The Earlham Friends Collection and Archives

Earlham College Director of Special Collections Tom Hamm invites you to explore the Friends Collection:

            The Friends Collection is one of the three or four best collections of Quaker materials in North America, and one of the five or six best in the world. From  a foundation of 400 Quaker books and pamphlets (350 of which are still in the collection) donated by English Friends when Earlham opened as Friends Boarding School in 1847, we have grown to a collection of about 13,000 catalogued books, thousands of pamphlets, and several hundred manuscript collections. Simply put, there is almost no significant published Quaker work that we do not have in some form, whether it is an original, a photocopy, a microfilm, or, increasingly, on-line access. We are the one part of the Earlham libraries that collects published materials comprehensively—we try to acquire a copy of any book, pamphlet, or periodical, published by or about Friends, anywhere in the world, in any language.

            Our collection of Friends works goes back to the 1650s, and includes many original pamphlets and books by the first generation of Friends. One can see George Fox’s longest work, The Great Mystery of the Great Whore Unfolded (1659) or the first edition of Margaret Fell’s Women’s Speaking Justified (1666). We have an extensive collection of published Quaker journals. Our collection of Quaker periodicals since the 1820s is comprehensive, as is our collection of published yearly meeting minutes. We also have a large collection of books of Discipline or Faith and Practice, including the first printed volumes, and earlier manuscript editions. Another strength of the collection is in Quaker genealogy, with over 1,200 different Quaker family histories.

            The manuscript collections focus on the history of Earlham, both the college and the school of religion, and Quakers in the Midwest. We are the repository for several Quaker organizations, including Indiana and Western yearly meetings, Friends United Meeting, United Society of Friends Women International, Associated Committee of Friends on Indian Affairs, Right Sharing of World Resources, and Quaker Bolivia-Link. Patrons can read student letters from the 1850s, or the complete transcript of what amounted to a heresy trial of Earlham conducted by Indiana and Western yearly meetings in 1920, or materials relating to Japanese Americans on campus during World War II, in the college archives. Dozens of other manuscript collections document the lives and concerns of Friends for the past 200 years. Readers can see the development of the pastoral system in the late nineteenth century in the papers of Allen Jay, or understand Quaker humanitarian work from World War I to World War II through the Homer and Edna Morris Collection, or witness partition in Palestine and the birth of state of Israel through the letters in the Sara Hadley Collection.

            Hours for the collection are posted on the web site, which provides a portal to search the collection. Tom Hamm, the director of special collections, and Anne Thomason, the college archivist, welcome inquiries and look forward to working with users.

Report from Pacific Yearly Meeting - Another Hard Lesson From God

ESR Professor of Peace and Justice Studies Lonnie Valentine brings us this report from the 67^th Annual Session of Pacific Yearly Meeting, held from July 29^th through August 3rd 2013 at Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville, CA :

 (Photo of Conference Center, from Mount Madonna Website)

One of the regular attenders at Pacific Yearly Meeting is wheel chair bound and is best able to speak with a voice-assist mechanism.  During a time for voicing joys and concerns, he spoke--through others who could better understand him—of his frustration at having lost his machine voice.  He felt cut off from engaging others, sad they could not understand him, and anger that he could not communicate in the way he wanted.  He loved being at the YM so he could be with others he could not visit easily.  The YM served as a larger group that knew him and would enjoy engaging with him when so many in the larger society would not make the effort. 

However, he went on to say that over the days of the YM, people would hang in there with him, doing their best to understand him and seemed to appreciate his efforts to reach out in spite of the limitations.  For him, there was a change over the days from frustration to serenity.  Because of the effort by others to communicate and understand him, he felt he had grown closer to some at the YM than he otherwise might have.  The frustration turned to delight.  So, he concluded that this was “another hard lesson from God.” 

It seemed to me as a visitor that this perspective was lived out in other aspects of the work of Pacific Yearly Meeting.  More, perhaps there is a lesson for all of us when we feel the frustration and disappointment of failed hopes.  There might be something redemptive in the “hard lessons” of not getting what we want.  Better things may be found when we are able to go beneath the frustration than what we had originally hoped would happen. 

