejoined the meeting in his retirement, and is buried in its graveyard. However, his religious life in his youth was rooted in two places as well: Lewis and his mother attended a Scotch Presbyterian Church, and in the summers he spent time at Sea Girt-Manasquan with his cousins. Benson attended Executive Meeting and Half Yearly Meeting, where he was able to socialize with Quakers his own age, and learn Quaker business practices. He did not graduate from high school, which prevented him from permanent positions at Quaker organizations later in life. He became interested in the metaphysical system of Gurdjieff, which left him in self-described despair. At 25 he was drawn to George Fox's Journal, wherein reading about Fox's struggle with despair, he found kinship and support. He became a life-long student of George Fox's message, studying his work for over fifty years. He worked with Quakers in Britain. He participated in dialogues with Anabaptists and Quakers, including publishing much of his writings in "The Call," which was published in Britain and the United States. He was a prolific writer and lecturer. The New Foundation Fellowship was started in the 1970s, with Benson as as founding member. He was also part of the Young Friends movement in Philadelphia, which was concerned with reunification of the two yearly meetings. He met his wife Sarah at Pendle Hill (uaker retreat in eastern Pennsylvania) the winter of 1933-1934, they were married in 1937 in Germantown. He later became the first librarian at Pendle Hill. Their son John was born in 1940.
(The Friend, September 19, 1986; Sarah Benson biography of Lewis)
The collection contains written materials that cover a period of over fifty years (1932 - 1986). The papers attest to the influence of the power of God in the life of Lewis Benson. They follow his growth from a young man of religious conviction into a minister in the Religious Society of Friends. Many of the materials in the Lewis Benson Papers evidence his efforts to reclaim the prophetic heritage of the Quaker faith. The bulk of the collection is correspondence and his writings. The end of the collection contains beta video lectures from 1984.
The collection has four series. Correspondence is arranged alphabetically. Writing is arranged chronologically and by subject. Personal history is predominately undated. Multimedia is arranged chronologically.
People
Subject
- Church work -- Society of Friends
- Church -- Apostolicity
- Society of Friends -- History
- Peace -- Religious aspects -- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) -- History -- Sources
- Society of Friends -- History -- 17th century
- Mysticism
- Society of Friends -- Testimonies and concerns
- Young Friends Movement (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- New Foundation Fellowship
- Publisher
- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Processed by Mary Crauderueff; completed April 2018. Previously processed by Caryl Johnston and Christopher E. Stern; unknown date.
- Finding Aid Date
- April, 2018
- Access Restrictions
-
Standard Federal Copyright Law Applies (U.S. Title 17)
- Use Restrictions
-
Before her death, permission for use needed to be sought from Sarah Benson, and may now be requested from John Benson.
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This collection is open for research use.
Collection Inventory
Norio Akashi, Becky Allen, Bruce Allen, Henry Amsden, John Anderson, Christine and Richard Anderson Sprecher, Moriyuki Aoyama, Virginia Apsey, Terry Arendell, Judith Arness, Joy Auble
