Call Number:

MC.1243

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Willits Trust records (HC.MC.1243), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1883-1915 (inclusive)

Creator:

Willits Trust

Abstract:

The Willits Trust was a Quaker organization dating from the late 19th and early 20th century based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dedicated to providing religious tracts such as the journal The Africans' Friend to black Americans in the Southern United States and to Liberians. These records consist of correspondence, minutes, financial records, missionary materials, the will of Charles L. Willits, and miscellaneous items.

Charles Leeds Willits (August 16, 1814 - November 4, 1883) was a Quaker farmer from New Jersey. He left $10,000 in his will to the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and created the Willits Trust for the purpose of distributing religious tracts and writings to "the Colored people of the Southern States of the U.S. and the remainder in the colony of Liberia so that religion and morality may be promoted." The Willits Trust produced and circulated a journal titled The African's Friend for several decades, starting in 1885. The early trustees were John Bishop, Joseph S. Elkinton, William Evans, Edward Sharpless, Ephraim Smith, Charles Rhoads, and Jonathan E. Rhoads. William C. Cowperthwaite, William B. Harvey, David Heston, and Heulings Lippincott were also involved with the operation of the Trust. The Trust distributed The African's Friend through churches and schools in the southern U.S. and partnered with Protestant Missionaries in Africa in order to distribute in Liberia.

The Willits Trust records consist of correspondence, minutes, financial records, missionary materials, the will of Charles L. Willits, and miscellaneous items. Most of the correspondence relates to the distribution and reception of The African's Friend journal and the settlement of the Charles L. Willits will. The miscellaneous items include a photograph, a rubber stamp for The African's Friend, the key to the Willits Trust box which originally housed these materials, and a 1908 list of the Willits Trust box contents.
Box 1:

• Correspondence (ca. 650 items): letters alphabetized by last name, ca. 1885-1912
• Highlights include: letters from Joseph Crane Hartzell (American Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church), William H. Heard (U.S. Ambassador to Liberia and clergyman of African Methodist Episcopal Church), and A.E. Johnson (19th century African-American writer).

• Financial Records (ca. 250 items) including: checkbook of Willits Trust treasurer; cancelled checks, ca. 1885-1894; bills and receipts, ca. 1885-1913
• Will of Charles L. Willits and related correspondence (ca. 35 items) including: 1912 certified copy of Charles L. Willits will, 1883
• Related correspondence (ca. 1885-1912) including: letters from Samuel A. Willits (nephew of Charles L. Willits and owner of a lumber, coal, and hardware company in NJ) and Huelings Lippincott (a Quaker and President of the National State Bank of Camden, NJ).
• Minutes of the Willits Trust (ca. 35 items), including: 1 notebook; loose papers, ca. 1885-1896

• Foreign missionary materials (4 items) including: July 1906 Appleton's magazine featuring an article about missionaries in Liberia; 86th annual report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the year 1904; Reports Foreign Section - The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church (1904); and a 1909 newspaper clipping, ca. 1900-1910
• Items relating to Willits Trust Box (3 items) including: rubber stamp for The African's Friend; key to the Willits Trust tin box which originally housed these materials; and a 1908 list of the Willits Trust box contents
• 1 photograph mounted on cardboard backing titled "Moore St. Industrial Institution, Richmond, VA, 1886", 1886

This collection is arranged in the following series: Correspondence, Photograph, Miscellaneous, Financial Records, Missionary Materials, Will, Minutes, Addition