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Anna Garlin Spencer Papers

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Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore 19081-1399

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. 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

Anna Carpenter Garlin Spencer (1851-1931) was a minister, feminist, educator, pacifist, and writer on ethics and social problems. Perhaps inspired by the examples of her abolitionist mother, Nancy Carpenter Garlin, and her aunt, Sarah Carpenter, a missionary who worked with homeless women, Anna Garlin Spencer dedicated her life to social reform. Spencer served as a religious leader in the Bell Street Chapel in Providence, a liberal, nondenominational ethical church, beginning in 1889. She was the first woman in Rhode Island to be ordained and served as the minister of the Bell Street Chapel from 1891 to 1902.

Anna Garlin was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts in 1851, and spent her youth in that state and Rhode Island. In 1869 she began to write for the Providence Journal, as well as teach in the public schools. She remained a journalist until 1878 when she married the Reverend William H. Spencer, a Unitarian minister. From 1902 until her death, Spencer held a series of teaching posts as such institutions as the University of Wisconsin, the University of Chicago, and Teacher's College, Columbia University. She taught on issues of religion, aspects of marriage and the family, the role of women, sexuality, and philanthropy.

Spencer was active in the cause of women's rights for more than forty years. She was a friend of well-known feminists, including Susan B. Anthony, Ednah Cheney, Lucy Stone, and Valeria H. Parker. In the 1890's she served as the president of the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association. An early participant in the National Council of Women, Anna Garlin Spencer was president of that organization in 1920.

Spencer's interest in pacifism also led her to prominent positions in the cause of peace. She was on the executive committee of the National Peace and Arbitration Congress in 1907 and was a founding member of the Woman's Peace Party in 1915, serving as vice chairman. She also became the first chairman of the national board of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919.

Spencer died at her home in New York in 1931.

The Anna Garlin Spencer Papers include correspondence, writings, biographical material, and family material. Spencer's correspondence with well-known woman's rights activists and peace workers may be found in Box 1. Writings by Spencer may be found in boxes 2-4. This includes manuscripts, typescripts and printed articles. Box 5 contains newspaper clippings about Spencer and her work. Material about Spencer's years at the Bell Street Chapel may also be found in box 5. Biographical material about Spencer is located in box 6. Material about William H. Spencer may be found in box 9.

Family genealogies, correspondence, and material about Carpenter and Garlin family member is located in box 7. Box 8 includes miscellaneous material, as well as undated writings and correspondence of Anna Garlin Spencer.

All this material has been microfilmed and is available on reels 84.1-84.5. The only material not filmed is the collection of newspaper clippings in box 5 and material received by the Peace Collection after filming was completed.

Significant correspondents, with information about other reformers, include Susan B. Anthony, Alice Stone Blackwell, Sarah Carpenter, Carrie Chapman Catt, Elizabeth Buffam Chace, Ednah D. Cheney, Frederick Douglass, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Nancy Carpenter Garlin, Lucy Hale Garlin, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Harriet Martineau, Lucia Ames Mead, Laura Puffer Morgan, Valeria H. Parker, Janet Pierson, Kate Pierson, Elizabeth Oakes Smith, and Lucy Stone.

Guide to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, 2nd ed., p. 66.

Guide to Sources on Women in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, p. 25.

This collection is available on microfilm (reels 84.1-84.5). Microfilm is available on-site by appointment and through interlibrary loan from the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Gift of Dr. Valeria H. Parker [Literary executor], 1939.

This checklist was revised by Wendy E. Chmielewski in April, 1998, and the finding aid was prepared by Chloe Lucchesi-Malone in August, 2009.

Photographs have been removed from this collection.

Publisher
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research use.

All or part of this collection is stored off-site. Contact Swarthmore College Peace Collection staff at peacecollection@swarthmore.edu at least two weeks in advance of visit to request boxes.

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Use Restrictions

None.

Collection Inventory

Correspondence, 1860-1931, undated.
Box DG 034: 1 [SCPC-0450] Reel 84.1
Diary, 1851-1931.
Box DG 034: 2 [SCPC-0451] Reel 84.2
Manuscripts, 1878-1931.
Box DG 034: 2 [SCPC-0451] Reel 84.2
Manuscripts, undated.
Box DG 034: 2 [SCPC-0451] Reel 84.3
Scope and Contents

[3 folders]

Typescripts, signed, dated, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 3 [SCPC-0452] Reel 84.3
Typescripts, signed, undated.
Box DG 034: 3 [SCPC-0452] Reel 84.3
Scope and Contents

[3 folders]