Kay Bachman, H. Staton Bailey, Llyod Bailey, Dorlan and Donna Bales, Howard Bartram, Daniel Bassuk, Pattiebuff and Richard Bear
Robert Beach, Arthur Berk, Madelyn Bernauer, Bible Association of Friends, D. Jonathan Blake, Peter Blood, Paul Blundin
Nick Bolles, Bon Braithwaite, Jean Lu Brandman, Michael Breslin, Greg Buchan, E. William Byerly, Maureen Burn, William Boyer, Lewis and Sarah Benson, Howard Brinton
Allan Brown, Richard Broughton, Wistar Brown, T. Wistar Brown Fellowship
Henry Cadbury, Jack and Tessa Cadbury, The Call, Ann Carr
Glenn Cantu, M Margaret Cary, Hardy Carroll, Paul Cates, Paul Champagne, Chouteau Chapin, George and Ann Chapman, Antoinette Clarke, Joseph Conwill
Fred and Arretta Cooper, Marlene Cooper, Wilmer Cooper, Josephine Copithorne, Fred Craig, Maurice Creasey
Maurice Creasey
Densie Virene Crissey, B Cummings, John Curtis
Adrienne and Howard Dahlke, Walt Damon-Ruth, Evelyn Dane, Marlin Davie, Pam Davis, Robert Davis, Dan Dawes, James Deane, Denmark, Dennis Dick, Helen Dieterly, Tom Dodder, Brian Drayton, Roger Dreisbach-Williams, Ruth Durr, Jenny Duskey
James Eblin, Henry and Else Ecroyd, Trish Edwards-Delaney, Jack Ericson, Van Ernst, Keith Esch
Val Ferguson, Harold and Ethel Field, Fellowship of Hope, Donald Fisher, Susan Fitch, John Fitzgerald, Richard J. Foster
Albert Fowler, Dean Jim Freiday, Marvin Fridley, Arnold Fryer, Marian Fuson
Tony Gaenslen, S Harrison Gardiner, Sorothy Garner, Doug Garrett, John and Mary Gibson, Edmund Goerke
Edmund Goerke, Leanore Goodenow, Nancy Goodwin
Doug Gwyn
Doug Gwyn, especially relating to Quaker understanding of sex and marriage
Doug Gwyn
Herbert Hadley, Fran Fall, Ed Hamson, Joyce Halley, Ward Harrington, Viola Hathaway, Glen Hay
Ellis Hein, Norma Heller, George S Hendry, Nancy Henn, Gary Heritage, Mitchel Hershberger
Fritz and Kathleen Hertzberg, Victoria Hewitt, Seiju Hirakawa, Soo and Grace Han Ho, Philip G. L. Hodges, Rheta Holleran, Doug Hollingsworth
John H. Hughes, Michael Hughes, R. Konrad Hunter
T Canby Jones
T Canby Jones, Rufus Jones
Calvin Keene
Calvin Keene
Marjorie Ogden Kellogg, Cynthia Kerman, Florence Kimball, Marjorie Klup
Takeshi Kobori, Charles Kohler, Ichiro and Fumiko Koizumi, Allan Kolp, Hans Kaurnstrom, Andrea Kuenning, Larry and Lisa Kuenning
Joan Lane, Herbert Lape, Rebecca Lange, Al Langley, Michael and Aundrey Langford, Chris Laning
Larry and Cherilyn Larsen, Ann Liem, George Liens, Gladys Meyer Lindes, Franklin H Littell, Esther Littler, William and Ella Llewellyn, Richard N. Longenecker, Dorothy Lonsky, Joann Longton, Pearl Lucas
Sarah Malone, Johan Maurer, John Maynard, John McCandless, Charles McCardell, Paul Minear, Fumiye Miyo, Betty Miller, John Miller, Curtis Morse, Charlotte and Tom Mood
Donald Nesti, New Swarthmoor Newsletters, Robert Newell, George Nicklin, Jim Niss, Kesa Noda, G.E. and Mary Nuttall, Ferner Nuhn, Howard Norton
Anne Olsen, Micahel Okordudu
Candida Palmer, David and Daphne Parke, Peggy Paull, Pendle Hill Correspondence, Gilbert Perleberg, Sue Perry, Lynn Pfeiffer, Paul E. Pfuetze
Joseph Pickvance; also undated
Joseph Pickvance
Joseph Pickvance
Joseph Pickvance
Ruth Pitman, Hazel Pook, Chip Posten, Tom Potts, Princeton Theological Seminary, Viola Purvis
Michael Rablen, Helen Raine, [?] Rajagopal, Arnold Ranneris, Onni Rauha, Dan Reardon, Calvin Redokop, Karen Reixach, Annette Reynolds, Christine Reynolds, Nora Reynolds, Victor Reynolds
Weldon Reynolds
Weldon Reynolds
Wilfred Reynolds, Esther B. Rhoads, Rendell Rhoades, Gerald Richards, Meg Richardson, Ben Richmond
Arthur O Roberts, David W. Robson
Hugh Ross
Hugh Ross
William Rushby
