William White papers, 1784-1873.

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William White papers, 1784-1873.

1784-1873

This large collection, which includes 184 letters by Bishop White, contains much material on the formative years of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he took a leading part. Principal clergymen among his correspondents are William West (24 letters, 1785-1790), William E. Wyatt (letters of 1829-1836), and John P.K. Henshaw (1829-1830), all of Baltimore, and Maryland Bishops Thomas John Claggett (letters of 1796-1814), James Kemp (1812-1827), and William Murray Stone (1830-1836). Letters to Bishop Kemp are most numerous, although other holdings are substantial. Other correspondence is addressed to the Reverend Samuel H. Turner and the Reverend Jackson Kemper. One letter recommends the Reverend William Rollinson Whittingham to the Church in general as agent for the Sunday School Union, 1828.The correspondence ranges over most of the concerns and events of the Episcopal Church during the period, with special reference to the Church in Maryland. Only a sampling of subjects can be summarized here. White expresses his opinions on organization and government of the Church; the role of the laity; relations of church and state; proceedings of General Conventions; qualifications for ordination; relations with the Church of England; independence of the American Church; the liturgy of the two Churches, including problems concerning the thirty-nine Articles and the Creeds; aid given by the Church of England to the Episcopal Church; legislation in Parliament, 1786; and correspondence with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York concerrning the new Prayer Book. Much concerns revision and sale of the Prayer Book and donation of proceeds to the Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of Deceased Clergymen. There are also copies of four letters to White by the Reverend Thomas Cradock, the Reverend William West, and Samuel Johnston, 1786-1788, about the election of the Reverend William Smith as Bishop of Maryland and objections to his consecration (whereabouts of the originals not shown). Many other letters concern affairs of the Church in Maryland and Virginia in the last two decades of the eighteenth century. Correspondence from 1800 on includes numerous references to clergymen in Pennsylvania and Maryland, among them Walter C. Gardiner, William L. Gibson, Archibald Walker, John Chandler, John Armstrong, Joseph Jackson, and Bird Wilson, as well as substantial materials about affairs of the Dioceses of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York , and Connecticut. Letters of 1804-1807 concern Methodist Bishop Thomas Coke's negotiations for reunion of Methodists with the Protestant Episcopal Church, including his plan for the reordination of Methodist preachers, and White's views on the Methodist Church and John Wesley's influence. There are frequent references to the election and consecration of early bishops, including objections to the consecration of Philander Chase, 1819, and to White's relations with other bishops. Much concerns the disputed election of James Kemp as Suffragan Bishop of Maryland, 1814-1816, and the conduct and schism of the Reverend George Dashiell during that time. Substantial materials related to dealings with Bishop Thomas John Claggett throughout his episcopate. White writes frequently about affairs of the Diocese of Maryland and the Church in general. He gives his views on church music, architecture, the arrangement of church interiors, placement of organs and furniture, the practice in Pennsylvania regarding use of churches prior to consecration, canon law, and the liturgy and rubrics.There are also numerous references to Richard Mant, Bishop of Killaloe, in Ireland. In 1817, White writes the Reverend Samuel H. Turner expressing his views on slavery, its evils, the need for its gradual elimination, and his belief that Blacks should have part in the vox populi. Letters of 1824 concern the Reverend William Levington, a Negro ordained by White, who founded St. James' First African Church, Baltimore, with mention of his education and work among Blacks in Philadelphia. Other letters of the 1820s discuss White's writings on the history of the Episcopal Church, Calvinism, and other subjects; his controversy with the Reverend Jared Sparks over Unitarianism; and troubles in the Diocese of Pennsylvania over the election of Henry U. Onderdonk as Assistant Bishop. White disapproves of the project for a General Theological Seminary and prefers diocesan seminaries. Papers of 1829-1830 chiefly concern the trial of the Reverend Timothy Clowes, which raised problems of canon law concerning episcopal authority, and the consecration of William Murray Stone as Bishop of Maryland. Correspondence with Bishop Stone is mostly about clergy matters. The collection also references to Bishop White after his death, concerning memorials to him, his theology, his attitude toward sacraments and the Prayer Book, and various tributes.

370 items.

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7957617

Related Entities

There are 40 Entities related to this resource.

Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65c0rvg (person)

Jared Sparks (1789-1866) was the President of Harvard University from February 1, 1849 to February 10, 1853. He was also a Unitarian minister, editor, and historian. Jared Sparks was born to Joseph Sparks and Elinor (Orcut) Sparks on May 10, 1789 in Willington, Connecticut. Sparks was one of nine children and came from a family of modest means. When he turned six years old, Sparks went to live with an aunt and uncle in Camden, New York, to help relieve the family of a mout...

Episcopal Church. Diocese of Maryland

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65x7dbs (corporateBody)

White, William, 1748-1836

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62j6ghr (person)

William White was the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of Philadelphia. From the description of Miscellaneous manuscripts, 1828. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155887043 Chaplain of the Continental Congress, 1777-1789; chaplain of the U.S. Senate; bishop of Pennsylvania in 1788; influential in formation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S. From the description of Autograph of Bishop White, n.d. (University of Virginia). World...

Cradock, Thomas, 1718-1770

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jt1922 (person)

Dashiell, George, 1770-1852

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wh498w (person)

Walker, Archibald, -1815

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cz44m4 (person)

Episcopal Church. Diocese of Pennsylvania

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k68c6f (corporateBody)

Church of England. Province of Canterbury. Archbishop

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s51jq3 (corporateBody)

Claggett, Thomas John

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vh5p8h (person)

First Episcopal Bishop of Maryland; b. 1742; d. 1816. From the description of Thomas John Claggett papers, 1767-1816. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 652677209 ...

