This story was adapted from an email distributed by Terry Winterton, the Friend in Residence at Glenthorne’s guest house in Grasmere, Great Britain. Anyone who has read William Wordsworth will know that the walks, hillsides, and lakes in this region were powerful sources of inspiration for Wordsworth’s poetry. They also charm Quaker travelers seeking to access Pendle Hill, Swarthmore Hall, and the rural country roads and fells (mountains and hills) walked by George Fox in 1652. All are featured in this short film. (Interested educators can teach this history to children though Faith & Play Stories on George Fox and Margaret Fell.) The region also serves international hikers and nature lovers from around the world.
Quaker History
Women Quaker Artists: Dame Judi Dench, Bonnie Raitt, Sandra Boynton and Signe Wilkinson
Today, Quakers are known to be actively involved in the creative and performing arts community; they are artists, actors, musicians, and lend their meetinghouses for art shows and performances.
It wasn’t always like this–George Fox (whose powerful vocal ministry sparked the Quaker faith in 1652) was against ornamentation in religion and viewed it as a distraction. Theater, dance, and musical performances were seen as leading Friends away from an investment in faith and virtuous reflection.
Over the years, that reality has evolved. Among many respected artists, Quaker artists have made a pronounced impact in their fields with their artistic abilities.
Quaker History: Clive Sansom, Ursula Franklin, Gordon Hirabayashi, and Lizzie Magie
Friends in Quaker history have strong foundations and beliefs centered around faith. Many Friends also inspired and had a significant impact on important movements in world history and even influenced game design. But there are also lesser-known Quakers who touched others through their contributions to art, science, and sociology.
Some stories follow:
Travel & Witness Grant Report: Friends Reflect on Travel in Ghana
In August of 2019, Vanessa Julye of Central Philadelphia Meeting led a group of Quakers to Ghana to explore the histories of Ghana and the United States. The trip, part of Vanessa’s 25-year ministry to address White Supremacy within the Religious Society of Friends, provided people of all races an opportunity to have critical conversations about history.
[Read more…] about Travel & Witness Grant Report: Friends Reflect on Travel in Ghana
Quaker History: Maria Mitchell, the First Female Astronomer in the USA
The astronomer and educator, Maria Mitchell, was born in 1818 and grew up in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Raised in a Quaker family of ten children, she and her siblings were encouraged to learn and question by their astronomer father and librarian mother. This climate of inquiry and scientific training led Maria to become the first professional female astronomer in the United States.
[Read more…] about Quaker History: Maria Mitchell, the First Female Astronomer in the USA
Making a Difference: Black Quaker History
February is Black History Month and there are Quakers of color who have delivered much to our modern world through their faith and advocacy. Knowing the past opens a door to the future that is framed within diversity and inclusivity. Our understanding of America’s history is deepened by the contributions of African Americans who struggled for freedom and equality.
[Read more…] about Making a Difference: Black Quaker History
CFP Deadline Extended: Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists, and Funding Opportunity
***Deadline for Proposals Extended to December 20, 2019***
Call For Proposals
Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana
June 12-14, 2020
The Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists (CQHA) will hold its 23rd biennial conference at Earlham College on June 12-14, 2020.
CQHA is a community that brings together those who study the history of Quakers and Quakerism with practitioners from cultural institutions that make records of the Quaker past available for scholarship. The Conference takes place every two years at locations in North America and abroad, and welcomes both Quaker and non-Quaker participants from diverse backgrounds.
We invite proposals for presentations on any aspect of Quaker history, across all time periods and locations. This year we encourage proposals on the following topics: Challenges of diversity, equity, or inclusion in Quakerism; Quakerism in Indiana and the US Midwest; (Re)assessments of Quakerism and Quaker historiography.
Call For Proposals: Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists, and Funding Opportunity
Call For Proposals
Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana
June 12-14, 2020
The Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists (CQHA) will hold its 23rd biennial conference at Earlham College on June 12-14, 2020.
CQHA is a community that brings together those who study the history of Quakers and Quakerism with practitioners from cultural institutions that make records of the Quaker past available for scholarship. The Conference takes place every two years at locations in North America and abroad, and welcomes both Quaker and non-Quaker participants from diverse backgrounds.
We invite proposals for presentations on any aspect of Quaker history, across all time periods and locations. This year we encourage proposals on the following topics: Challenges of diversity, equity, or inclusion in Quakerism; Quakerism in Indiana and the US Midwest; (Re)assessments of Quakerism and Quaker historiography.