TIlly Schaop, David Schmidt, Virginia Schurman, Richenda Scott, Stanfor Searll, Madge Seaver, Betty Seeger, Blanche Sell, Ronald Selleck Rossiter Seward, Bill Silfey, Mark Shepard, Phil Sheridan
Mark and Norma Silliman, Joseph Silver, J. Kennedy Sinclaire
Max and Lorraine Skinner, Marjorie Smith
Sheldon Smith, Gordon St. George, George St. John, William Stafford, Christopher Stern
Lee Stern, Douglas Steere, Kenneth Stewart, Gardiner Stillwell
Gardiner Stillwell, Debbie Sulton
Bill Tabor, Paul Thijsen, Charles THomas, Michael Thomson, Jennifer Tiffany, Betty Tiffany, Heinrich Tucher
Robert Tucker
Robert Tucker
Beatice Valentin, Martha Vallace, W. Virgil Vogt
John Wake, Terry and Diane Wallace, Sadie Walton, Akio and Nobuko Watanabe, John Waters, Austin Wattles, Franz Wecker, Galen and Martha Weingart
Bill Wells
Zoe White, Dan Whitley, Roger Dreisbach Williams, Barbara Williamson, Dan Wilson
Arthur and Ursula Windsor
Arthur and Ursula Windsor
Arthur and Ursula Windsor
Morris Windsor, James Wolfe, Herbert Wood, J. Philip Wragge, Harold Wrigley, Isaac Wylie
D. Robert Yarnell, Naomi and Solomon Yoder, Tadashi Yuasa, John R. Yungblut
Jane Zavitz, Milt and Sandy Zimmerman
"Social Gospel," Woodbrooke, England; "Toward a Real Social Testimony," Friends Intelligencer 1933; "A Call to Re-publish the Truth," The Friend 1935; "The Word of God," Pendle Hill 1936; "The Religious Crisis," Friends Intelligencer 1936; "Quakerism and the Religious Crisis," Friends Intelligencer 1936; "Young Friends and the Religious Crisis," Friends Intelligencer 1936; "The Christian Gospel in the Modern World," Pendle Hill extension, announcement only 1938; "What was the Gospel," The Friend 1938
"The Christian Gospel in the Modern World," at Pendle Hill 1938
"I believe," Friends Intelligencer 1939; "The New Quakerism and the New Orthodoxy," The Friend 1939; "War and the Christian," Evanston News-Index 1939; "The Quaker Evangel in an UnChristian World," 1940; "Peace Statement," to draft board 1940; "Christian Absolutionist Pacifism," talk for 57th Street Friends Meeting, Chicago, 1941; "The Future of Quakerism," three lectures for Pendle Hill 1942; "The Resettlement of Prophetic Quakerism," introductory essay for The Woolman Resettlement 1943; "Authoritative Peace Testimony," The American Friend 1944; "Prophetic Quakerism," reviews 1945; "The Religious Foundation of the Society of Friends," Wyck Seminar 1947
"Quakerism and it's True Heritage," The Friend 1955, includes draft; "A Please for a New Spiritual Reformation," The Call 1955; "Dead End Quakerism," The Call 1956; "Morality and the Christian Faith," lecture at Eastern Mennonite College 1956; "A Third Voice," Friends Journal 1956; "The Prophetic Peace Witness," The American Friend 1957; Comments by Benson on Brinton's 'Quakerism and Other Religions," 1957
"The Church's One Foundation," The Call 1957-1958; "The Order that Belongs to the Gospel," Concern no. 7 1959; "The Disciple Church in History," six lectures 1959
"The Early Quaker Vision of the Church," Quaker Religious Thought 1960; "The Relation of Quakerism to Its Own History," Quaker Religious Thought 1961; "Catholic Quakerism," lecture series at Woodbrooke 1966; "Friends and the Truth," 1965
"Should David have joined Goliath?" The Friend 1967; "The Future of the Quaker Vision," Friends Quarterly 1967; "On Being Moved by the Spirit to Minister in Public Worship," Journal of the Evanston Meeting of Friends 1968; "George Fox and the Power of God," Friends Journal 1969; "A Letter to a Friend" 1970; "Universal Dimension in the Thought of George Fox," Friends Quarterly 1970; "The Power of God and the Power of Man," Friends Quarterly 1968
"That of God in Every Man, what Did George Fox Mean by it?"
