Call Number:

PG.1

Repository:

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Extent:

60 linear ft.

Language:

English

Date:

1900-2020 (bulk)

Abstract:

PG6 Quaker meeting reference files consists primarily of publications by and about Quaker meetings and committees, including pamphlets, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and other materials (mostly secondary source), collected at various times from various sources, and organized by meeting. It also includes directories (including lists of Quaker member organizations and individual Quakers) and epistles (letters exchanged between Quaker organizations, especially from one yearly meeting to another; often used to articulate Quaker doctrine and discipline). Some almanacs are stored with the collection, but are cataloged separately.

MONTHLY MEETING: The basic unit of Quaker administration, which holds regular monthly business meetings. Only members can participate. It has responsibility for care of members, authorizes removals and marriages, maintains discipline, considers the queries, manages meeting property, fosters social concerns, and reports regularly to the quarterly meeting.

QUARTERLY MEETING: Meetings for business held four times per year, attended by representatives of all monthly meetings in a region. It is an intermediary between the monthly and yearly meeting, serves as an appellate body for disciplinary matters, and considers problems too large for a local meeting to solve. A quarterly meeting holds the authority to establish or discontinue a monthly, preparative, or particular meeting for worship. It collects financial assessments from each monthly meeting in accordance with the quota established by the yearly meeting.

YEARLY MEETINGS: Large autonomous bodies of Quakers, meeting for several days once annually to conduct business, formulate the discipline, receive reports and concerns from its constituent meetings, review the state of the Society, and communicate with other yearly meetings and non-Quaker organizations.

PG6 Quaker meeting reference files consists primarily of publications by and about Quaker meetings and committees, including pamphlets, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and other materials (mostly secondary source), collected at various times from various sources, and organized by meeting. It also includes directories (including lists of Quaker member organizations and individual Quakers) and epistles (letters exchanged between Quaker organizations, especially from one yearly meeting to another; often used to articulate Quaker doctrine and discipline). Some almanacs are stored with the collection, but are cataloged individually in Tripod, Swarthmore's library catalog..

Unless otherwise specified, most titles refer to monthly meetings. There are also some quarterly meetings, yearly meetings, committees, and other meeting types.

This collection is organized into four series, and then filed alphabetically by meeting name.

Series

A

Clippings and ephemera

B

Directories

C

Epistles

D

Almanacs