Quaker Meetings Research Articles

Articles in Quaker Periodicals

ARTICLES IN QUAKER PERIODICALS By Lyman W. Riley Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College The American Friend Rufus Jones interprets "The Boyhood of George Fox" for younger Friends.—Feb. 19, 1948, pp. 53-54. In "Friends and the Rulers of the People" Frederick B. Tolles recalls the "prophetic" quality possessed by many early Friends in their relations with government officials.—Apr. 29, 1948, pp. 134-135; May 13, 1948, p. 153. (Also in the Friends Intelligencer, July 10, 1948, pp. 391-393.) "Quakers à la New Zealand" by Edward Dowsett outlines briefly the beginnings and the present status of Quakerism in that country.— May 27, 1948, pp. 172-173. William Edgerton, in "Quakers as Seen by Russians", quotes from two Russian encyclopedia articles on the history and character of Quakerism and also translates a footnote on Quakers to be found in Karl Marx's Capital.—June 24, 1948, pp. 207-208. (Also in The Friend, [Philadelphia] June 17, 1948, pp. 405-407) . Ruby M. Dowsett writes of "A Quaker Pioneer in New Zealand", Ann Fletcher Jackson, who migrated from England in 1848 and spent the next fifty years making a home for her family in the "bush" and helping establish Quaker meetings throughout New Zealand.—Sept. 2, 1948, pp. 286-287. In "Whittier Lives" J. Edgar Williams pays tribute to the man and the poet.—Nov. 11, 1948, p. 367. "Two Itinerant Quaker Women" by Elbert Russell is a brief account of the journeys of Mary Peisley and Catherine Payton Phillips, who came to the American colonies from England in 1753 and spent three years visiting meetings from South Carolina to Maine.—Jan. 6, 1949, pp. 5-6. The Canadian Friend "The Historic Peace Testimony of Friends" is the Sunderland P. Gardiner Lecture given by Harold Chance at Canada Yearly Meeting, 1948.—August, 1948, pp. 6-10; September, 1948, pp. 4-9. The Friend (London) "Where Conscription Was Defeated" by Leyton Richards tells of the results of the Australian Conscription Act of 1911.—Dec. 12, 1947, pp. 1029-1031. Robert Ion writes a brief article on "The Significance of Isaac Penington."—Jan. 9, 1948, pp. 21-22. 57 58Bulletin of Friends Historical Association "George Newman (1870-1948) : A Quaker Profile" is a tribute by The Friend to the medical reformer and editor of the Friends' Quarterly Examiner.—June 4, 1948, pp. 457-460. The Friend gives a sketch of the life and influence of a great American Quaker in "Rufus M. Jones, 1863-1948, The Story of an Integrated Life."—June 25, 1948, pp. 517-522. Ernest B. Ludlam writes of "Scottish Quakerism, Past and Present," outlining its beginnings and giving an encouraging picture of its present status.—July 16, 1948, pp. 584-586. Norman Macfadyen takes notice of the fiftieth anniversary of the publishing of Tomorrow by Ebenezer Howard and describes its result, The First Garden City, Limited, in an article called "A Dream Realised." —Oct. 8, 1948, pp. 849-850. The Friend (Philadelphia) "The Autobiography of an Early Quaker" by Walter L. PyIe is an appreciative interpretation of the life of Thomas Ellwood as it is portrayed in his autobiography.—May 20, 1948, pp. 377-379. One hundred years of "The Friends Free Library" is described in an interesting and informative way by Violet Gordon Gray.—July 1, 1948, pp. 6-9. D. Elton Trueblood lists the fifty-six principal works of Rufus M. Jones and calls them "The Real Monument of Rufus Jones".—July 15, 1948, pp. 22-23. Gilbert Bowles reaffirms the Quaker peace stand in an "Historical Sketch of Friends' Peace Principles in Action", an article first published in 1917.—July 29, 1948, pp. 39-41; August 12, 1948, pp. 55-57. In "Robert Barclay, Quaker Thinker" D. Elton Trueblood summarizes his Barclay Tercentenary address at London Yearly Meeting, 1948. —Oct. 21, 1948, pp. 137-138. (Also in The Friend [London], Aug. 20, 1948, pp. 701-703.) The Friends Intelligencer "Forever Nell" (Letter from the Past No. 90) speculates on the possible influence of Fox and other Quakers on Nell Gwynn, actress and mistress of Charles IL-Feb. 28, 1948, pp. 121-122. Rufus M. Jones in a short article points out the "Evidences of the...