"Was Isaac Pennington an Individualist?" 1972; "[What did George Fox Treach about Christ?]" New Foundation Publications 1974
"Christ the Prophet," 1973
"What Did George Fox Teach About Christ?" New Foundation Publications 1974; "A Revolutionary Gospel," The Friend 1974; [Book review of The Journal of George Fox," 1975; "[Irish Tapes]" 1975 audiotape transcript
"A New Foundation to Build On" 1976; Haverford College, includes The Problem of Being Human, The Power of the Gospel, The Gospel Generates Moral and Fellowship Forming Power, The Gospel and Self Knowledge, Fellowship in the Work of Proclaiming and Building
"A New Foundation to Build On" 1976; Haverford College, includes The Problem of Being Human, The Power of the Gospel, The Gospel Generates Moral and Fellowship Forming Power, The Gospel and Self Knowledge, Fellowship in the Work of Proclaiming and Building
"A New Foundation to Build On" 1976; Haverford College, includes The Problem of Being Human, The Power of the Gospel, The Gospel Generates Moral and Fellowship Forming Power, The Gospel and Self Knowledge, Fellowship in the Work of Proclaiming and Building
"A New Foundation to Build On" 1976; Haverford College, includes The Problem of Being Human, The Power of the Gospel, The Gospel Generates Moral and Fellowship Forming Power, The Gospel and Self Knowledge, Fellowship in the Work of Proclaiming and Building
"George Fox's Message for Today," lecture, Millville Friends Meeting 1977; "[Arch Street]" lecture series 1977; "The Universal Message of George Fox," Friends Quarterly, Nitobe Lecture, Japan Yearly Meeting 1977
"My Philosophy of Life and Some Suggestions for Young People," lecture in Japan 1979; "The Quaker Message and Human Renewal," lecture in Japan 1979; "The Basis of Quaker Social Concerns," Hosei University, Japan 1979; "The People of God and Gospel Order," The Church in Quaker Thought and Practice 1979; "Modernism," lecture at New Foundation Institute 1979
"Two Questions for Lewis Benson," audiotape transcript 1980; "[The Message presented by the New Foundation Fellowship]" lecture 1980
"Notes on George Fox," 1981; "Keeping to the Simplicity of the Gospel," 1981; "George Fox - the First Quaker," 1968; "What is the New Foundation Fellowship?" Celo Community, Ashville, North Carolina 1981; "George Fox's Understanding and Experience of Christ," Leonard E. Wines Memorial Lecture, 1981
"The Greatness of Our Cause," New Foundation Papers 1982; "A New Starting Point," draft 1982; "Recovering the Early Quaker Universal Mission and Message," 1986, "A Call to Universal Mission," New Foundation Fellowship Gathering Pendle Hill 1984; "[Newberg]" lecture 1984; "On the Road: A Progress Report of the Work of the New Foundation Fellowship," San Francisco Friends Meeting, California, 1984; "The Relevance of George Fox for Today," lectures at Berkeley Friends Church, California 1984
"The Message of George Fox and Its Consequences," lecture 2 Cambridge Friends Meeting, Massachusetts 1984; "Finding the Faith that Overcomes the World," All-Quarters Conference of Friends 1984; "The Quaker Revolution," lecture series at Pendle Hill 1984; "Keeping to the Simplicity of the Gospel," Annual Gathering of the New Foundation Fellowship 1985; "A Vision of Hope for All Friends," keynote at New York Yearly Meeting, 1985; "The Concern of the New Foundation Movement," Friends Journal 1985
"Recovering the Early Quaker Universal Mission and Message," five lectures 1986; "[untitled]" on George Fox 1986; "Message of Firbank Fell for Today," proposal for seminar 1986; "Recovering the Quaker Vision," proposal for Powell House course, 1987; "The Worship that God Seeks," New Foundation Papers 1988
lecture series in Philadelphia, includes lectures and book outlines
lecture series in Philadelphia, includes lectures and book outlines
lecture series