In addition to individual paper presentations (20 minutes), we welcome proposals for panels of complete sessions (2-3 papers), roundtable discussions (60 or 90 minutes), workshops (up to a half day), or other collaborative formats. We also seek participants for a session of lightning talks (5-7 minutes each), a format especially well suited to works-in-progress, summaries of recent publications, or ongoing projects. All presenters are required to register for the conference.
Proposals should consist of the following elements:
1. Identify the format of your proposed presentation: a single paper, a panel of papers, a roundtable discussion, a workshop, a lightning talk, or other format, and indicate its proposed length.
2. For each presentation proposed, please supply:
a. the presentation title;
b. a one-page description of the proposed presentation that highlights argument, approach, or methodology, as well as anticipated content; and
c. a one-page vita or resume for each presenter.
3. Proposals for sessions should be sent as a package, including an overall session description as well as the requested materials for each participant.
Complete proposals should be sent via email to Susan Garfinkel and John Anderies, program co-chairs, at quakerhistoriansandarchivists@gmail.com.
The deadline for proposals is December 6, 2019.
Logistics: Dormitory lodging and meal service will be available on the campus of Earlham College, within walking distance of conference sessions. Hotels, bed & breakfasts, and AirBnBs are located within driving distance in the city of Richmond. Located in eastern Indiana, Richmond is accessible by plane plus shuttle or car from Dayton (45-minutes), Indianapolis (90-minutes), or Cincinnati (90-minutes) airports. Richmond is accessible by car via I-70 and US routes 27, 35, and 40. The nearest Amtrak station is Connersville, Indiana (35-minutes).
In an area settled by Quakers in the early nineteenth century, the city of Richmond is located along the historic National Road and serves as county seat for Wayne County, Indiana. Richmond is home to four colleges and two seminaries including Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion, and is headquarters of Friends United Meeting. The city and region offer an abundant selection of restaurants, shops, museums, outdoor recreation and cultural opportunities.
Questions? quakerhistoriansandarchivists@gmail.com
Conference Website: http://libguides.guilford.edu/cqha
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quakerhistoriansandarchivists/
Funding Opportunity from Friend Historical Association (FHA)
Funding for Underrepresented Scholars: Friends Historical Association offers a funding opportunity to better support scholars whose race or ethnicity, gender expression and sexual preference, faith (or lack thereof), and/or other facets of background and identity are traditionally underrepresented amongst CQHA conference presenters and attendees. Stipends of $1,000 are available for up to three applicants. Applications are due December 11, 2019. Please see http://www.quakerhistory.org/broadeningscholarship for details.
‘Quakers: the Quiet Revolutionaries’ will be shown on WHYY on October 6, World Quaker Day, at 6:00 PM
Producer-Director Janet Gardner and Senior Producer Richard (Dick) Nurse are celebrating this October’s World Quaker Day in an unusual way.
The Gardner Documentary Group’s film–‘Quakers: the Quiet Revolutionaries‘ has been picked up by WHYY, Philadelphia’s Public TV station, for a 6:00 PM airing on October 6th. The two Princeton Friends Meeting members have labored for more than seven years to bring the documentary to completion, so they relish the public attention a WHYY screening affords and are hopeful that their deft and thoughtful Quaker history will raise the profile of a uniquely grounded Faith.
Janet Gardner, a field producer, film editor and news writer for NBC News and WNBC-TV, WRC-TV (Washington, D.C.) and CBS News got the idea for making a film about Quakers during a ‘Quaker Pilgrimage’ trip she took to England with her husband in 2010. As part of the trip, which is organized as both faith tourism and a teaching of history through experience, Friends Council on Education took the group on a climb up Pendle Hill, the Lancashire mountain that Quakerism’s founder, George Fox, climbed in 1652. Upon reaching the top, Fox had a vision for an entirely new Christian faith community, one that would attract other seekers who were looking for a direct relationship with God unhindered by the forms, rules, and oppressive history expressed in Catholicism, by the Puritans, and the establishment Church of England.
From the heights of Pendle Hill, Fox had a vision of ‘a great people gathered.’ From this moment he shaped a movement that soon became the Quaker Faith. Aided by other visionary thinkers, like Margaret Fell, Fox quickly grew the Faith to a community numbering 100,000 Friends strong. Persecuted in England for their refusal to pay tithes and attend church, many followed William Penn to America, purchasing shares of farmland and building a colony grounded in religious freedom.
Returning home from England, Gardner started to research whether any documentaries on the founding of Quakerism existed. She noticed films about Islamic, Jewish and other faiths, but came up short when she looked for films on Quakers. From this void, Gardner’s quest to create ‘Quakers: the Quiet Revolutionaries‘ was born.
