Friends, also called Quakers, had their origin as a Christian movement in seventeenth-century England. In the United States, the establishment of Quaker colonies was a common practice in the nation's westward movement of the middle-to-late 1800s. Yearly meetings of the Friends were held in various states. The first General Conference of the Yearly Meetings was held at Richmond, Indiana in 1887. In 1897, a uniform book of discipline and a closer union of the Yearly Meetings was instituted. The resulting Constitution and Discipline was adopted by New England, Wilmington, Indiana, and Kansas in 1900.
From the guide to the Amended articles of incorporation and by-laws of the Kansas Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1900, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