lecture series
Christ's blood, Jesus is New Convenant, Congregational Singing, Denominationalism, Scripture, Sin, Art, Ritual, Sacramental-Gospel Order, Anti-Monastic, That of God in Every Man, the Soul, Truth, War, the Wisdom of God, Lives Preach
"Critique of Modern Nationalism and Imperialism," "The Religious and the Humanistic Approach to the Problem of Mechanistic Psychology," "Technology and Faith," "Notes on Existentialism," "Simple Christians," "Renewing Our Spiritual Life," "Human Reason," "Self Conciousness," "Ministry and Preaching," "Friends and their History," "The Christian View of the Nature of Man"
"Repentance," "Heathen Divinity," "Brown's Prophecy," "The Christian Fiath and Religion," "The Condition of Man and the Religious of the World," "THe Irrelevance of Religious Relevance," "The Outawrd and Invisable Church," "A Brief Inquiry into the Historical Background and prospects for Quaker worship and ministry," "Quaker pastor," "Prophetic Faith," "The Oaths and the Legal Systems," "Christmas," "The Place of Christ," "The Devil and George Fox"
"A Christian Witness in Wartime," "The 'Inner Light' and the Quaker Peace Testimony," "Understanding and living the Quaker Peace Testimony," "Quakers and Community," "The Nature of True Community," "Living Unitedly the Program of Jesus Christ," "The Dilemna of Quaker Scholarship," "A Re-view (of the New Quakerism," "The Quaker Vision in the Age of the Death of God," "The Birth and Death of the Yearly Meeting Epistle," "Tradition and Truth in Quaker Life," "A Brief Stateent of what we Believe," "The Relevance of the Language of Early Friends," "The Relevance of the 17th century Quaker Terminology"
"What is Gospel Order?" "What is Prophecy?" "Testimonies"
"The Nature of the Disciple Church," "The Church as the Transformation," "The Basis of the Early Quaker View of the Church"
"Mysticism of Augustine," "Jesus Christ, the New Covenant, and His Church," "George Fox's Conception of the Church"
correspondence for visits to Japan in 1977 and 1979, lectures
correspondence for visits to Japan in 1977 and 1979, lectures
Correspondence related to the spiritual and community life of Shrewsbury Friends Meeting
materials related to Benson's study of Gurjieff's teaching and invovlement in that movement
Includes seminars, materials related to Summer Tramps in England, Young Friends Fellowship Regional Conference
Grant to supplement work to attend Woodbrooke in 1954
Correspondence with Grace Rhoads, Llewelyn Harries and Margaret Goodwin, including letter on why Benson will not join them.
Includes lists of residents, students, and staff, including Benson
Statements of purpose, conern, annoucements of meetings, lecture materials for the Quaker group that met at the Wyck House in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1946-1949.
Statements of purpose, minutes, reports, includes efforts to combine the Call (Quaker) and Concern (Anabaptist)
An experiment in Christian community from 1959-1963
Reports for Worker Gatherings, travel itineraries, summer school plans, conference plans
Articles of incorportation and statement of purpose
Statement of purpose, history of foundation, description of fellowship
This finding aid was compiled at an unknown date, and is intensely over detailed than the current one (2018).
Complete set of file cards taked from a Rolodex, which includes collection of quotations by George Fox that covers over forty years of research. A typed version was bound into three volumes.
2 Beta format tapes February 10, 1984, Berkeley Friends Church
2 Beta format tapes February 11, 1984, Berkeley Friends Church
2 Beta format tapes February 17, 1984, Berkeley Friends Church
2 Beta format tapes February 18, 1984, Berkeley Friends Church
Beta format tape February 24, 1984, Berkeley Friends Church
5 DVDs made from Beta tapes