Dictionary of Quaker Biography

Abstract

NOTES ^DOCUMENTS DICTIONARY OF QUAKER BIOGRAPHY By Edwin B. Bronner A "Dictionary of Quaker Biography," an important new research tool, is now available in the United States for the first time in the Quaker Collection of the Haverford College Library. Work began on this project several years ago, under the direction of the Library Committee of the Library at Friends House, London. Several thousand entries have been prepared from such sources as A Collection of Testimonies, the Annual Monitor, Piety Promoted, TL· Friend (London), and biographical notices in such volumes as the Cambridge Journal of George Fox, the Shorter Journal, and Pen Pictures of London Yearly Meeting. The biographical notes are in typed form in loose-leaf binders. They are tentative in nature and must be used with caution, but scholars from both sides of the Atlantic have been very enthusiastic about the value of the project. The work has been financed in part by a grant from the Barrow and Géraldine S. Cadbury Trust. The original plan was for one copy to be kept in the Library at Friends House, with the second copy at Woodbrooke. However, the opportunity to combine the British "Dictionary of Quaker Biography" with an essentially American one led the Library Committee, with the approval of the librarian at Woodbrooke, to decide to transfer the second copy to Haverford College. William Bacon Evans (1875-1964) worked for many years on a "Dictionary of Quaker Biography," and that material was left to the Quaker Collection at Haverford. In his introduction William Bacon Evans wrote that he attempted to select "members of the Society of Friends, called Quakers, who, whether in religion, education, science, art, or industry, have made an outstanding contribution to life." He prepared biographical sketches of several thousand individuals, including many of the authors listed in Smith's Descriptive Catalogue of Friends Books . . . , persons mentioned in Besse's Collection of the Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, Friends mentioned in the Memorials of the various American Yearly Meetings, notices in American Quaker periodicals, as well as many other references. At present, the work compiled by William Bacon Evans is being combined with the British "Dictionary of Quaker Biography." The Evans work was done in longhand, and now, as it is being typed, the typed original will be inserted into the copy of the British work at Haverford and a carbon copy will be sent to London to be added to the set at Friends House. Duplicate entries in the two "Dictionaries" are being eliminated. This means that in the near future both "Dictionaries" will be available in both countries, each of them benefiting from being combined with the other. Most of the entries in both the British and the Evans "Dictionaries" list references , indicating not only the source of the entry, but the location of additional information. Scholars are free to consult the "Dictionary" in its present form, and the staff at the Quaker Collection will reply to reasonable requests for information contained in the work. The initial cost involved in beginning the task of editing and typing copies of the Evans "Dictionary" has been provided by friends of William Bacon Evans, and it is hoped that additional funds can be found to complete this important work. 45 ...

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