Category: Uncategorized

March 24, 1638. John Clarke (a physician, Baptist minister), with Anne Hutchinson, William Coddington,  Philip Sherman, and other religious dissenters settled on Aquidneck Island (thereafter known as Rhode Island), which was purchased from the local tribes.  Clarke was the author of the charter, which founded Rhode Island on the principles of religious freedom.  Roger Williams who was forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded Providence Plantation (now known as the city of Providence) as a free proprietary colony seeking religious and political tolerance.  ABHS has records of First Baptist, Providence, dating from 1638-1903.

March 19, 1893, Tremont Baptist Temple burned for the third time.  Originally built as a theater, in 1843 Baptists in Boston purchased it and remodeled it as a church which would also provide ‘free seats’ for the poor and strangers coming into the city to seek work, and were not able to rent pews (which was the common practice then).  In burned for the first time in 1852, was rebuilt, and burned again in 1879.  After the third fire in 1893, it was rebuilt again and still serves the people of Boston.  ABHS has many items in the Congregational Files from Tremont Temple.

 

March 18, 1913, Reverend Edward W. Clark passed away after serving, with his wife, as a missionary for forty- two years in India.  In 1868 he took charge of the mission printing press in Assam, India. Clark developed the language into writing, translated some of the Gospels and printed many books for use in the schools.  His last work was the Ao-Naga-English Dictionary.  ABHS has 13 folders of correspondence between Clark and the mission board, including one folder of correspondence from his wife, Mary, pictured here.

 

March 15, 1843.  Richard Henry Boyd, publisher for the National Baptist convention, USA, was born in Shelby, NC.  ABHS has issues of the National Baptist newspaper 1865-1894, and the National Baptist convention Series for 1900, 1902, and 1936. National Baptist Convention) is the largest predominantly African-American Christian denomination in the United States. It is headquartered at the Baptist World Center in Nashville, Tennessee.  The denomination claims approximately 31,000 congregations.  The Convention reports having an estimated 7.5 million members.

 

March 13, 1764:  The Philadelphia Baptist Association voted to extend voting privileges to women.  ABHS has association records from the Philadelphia Association, and recently received a banner celebrating the 300^th anniversary of the Association.

March 11, 1796.  Francis Wayland, professor and president of Brown University was born in New York City.  He was also the pastor of the first Baptist church in American in Providence, RI.  In Washington, D.C., Wayland Seminary was established in 1867, primarily to educate former slaves, and was named in his honor. ABHS has about 100 items, books, magazine articles or newspaper articles by or about Francis Wayland.

 

March 9, 1780:  A letter to the Continental Journal attacked Baptists for their opposition to state-supported religion.  The Journal was published in Boston from 1776-1787.  ABHS has many tracts and other publications that document the Baptist struggle for religious freedom.   Brown University (started by Baptists in New England) has microfilm copies of the Continental Journal.

March 7, 1668 The Governor of Massachusetts ordered a debate on infant Baptist between Baptist and Puritan ministers.  Thomas Goold led the Baptist side of the debate against the formidable Congregational minister John Allen and others.   At the end of the debate, the court remained unconvinced and the magistrates banished Goold. Refusing to leave, he was again imprisoned. ABHS has many early papers which argued for religious freedom and believer’s baptism.

 

 

March 6, 1680 the Doors of First Baptist Church of Boston were nailed shut by court order because the Bay Colony was not tolerant of anyone who advocated for believers baptism.  Men and women were banished from the colony and others were put to death. The Baptists in Boston continued to meet outside in the freezing church yard for several weeks until one Sunday they found the doors unlocked so went in to worship with no repercussions.  ABHS has some of the original church records of First Baptist Church of Boston from 1771-1960.

 

March 4, 1681.  Britain’s King Charles II granted a charter to William Penn who founded Pennsylvania in order to offer religious freedom to those who settled there.  Baptists strongly upheld religious freedom and opposed a state supported church.  ABHS has many tracts and essays from early Baptists defending religious freedom.  The national headquarters of the American Baptist Churches USA is in Pennsylvania.  ABHS has several tracts written by William Penn, mostly about religious freedom.

