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William Irvine Letters from Jerusalem
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. 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
Born in Scotland, Irvine was an evangelist who joined the Faith Mission there in 1895. Dissatisfied with its teachings, Irvine formally broke with the Mission while serving in Ireland in 1901. With an expanding ministry of his own, Irvine came to North America in 1903. He traveled widely, preaching that the Age of Grace was coming to an end. In November 1919 he moved to Palestine, where he spent the rest of his life, continuing to transmit his theology to his followers in a continuing series of letters. These were reproduced by selected members for distribution among the followers. Such are the copies in this collection. Irvine died in Jerusalem in 1945. The larger branch of the church he founded ("Christian Conventions" or "Two-by-Twos") continues today.
The collection consists of typescript copies of Irvine's evangelic letters, mostly from Jerusalem but likely typed in California. The letters document the heterodox and fundamentalist Christian offshoot of Irvine's Two-by-Two Movement, which stressed the primacy of the Bible and sent its preachers out in pairs to establish home-based churches across America, Australia, New Zealand, China, Africa, and Europe. Many of the letters are addressed to Willie Edwards, a follower who was in charge of disseminating Irvine's message until Irvine broke with him in mid-1945. The collection contains some duplicates of letters addressed to different people.
The letters are organized by volume, roughly in chronological order. (Original binders were thrown out.)
The collection was purchased from Garrett Scott in November 2010 (AM2011-45).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by John Delaney on November 9, 2010. Finding aid written by John Delaney on November 9, 2010.
No appraisal information is available.
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- John Delaney
- Finding Aid Date
- 2010
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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