An example from this session of PYM was the conclusion of the years-long discussion of whether or not to build a facility to host their annual sessions and make possible a permanent place to hold other gatherings of regional Friends and others sharing Friends' concerns.  There had been years of seasoning in the YM before approval came to pursue this goal, then  more years in planning.  Finally, a place was decided upon after some Friends donated land for this use.  It seemed all was set, but the county denied a building permit.  However, this did not halt the project, and several other locations were explored.  However, those too did not work out.  So, these years of discernment, planning, and fund-raising seemed to have utterly failed.  Frustration, sadness, weariness. 

However, at this point, a new opening arose.  The party who had donated a large sum for this project then released the money to be used in other ways by the YM.  I had been impressed over the years of attending at the vitality of the young Friends involved in Pacific Yearly Meeting.  And suddenly, the way opened.  With the release of the money for other uses and the letting go of disappointment over the many years of toil, the YM came to clarity that the money and effort of the YM would go to expand their work with young Friends.  Another hard lesson from God. 

I reflected about my own efforts to discern ways forward and making the push to realize what I  took to be a leading.  When things did not seem to go the way I thought, I could say I was just not discerning aright.  However, perhaps at other times I was being led into frustration in order to go deeper, leading beyond what I had been able to discern.  Another hard lesson from God.

Gratitude

ESR student Martin Melville recently shared this message in Worship during the 2013 August Intensives:

People often do not give thanks for the blessings they receive. Those blessings can come through other people, directly from God, or is ways that surprise us- -one might say, by the back door. 

The Grace of God is all around us. It is active in our lives. The people whose lives intersect with ours shine on us and we, in return, shine on them. God is also present in creation. Whether that Presence is in other people or in creation, it is right that we express gratitude. If we speak it aloud, it is a way of answering God, a prayer that tells God we see the Presence. Such a spoken thanks may empower the one thanked to continue, deepen or enlarge their ministry. Giving thanks is a spiritual practice, just like learning forgiveness or prayer or patience.

And what is grace? It can be defined as blessings undeserved and unearned. Actively seeking to name those blessings can lead us to more fully recognize how truly blessed we are. This can deepen our awareness of God’s Presence in our lives and in the world, which helps to deepen our faith.

Name some blessings: sunlight, acts of kindness, ESR, classes, friends, rain, ministry, work, love, significant others & partners, fish, parents, home, flowers…. Almost anything you can think of can be a blessing in some form or another. The hardest part is for us to see the truth in that.

Sometimes we get left-handed blessings. Eldering must always be done in the spirit of love, with an eye to personal growth. Sometimes we are eldered by events: our actions are “out of the Light” and things go what we perceive to be badly. Our interactions with others frequently reveal places where our actions and behavior are not aligned with the teachings of Christ. Just as we can offer vocal ministry addressed to ourselves in meeting for worship, we can be given guidance directly through prayer and through recognizing the roots of our own actions as being congruent (or not) with the teachings of Christ.

What is our reaction? Do we offer thanks to those in our lives who serve us or are kind to us? Do we consider that those actions are that of God speaking to us in them, and are therefore worthy of our recognition and thanks? Too often the answer is no. Thanks are in order. What about those times when life seems stacked against us? Nothing seems to go “right.” These times are just as likely to later be judged as blessings. It is in the power of God to carry us over these times whether we offer prayers of supplication or thanks. One effect of giving thanks is a change in attitude. The glass is likely to become half full where it had seemed half empty.

To whom do we owe thanks for these blessings? It is odd that the question even need be asked. Yet given the frequency with which we forget to express gratitude, it is important to. It is a part of the discipline of gratitude. It is a type of mindfulness. Are we thanking the person, or that of God speaking to us through them?

Friends assert that there is that of God in all. If you feel the grace or eldering of others, what should your reaction be? Often we respond angrily, perhaps as a way to cover for our own screw-ups. Through practice, we can learn to give thanks in all things.