Christopher Meidel and the First Norwegian Contacts with Quakerism

Fifteen years ago when some two million Americans of Norwegian ancestry were celebrating the centennial of the first migration from Norway to America I published in these pages an account of the Quaker antecedents of the famous voyage of the sloop Restaurationen. From English, Norwegian and American sources it was possible to recount the story of a group of Norwegian prisoners of war in prison ships on the Thames who were befriended and converted by English Quakers and returned home in 1814 to Stavanger and elsewhere to establish Quaker meetings. One of these men, Lars Larsen, with men of like independence, such as Cleng Peersen who preceded him and Knud Andersen Slogvig who followed, organized an escape from the clerical oppressions in Norway, purchased a small ship, and landing in New York in October 1825, proceeded inland to found in western New York the first of many Norwegian settlements in the United States. The following scattered data are now collected to indicate some earlier contacts between the English Quakers and Norway.

Some Questions Relative to Heemskerk's Pictures of Quaker Meetings

Some Questions Relative to Heemskerk's Pictures of Quaker Meetings

Friends Meet in World Conference

70 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS* HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION In particular, the London Friend printed, under the general heading "Quakerism in Many Lands," a considerable series of articles, taking up the following countries on the dates given: Japan,October 8,1937France,November 19, 1937 Syria,October IS, 1937Ireland,November 26, 1937 Sweden,October 22, 1937West China,December 3,1937 Mexico,October 27, 1937Germany,December 10, 1937 East Africa,November 12, 1937Cuba,December 31, 1937 The Conference Committee was itself not idle in the matter of appropriate literature. It issued in 1936, under the editorship of D. Elton Trueblood, a pamphlet of sixty-four pages containing Advance Study Outlines referring to the concerns of the several Commissions, as follows: Commission I : the spiritual message of the Religious Society of Friends Commission II : the individual Christian and the State Commission III : methods of achieving economic, racial, and international justice Commission IV: Friends' contribution to education Commission V : international cooperation of Friends At the conclusion of the Conference, an editorial committee appointed by the Conference Business Committee issued an Official Report of 138 pages, containing the minutes, the addresses delivered at the public meetings, summaries of the discussions carried on by the various discussion groups, a register of attenders, and other pertinent information. This Report is on sale at 20 South Twelfth Street, Philadelphia ; price, 50 cents. FRIENDS MEET IN WORLD CONFERENCE By Charles Daniel Brodhead Reprinted from the Christian Century, September IS, 1937, pp. 1144-45 SWARTHMORE and Haverford Colleges, in the attractive suburbs of this Quaker City, have been for three days now hospitable hosts to the first Friends' World Conference ever held on this continent. The only other world conclave of the Quakers was in 1920 at London. One thousand delegates are here, 225 of whom are from 23 foreign countries where Friends are at work: Austria, Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia , Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, India, FRIENDS' WORLD CONFERENCE71 Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland. Happily, the German delegates had no difficulty in coming, for the land of Hitler cannot forget how after the World War the Quakers fed the German children, and their Quaker meetings have freedom of worship. "Penn's Woods," where that illustrious Friend, William Penn, began what he called his "Holy Experiment," is a fitting commonwealth for this assembly. Fifty yearly meetings and 17 independent meetings have sent delegates. In his welcome in behalf of the churches in the metropolitan area of Philadelphia, Dr. Joseph Fort Newton called the Society of Friends "one of the miracles of history, the most spiritually influential group in the world." THIS is a unique world conference. About half of the delegates are women. Only ten per cent are their "elder statesmen ." One-third are "Young Friends" under thirty-five years of age. Other ecclesiastical councils do not so include their youth leaders. In fact, the leaders in this very conference go back in their training and association together in their earlier years to the first Young Friends Conference, which was held about 1915 in Indiana. Another distinction is how Quaker simplicity of dress takes the place of clerical garb. Here is a conference, indeed, not only in name but in procedure. People have met to confer. For the first hour and a half each morning they are divided into 23 fellowship-worship groups. Then for an hour and a quarter they hold five group discussions on their religious message, their contribution to education, their international cooperation, and methods of achieving economic, racial and international justice. These are based upon reports of five commissions on these issues. They are further developed in the afternoon and evening plenary sessions. This gathering is not a legislative body for the 160,000 Friends around the world but rather a conference to clarify the convictions of their basic spiritual testimonies. They reaffirm their fundamental belief that there can be no peace in the individual and in all the social relationships of industry, race and nations, except through a spiritual approach and a constant maintenance of good will. 72 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION They are seeking to translate this distinctive testimony into greater and more positive social action...