 

March 3, 1854 marks the date that Martha Beecher died at sea while returning from Burma where she and her husband, John, were missionaries.  Although John was the one commissioned by the church, Martha, like many wives, felt called to mission work also.  In 1878 a marble plaque was dedicated to Beecher’s memory.  He was given  “the distinguished honor of establishing the first Christian school in Burma on the basis of the indigenous support.”  ABHS has two folders of correspondence between the Beechers and the foreign mission board.  The picture above is a depiction of John Beecher.

 

One Hundred Sixty Six years ago, in 1851, on February 28, Libbie Cilley Griffin was born.  She became the first woman on record to be ordained by American Baptists in 1898 in New York state.  ABHS has her ordination certificate, marriage certificate and many of her sermons and other writings.  She was a Free Will Baptist missionary in India 1873-1876, and again in 1883-1893.

In 1813, On February 27, The Maine Literary and Theological Institution was founded in Waterville, Maine.  Later the name was changed to Colby College.  It is considered a pioneer in higher education because:

in 1833 Students organized the first collegiate anti-slavery society.
in 1871  Colby, previously an all-male New England college,  admitted women.
in 1975  They participated in the first intercollegiate women’s varsity ice hockey game.
in 1983 Colby became the first college to issue e-mail accounts to all students.

ABHS has files on Colby College from 1875 to 1960.

In 1824, on February 25, the Baptist General Tract Society was formed in Washington, DC.  The purpose was to publish Christian Literature and Sunday School materials.  Two years later the Society moved to Philadelphia.  In 1841 the first colporters were appointed to distribute the literature.  Out of this society came the American Baptist Historical Society (1853), The Board of Education and Publication (1888), and eventually the Publication arm was named Judson Press.  The picture above is one of the first colporter wagons.  ABHS had many records from the Tract Society, and shelves of books published by Judson Press and its predecessors.  There are also many pictures of various colporters using horse and buggies, boats and cars.

Arthur and Laura Carson’s Burma photograph album (MP 019) from the early 1900’s has been digitized and a reference copy has been printed. The work was done by HF Group (http://www.hfgroup.com/).

The fragile volume was sent to their facility, where high-resolution images were taken. Those were made into a book that can be safely handled by patrons and the original, fragile volume is now safe.

On February 19, 1812, Ann and Adoniram Judson sailed for India as missionaries commissioned by the Congregational Church (see post on February 6).  Upon arriving in India, they asked the British Baptist William Ward to baptize them by immersion.  Because of the political situation between England and the United States, Americans were unwelcome in India, so the Judsons traveled to Burma where evangelized to the Burmese.  They began translating the Bible into the local language, wrote tracts and made friends.  The picture here shows a replica of the ship in which they sailed half way round the world.  ABHS has many books about the Judson’s, Judson’s original letters to the mission society in America, and several artifacts used by Judson in his ministry.

An exhibit on Immigration and the American Baptist response throughout two centuries has been developed by our archivist, Jill Sweetapple.  Since the early 1800’s, immigrants have been alternately welcomed and refused.  American Baptists have been involved in welcoming and resettlement, helping newcomers to fit into the culture of the United States.  The AB Home Mission Societies’ collection has many records of such activities.  ABHS holds and cares for the ABHMS collections.

On February 16, in 1747, Isaac Backus formed a church with 16 people in Titicut, MA.  He was going against legal requirements.  Backus spoke out for separation of church and state, and was one of the original trustees for Brown University, the first Baptist school of higher learning.  In 1751, Backus became the pastor of Middleborough Baptist church in Massachusetts.   The accompanying photo shows Backus listed as the pastor of Middleborough in the 1790-1795 Baptist Register.  ABHS has a collection of Backus’ personal papers and many books by and about him.