Whitaker, Robert W.

Biography / Administrative History

Robert Whitaker was born in Padiham, Lancashire, England in 1863, and moved with his family to the United States in 1869. After working at a watch factory in Waltham, Massachusetts, Whitaker attended first Lawrence Academy in Croton, Massachusetts, and then Andover-Newton Theological School. He began his pastoral work in Aguas Calientes, Mexico, where he worked as a missionary from 1887-1888. Thereafter he held Baptist pastorates in Seattle, Washington; Salem, Oregon; and Oakland and Los Gatos, California. His first wife, Ellen ("Ellie") died in 1901. In 1907 he married Claire Wall, who outlived him.

Whitaker was politically active throughout his ministry. The Collection reflects his diverse social, political, and educational interests as well as the strong religious beliefs that informed them. He addressed political themes in his sermons, spoke at political events, and participated in Socialist organizations such as the Ruskin Club of Oakland, California. He ran as the Socialist candidate for the 8th congressional district of California in 1912. In 1917, Whitaker and other Pacifist ministers worked with Fanny Bixby Spencer to organize the ecumenical Conference of Christian Pacifists in Long Beach "to protest...the militaristic interpretation of Christianity by the Churches" (A Brief Account of the Conference of Christian Pacifists in California). At the first meeting, Whitaker was arrested along with Harold Storey, a Quaker, and Rev. Floyd Hardin, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Atwater. After being convicted of unlawful assembly under the California Criminal Syndicalism Act, Whitaker spent three months in jail, but was subsequently released and cleared by the California Supreme Court.

Although Whitaker was a life long Baptist, his Socialist political beliefs and his "open membership" policy of allowing the un-baptized to join his church alienated some members of his church and the Baptist leadership. In 1922, Whitaker left Los Gatos to serve as the pastor of the Queen Anne Congregational Church in Seattle, Washington. In 1924, he returned to California, and he became the editor of the Open Forum, the newsletter of the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles from 1924 - 1926. Thereafter Whitaker focused his considerable energy on his writing. He published articles, letters to the editor and poetry in Socialist, labor, and Christian journals such as Unity, Labor Defender (where he was on the national committee), The Industrial Democrat, The Christian: A Liberal Journal of Religion, The Christian Century, The Vangard,and the Labor Clarion. He also founded presses such as The U.F.I. Press, The Cosman Press, The Progressive Publishing Company, and Whitaker and Ray, Co. to publish literary and socialist works by himself and others.

Whitaker remained politically active throughout his life and was personally acquainted with prominent socialists and radicals such as Jack London, Eugene Debs, Upton Sinclair, Fanny Bixby Spencer, Anna Louise Strong, and John Haynes Holmes. For decades he labored to obtain the release of Tom Mooney, a labor activist convicted for the Preparedness Day bombing, July 22, 1916, a conviction that was later found to be based on false testimony. Whitaker held prominent positions in a number of politically and socially oriented organizations such as The Ukraine Farming and Machinery Corporation, The Imperial Farming Company, Inc., and The International Polytechnical University, Inc. He organized or was active in educational institutions such as People's Institute, the Los Gatos Idea, The Montezuma Mountain Ranch School for Boys, and Home Educator Works.

Robert Whitaker died June 1944 in Los Gatos, California.

From the guide to the Collection of Robert W. Whitaker, 1885-1969, 1917-1944, (The Graduate Theological Union. Library.)