Wyatt, William Edward, 1789-1864

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jd6gkm (person)

Chandler, John, Reverend.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ms5cd5 (person)

Onderdonk, Henry U. (Henry Ustick), 1789-1858

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z32p9m (person)

According to Columbia's printed catalogue of graduates, Onderdonk received an A.B. in 1805 and honorary S.T.D. in 1827. He is not, however listed among medical graduates of 1810. DAB cites him as a medical graduate of Edinburgh, but he does not appear in that university's printed list. From the description of On stone in the bladder. (College of Physicians of Philadelphia). WorldCat record id: 20079151 Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. From the des...

Turner, Samuel H. (Samuel Hulbeart), 1790-1861

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68p6q4z (person)

Jackson, Joseph, Reverend.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6np3qnz (person)

Wilson, Bird, 1777-1859

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s765s1 (person)

Episcopal priest, seminary professor. Wilson was Professor of Systematic Divinity at General Theological Seminary, 1821-1850. From the description of Papers, 1797-1855. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155475585 ...

Coke, Thomas, 1747-1814

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d22nmx (person)

Henshaw, J. P. K. (John Prentiss Kewley), 1792-1852

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ng4nv4 (person)

First Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island. From the description of John Prentiss Kewley Henshaw papers, 1814-1871. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 658058631 John Henshaw was born in Middletown, Connecticut to Daniel Henshaw and Sally Prentiss Henshaw on 13 June 1792. The family moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where John attended Middlebury College and graduated in 1808; he then attended Harvard University as a resident graduate for a year. After a visit to Middletown, Henshaw beca...

Chase, Philander, 1775-1852

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kd23xb (person)

Philander Chase, Episcopal Bishop, first Bishop of Ohio, later Bishop of Illinois, and founder of Kenyon College in Ohio and Jubilee College in Illinois. From the description of Plea for Western Colleges and Theological Seminaries : New York : holograph, 1845 Nov. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702138736 First Episcopal Bishop of Ohio (1819-1831) and later Bishop of Illinois (1835-1852) and Presiding Bishop (1843-1852). From the description of Philander Chase pap...

Levington, William, 1793-1836

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66d7dgq (person)

Kemper, Jackson, 1789-1870

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wd48tm (person)

Bishop of the Missionary District of Missouri and Indiana and of the territory later forming Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnensota, Nebraska and Kansas, with visitations to other parts of the west and southwest and Bishop of Wisconsin. From the description of Jackson Kemper papers, 1811-1878. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 658860832 Episcopal bishop. From the description of Letter of Jackson Kemper, 1841. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79423776 ...

Whittingham, William Rollinson, 1805-1879

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69s1rv7 (person)

William Rollinson Whittingham was born in New York City, N.Y., and graduated from the General Theological Seminary in 1825. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1829 and became rector of Saint Mark's Church in Orange, N.J. Whittingham later served as rector of Saint Luke's Church in New York City, and in 1835 became a professor of ecclesiastical history at the General Theological Seminary. In 1840, he was elected Episcopal bishop of Maryland, the youngest American bishop to date, and served...

Episcopal Church

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dg0f6f (corporateBody)

In 1982, the General Convention of the Church deleted the words "Protestant" and "in the United States of America" from the official title of the Church, making it the Episcopal Church. From the description of Records of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, 1823-1975 (inclusive). (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 702152635 ...

Gibson, William L., Reverend.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j11p6g (person)

Church of England. Province of York. Archbishop

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61z9fz4 (corporateBody)

Mant, Richard, 1744 or 1745-1817

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k37drm (person)

Smith, William, 1727-1803

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68g8nbh (person)

Clergyman, educator, playwright. From the description of Letter to Jasper Yeates, Lancaster [manuscript], 1773 July 15. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647814474 Physician Joseph Carson taught medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The College of Philadelphia's Medical School, founded in 1765, became known as the University of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Medicine In 1779. From the guide to the Joseph Carson letters, 1789-1858, 1789-1858, (American P...

Johnston, Samuel, Reverend

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jd6h1v (person)

Stone, William Murray, 1779-1838

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r222fr (person)

Third Episcopal Bishop of Maryland. From the description of William Murray Stone papers, 1802-1838. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 652713411 ...

General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65f3qhd (corporateBody)

Episcopal Church. Diocese of Pennsylvania. Bishop (1787-1836 : White)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h47350 (corporateBody)

Episcopal Church. Diocese of Connecticut

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ps1q92 (corporateBody)

Church of England

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68665fj (corporateBody)

According to the Canons of 1604, XLIX-LII, of the Church of England, only those persons whose faith and learning are known to their bishop are licensed to preach. Such is the case because the Anglican bishop has pastoral charge of his entire diocese, and the ministers of that diocese, and the ministers of that diocese are considered to be his assistants. From the description of Church of England licensing document, 1886. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122406060 The major mis...

Armstrong, John, Reverend.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w615635m (person)

West, William, d. 1791

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67h3490 (person)

Episcopal Church. General Convention

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cs0t94 (corporateBody)

Gardiner, W. C. (Walter Clarke), -1810

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fv068j (person)

Clowes, Timothy, 1787-1847

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w96wj6 (person)

Kemp, James, 1764-1827

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hd7wcz (person)

Second Episcopal Bishop of Maryland. From the description of James Kemp papers, 1784-1827. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 652681588 ...

Episcopal Church. Diocese of New York

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62c2s0h (corporateBody)