Quaker Collections Update
Wilmington College - Watson Library
Special Newsletter for the 2014 Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting
From Jean Mulhern, Director, and Patti Kinsinger, Facilitator of Quaker Collections
July 25, 2014
prominently in the holdings
OVYM features
and deposit collections of the Quaker
Rare area of Watson Library, Wilmington College.
There are meeting minutes, reports, published
materials, as well as private collections donated by
Friends members.
Great News! WURC / NPS Network
The Waynesville Underground Railroad
Committee (WURC) Last year’s Quaker Collections
Update reported on the Waynesville Underground
Railroad Committee (WURC) and their multiple research
trips to Watson Library to study Miami Monthly
Meeting minutes, both Hicksite and Orthodox. WURC
representatives from the Mary L. Cook Public Library,
the Museum at the Friends’ Home, Pioneer Village, the
Harveysburg community, and others collaborated on the
process to apply for Network to Freedom status.
Network to Freedom locations may be sites, programs or
facilities; WURC’s 44-page application for its
educational program for 6th-graders, Waynesville's Role
in the Underground Railroad, was approved by the
National Park Service in March 2014.
Miami’s monthly meeting minutes are specifically
mentioned as supporting historical documents in
Waynesville’s online Network to Freedom program
description.
The Network to Freedom demonstrates “the
significance of the Underground Railroad not only in the
eradication of slavery, but as a cornerstone of our
national
civil
rights
movement,” according to
the
National
Parks
Service website. Watson
Library
congratulates
Waynesville
on
this
successful outcome and
achievement for Warren
County!
Research Tips
See Special Collection and Gallery links on our Watson
Library homepage within the Wilmington College
website or this express link:
http://watsonlibrary.info [Note the Quaker tab]
Watson Library’s digitization program for Special
Collections continues while we search for an accessible
repository solution to make digital content available to
the public.
Researchers – Call Ahead !!!!
Advance planning is essential for researchers because
Watson Library cannot accommodate walk-in visitors to
the “Quaker Rare” collections. We need to coordinate
staff schedules and gather the requested resources.
Please contact us first via this email:
library@wilmington.edu or this telephone number to
discuss your research needs: 937-382-6661 ext. 345.
World War I Centennial Update: Watson Librarians
prepared several archival collections featuring WWI
Quaker conscientious objectors that have recently
attracted historians developing commemorative projects.
The Quaker perspective is well represented through these
excellent personal archives.
Do you have family archives related to WWI or Quaker
history? Please consider making the content available to
your extended family and to historians through
digitization and/or donation – Watson Library might be
able to help.
Deposits of all meeting minutes and other publications
(or copies/scans; paper-disc-email) are strongly
encouraged and are very welcome.
PRESERVE YOUR MEETING’S HISTORY by
depositing copies of minutes and publications with
Wilmington College Watson Library annually.
Not sure when your meeting last made a deposit? –
contact Patti Kinsinger for more information
937-382-6661 x441.
NEWS ABOUT WATSON LIBRARY’S QUAKER COLLECTIONS AND SERVICES
Miami Monthly Meeting Quaker Homecoming
Watson Library hosted visitors from Miami MM’s Homecoming celebration on September 20 th, 2013.
Participants toured the Quaker Collections and discussed digitization of Quaker records at Watson Library.
They also had the opportunity to browse and research in Miami, Center, Caesar’s Creek, Green Plain and other
early Indiana YM records, most related to Bush River (South Carolina) MM origins.
To request a group tour of the Quaker Rare and Circulating Collections, e-mail library@wilmington.edu, or
contact us at Watson Library (937) 382-6661, ext. 345. Please contact us at least one month ahead of your
prospective visit.
Quaker research topics for 2013-14
Maple Grove MM; Lafayette MM; the Gist Settlement; Virgie Hortenstine; “kitchen schools” connected with
Hillsboro 1956 desegregation; those who had CO (conscientious objector) status during WWI from this area;
John Henry Douglas; Quakers in film; 1929 Wilmington Peace Conference; meeting minutes in Virginia,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland; Friends Conference on Peace and Reconstruction, 1942; Miami
MM; Turtle Creek MM; Quakers in Barbados; Messenger of Peace and Advocate of Peace (publications);
introductory writings on Quakerism; Whitewater MM; Yellow Springs MM; Richard Larkin, WWI
conscientious objector; Sherborn MM.
Deposits to Ohio Valley YM archives included
the following records:
Campus (2013-2014); Community (1991-2008); East Cincinnati (19551961); Miami MM (2012); and Yellow Springs (1940 -2011). Thanks
for preserving your Monthly Meeting’s history!
Quaker genealogy searchers during the past year
pursued these family names:
Bocock, Carter, Clark, Connor, Cook, Evans, Farr, Glass, Hall,
Hodgson/Hodson, Hope, Johnson, Jones, Larkin, Luddington, Macy,
Moorman, Morris, Purdue, Rosser, Sharp, Shipley, Snider/Snyder, Stewart,
Taylor, Townsend, Wakeman, Watson, Wood.
Preservation News
Burt Weston, past researcher in the Ohio Valley YM Archives, made another generous donation this past year
toward digitization of Miami records. We are grateful for Burt’s continued support of the collections.
Ancestry.com has recently added extensive online documentation of Quaker history, an estimated 11.5 million
records. Watson Library Director Jean Mulhern says, “Ancestry.com has become my first choice resource for
tracing and enriching the stories of area Quakers.” Although Ancestry.com is a subscription database ($240
annually), some Ohio public libraries offer a version of it for in-house use. Interested in seeing the list of
Ancestry’s Quaker resources? E-mail library@wilmington.edu and Watson librarians will send it to you. Email
only.
Donations to the Quaker Rare collections are appreciated for preservation supplies and print acquisitions.
Please direct donations of money to the Quaker Rare Library Restricted Fund, c/o the Advancement
Office, Pyle Box 1307, Wilmington College, Wilmington OH 45177.
WATSON LIBRARY – WE CARE ABOUT OVYM INFORMATION AND HISTORY