Funded by individual donations, a Kickstarter campaign, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and gifts from Quaker Meeting communities or foundations, the film covers the history of Quakerism all the way up to modern times. It tackles Quaker social justice movements, the work to end war, environmental activism, and the mission to provide care for displaced and suffering peoples in the aftermath of World Wars I and II.
The film’s selection by WHYY is a tribute to the value of a good idea, individual persistence, and the gift of a fascinating story. All in all, it is a fitting way to celebrate World Quaker Day 2019. Thank you Janet and Dick! Your film is a testament to the power of faith.
There are seven short snippets from the film available for viewing at Beyond the Oatmeal Box at www.quakersthefilm.com
Part 3: The Surrounding Community of 824 Buck Lane
This is part III of a four-part story written by Haverford resident, Nancy Warren. A study of history uncovers the role a home near Haverford College and Haverford Meeting (Buck Lane) played before and after WWII. Originally owned by a conservative editor of the Saturday Evening Post, it ultimately served as an important Quaker boarding house that sheltered World War II refugees for American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Many became professors at nearby colleges, like Haverford and Bryn Mawr.
PART 3
By Nancy S. Warren
In the 1920’ and 30’s the sunny, generously proportioned house at 824 Buck Lane was owned by Frederick Bigelow, assistant editor of the conservative Saturday Evening Post. By 1940, Bigelow’s fortunes had reversed, and 824 Buck Lane was leased to the American Friends Service Committee (AFCS) via the Haverford Emergency Unit. In a gracious twist of fate, the house, once supported by the lucrative funds of a nationalist publication, would shelter immigrants– the very people the magazine had labored to exclude.
The goal of the Quaker run workshop at 824 Buck Lane, which accommodated about 25-30 refugees at a time, was to help people adjust psychologically, socially, spiritually, and most importantly, to help them find jobs. One, a dancer, got a teaching job; another, a botanist, worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; a school teacher began a study fellowship at Yale; a statistician got a job doing research; a biologist would study at Bryn Mawr College. Some refugees became well loved professors at Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges. Of the 70 immigrants who lived here, all but a couple of them had secured employment before the Workshop closed in 1942.
In spite of the difficult circumstances, an exciting synergy existed between this fragmented group whose life’s work had been disrupted by the war. The refugees had plenty of time to socialize and take advantage of free lectures offered by Bryn Mawr and Haverford College. Attendance at Haverford Friends Meeting as well as 5 or 6 English classes a day were the only required activities in an otherwise relaxed atmosphere. The house was run communally; all of the residents chipped in with yard and housework. The tasks offered a therapeutic outlet and provided a camaraderie around chores.
Typical of Quaker organizations, the hostel was run on a frugal budget and depended on the surrounding community for support. Isherwood was the only full time English teacher on staff with 6 other administrators. Volunteer teachers from Haverford and Bryn Mawr College and the Baldwin School helped lighten the workload.
As stated in the 1942 Bryn Mawr College Yearbook: “ They (the refugees) are weaving a new pattern, learning and contributing. Silent observers, they listen to classes at Bryn Mawr and Haverford, learning our teaching methods. Students from both colleges have conferences with each refugee to correct his English pronunciation and enlarge his speaking vocabulary.”
Community members visited on Sunday evening to give lectures on topics like Municipal Government and Civil Liberties. Community also provided recreational and spiritual support. Haverford Meeting made a quilt for a couple who met at the hostel and were to be married. Piano, violin and singing resonated throughout; plays were put on; sometimes the little boy in one of the families here would take a girls’ part, just because that was what was needed or because Shakespeare’s influence was a happy commonality. Conversations started at breakfast before meeting or at dinner were continued while clearing the table and at the kitchen sink. The house was its own community and dependent on community effort.
I found the following paragraph in Jacob Picard, Meeting the Quakers,” in Jewish Frontier that really encapsulates the essence and the rationale behind the hostel for refugees:
“It was almost a foregone conclusion that the translator of Romain Rolland, himself the author of a well-known book, would converse with the story teller, who was the head dishwasher, about epical problems, while drying glasses. No one was astonished when the Russian Jewish philosopher, holding silver forks in his hand, defended certain sociological phenomena in Europe against the already Americanized viewpoint of a former (non-Jewish) assistant of one of the best German sociologists, who had to flee in 1938, because over there he had belonged to a secret anti-Nazi group and been very active; or that of a student of the philosopher Heidegger, carefully drying a frying pan, should deliver a quick lecture about an essay on Holderlin by his teacher. Meanwhile the once famous theater critic from Vienna recited an old folk song, very appropriate when peeling potatoes, and the former judicial counselor from Berlin talked about Indian philosophy and religion with an English poet.
Read the next and final installment when it is posted on July 17th
Nancy S. Warren, LMSW
May 2019