This collection contains 6 documents pertaining to various aspects of the history of the Quakers in England, including their persecution. The documents range from the mundane, such as a witnessed loan agreement between two men (dated 1741) and a testimony of a woman's service to the Quaker ministry throughout her life (from 1687-1754), to those which speak to the persecution of Quakers in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. A document entitled "Advice to Friends Under Prosecution" informs Quakers of their rights before the law of which courts and magistrates "often claim ignorance." Another document presents the alternative oath which can be made by Quakers instead of the oath of allegiance to the State in its usual form. This proclamation also delineates the procedures which Quakers ought to follow in the event that they are threatened with excommunication or imprisonment for not proclaiming the Oath of Allegiance in its usual form. These two proclamations allude to the common practice of jailing Quakers for the practice of public sectarian worship which was illegal at the time. The collection also contains a document dated 1729, which relates to the proper procedures for Quakers to follow in removing themselves from one community to belong to another Quaker settlement. A small book in the collection consists of the transcription of an address given to American Friends in England in 1920 regarding elements of Quaker history including the persecution of the members of this sect, the passive resistance practiced by them in facing discrimination, and some of the tenets they fought to hold, such as a firm belief in education for peoples of all classes, races, and nationalities. Finally, this address recognized the role of certain Quaker forefathers such as William Penn.