Typescripts, no signature, dated, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 3 [SCPC-0452] Reel 84.3
Typescripts, no signature, undated.
Box DG 034: 3 [SCPC-0452] Reel 84.3
Scope and Contents

[2 folders]

Lecture outlines, dated and undated, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 3 [SCPC-0452] Reel 84.3
Bibliographies and reading lists, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 3 [SCPC-0452] Reel 84.3
Articles and published material, 1878-1911.
Box DG 034: 4 [SCPC-0453] Reel 84.3
Articles and published material, 1912-1925.
Box DG 034: 4 [SCPC-0453] Reel 84.3
Articles and published material, 1926-1930.
Box DG 034: 4 [SCPC-0453] Reel 84.3
Articles and published material, undated.
Box DG 034: 4 [SCPC-0453] Reel 84.3
Article about Anna Garlin Spencer, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 4 [SCPC-0453] Reel 84.3
Promotional Publicity, 1872-1915.
Box DG 034: 4 [SCPC-0453] Reel 84.4
Promotional Publicity, 1916-, undated.
Box DG 034: 4 [SCPC-0453] Reel 84.4
Clippings, 1878-1912.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, 1913-1916.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, 1917-1926.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, 1927-1929.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, 1930-1931.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, (on both sides), 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, duplicates, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, incomplete, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Clippings, undated.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Bell Street Chapel material (including correspondence), 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Bell Street Chapel, services, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 5 [SCPC-0454] Reel 84.4
Biographical material: lists, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 6 [SCPC-0455] Reel 84.4
Biographical material: lists of books, articles, lectures, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 6 [SCPC-0455] Reel 84.4
Biographical material: admission and membership cards, passport, etc., 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 6 [SCPC-0455] Reel 84.4
Biographical material: 75th birthday celebration, 1926.
Box DG 034: 6 [SCPC-0455] Reel 84.4
Biographical material: memorials, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 6 [SCPC-0455] Reel 84.4
Biographical material: photographs, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 6 [SCPC-0455] Reel 84.4
Biographical material: miscellaneous material, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 6 [SCPC-0455] Reel 84.4
Carpenter Correspondence, 1830-1900.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Carpenter Family Clippings and Miscellaneous, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Nancy M. Carpenter: Good Behavior Slips, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Carpenter Genealogical Material, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Garlin Correspondence, 1884-, undated.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Garlin Correspondence (Lucy Hale Garlin, 1854-1926), 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Lucy Hale Garlin, Clippings and Programs, 1863-, undated.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Garlin Genealogical Material, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.4
Garlin Genealogical Material, 1839-1847.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.5
Spencer Family Clippings and Miscellaneous, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.5
Spencer Genealogical Material, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 7 [SCPC-0456] Reel 84.5
Duplicate Materials, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 8 [SCPC-0457] Reel 84.5
Scope and Contents

[2 folders]

Incomplete Material, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 8 [SCPC-0457] Reel 84.5
Undated Material, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 8 [SCPC-0457] Reel 84.5
Non-Anna G. Spencer Correspondence, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 8 [SCPC-0457] Reel 84.5
Non-Anna G. Spencer Clippings, Articles and Poetry, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 8 [SCPC-0457] Reel 84.5
Susan B. Anthony Letter to Anna Howard Shaw, 1830-1931.
Box DG 034: 8 [SCPC-0457] Reel 84.5
William H. Spencer: Correspondence, 1869-1917, and undated.
Box DG 034: 9 [SCPC-0458] Reel 84.5
William H. Spencer: Diary.
Box DG 034: 9 [SCPC-0458] Reel 84.5
Printed Articles by and about William H. Spencer.
Box DG 034: 9 [SCPC-0458] Reel 84.5
William H. Spencer: Clippings, 1873-1916, and undated.
Box DG 034: 9 [SCPC-0458] Reel 84.5
Scope and Contents

[includes incomplete clippings]

William H. Spencer: Miscellaneous Material.
Box DG 034: 9 [SCPC-0458] Reel 84.5
Article "Concerning Women" noting lecture by Anna Garlin Spencer and on reverse, "The American Woman's Debt to Emerson" report of that lecture, The Woman's Journal, No. 30., 1903.
Box DG 034: Re-File Box
For Monthly Memory of Charter Members of Rhode Island Short Story Club Fanny Purdy Palmer, privately printed booklet, compiled by Lucy Hale Garlin, includes song by her and short piece by Anna Garlin Spencer.
Box DG 034: Re-File Box
"Echoes from the Dorr Rebellion: The 1842 Aplin/Carpenter Correspondence," by John D. Tew in American Ancestors, Fall 2011 [Acc. 11A-076], 2011.
Box DG 034: Re-File Box

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