Can you say that you are intentional about expressing thanks to those in your life who touch you? For most of, the answer is no, or that we don’t have a very good track record on the matter. There is always the opportunity to be more faithful in whatever spiritual practices we use to grow closer to God. There is an element of humbleness in allowing another to minister to us. When we are served, when we have our feet washed, we should be awed.

Gratitude is a spiritual practice. Emphasis on practice. Most of us don’t just wake up one day and say “gee, I think I’ll give thanks and be glad for whatever comes into my life today.” Give thanks in all things, even if it doesn’t suit you. Many of us have a therapist. We understand that the therapist’s job is to help us. That work is therapy. It helps us “get better.” When things don’t go “our way,” it can cut the stress level if we acknowledge whatever is frustrating us as aggravational therapy. We’re back to that “glass half full” approach.

How can we learn? First, decide it’s important to do so. Whether it’s achieving world peace or driving to Poughkeepsie, deciding “this is something I’m going to do” is the first step. It takes practice. It takes persistence. Don’t be a stranger to prayer. God likes to hear from you. It’s like letters from home.

Second, be present in your life. Friends often refer to this as living in the moment. We aren’t to be worrying about the future. We’re not to be concerned with rehashing the past. We are to be right here, right now. Recognize the gifts that come to you through God’s Grace. Give thanks. Even if they weren’t what you had in mind try saying “well, God, that’s not what I had in mind but OK. Where do we go from here?”

Third, ask. Keep in mind that the answers to your petition may not be what you had in mind. Lots of people grumble that God hasn’t answered their prayers. Maybe he has, the answer was just not what you were looking for. Looking back, all prayers have been answered. We lack the perspective or wisdom or something to see that it is so.

Fourth, persist. No one said faith was going to be easy. The Israelites, the apostles, the early Quakers had it a lot harder than we do. Somehow we think God is like a candy machine. Put in a 25 cent prayer. Get a gumball for being good. Like Pavlov’s dogs, we can be trained to seek the reward rather than do what is desired because it’s the right thing to do.

While it is good both to give and receive thanks for acts of ministry, do not become dependent on the words of people. Do not become an affirmation addict. God knows what is in your heart. While you owe it to God to hear Her speaking truth through others, do not become vain and seek the empty affirmation of others.

All spiritual practices bear fruit in our own lives and in those whose lives we touch out past the horizon. Our goal as children of the Light should be to live as righteously (near to thee) as we are able. The practice of gratitude is one way to work towards achieving that goal.

You can read more from Martin at his blog, Martin's Trees: http://martinstrees.wordpress.com/.

Shine in the Quaker Heritage Center

Wilmington College Junior and Quaker Heritage Center Staffer Bri Knisley gives us an overview and update on the Center:

The Quaker Heritage Center at Wilmington College, or QHC, is a place of refuge, worship, learning and reflection. The QHC is comprised of a gallery, where we host various exhibits and educational programs for the campus and surrounding community; a meeting house, where worship is held every Thursday and numerous Quaker events occur; and a reading space, where individuals are free to kick back, relax, read about Quakerism and reflect on their innermost thoughts. 

With a dynamic array of activities, we at the QHC hope to inspire our community to consider questions of peace and social justice. We hope teach both the young and old about how Quakers and non-Quakers alike have impacted the world in these areas, and how beautiful this impact has been and continues to be. Examples of our efforts include exhibits highlighting a range of topics; from student volunteer trips to workers in the Underground Railroad, to artwork by Japanese children protesting the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, to a collection of dolls from around the world. We have also worked to host the Westheimer Peace Symposium, Abraham Lincoln Day, Isaac Harvey Fund happenings and other community based educational events. (To find out more about our events and exhibits, visit www2.wilmington.edu/qhc or “like” us at www.facebook.com/QuakerHeritageCenter.)

At the QHC, many wonderful things are always going on. We are always working to inform, invoke, and inspire every person that enters, in ways that show friendship (pun intended) and peace across the world. However, we cannot take sole credit for these efforts. Without the help of our community members in Wilmington, students, staff, faculty, and Friends from across the world, our efforts would be fruitless. We welcome the Light, from every person and place, to shine in the Quaker Heritage Center at Wilmington College. When will we see yours?