Research in Progress

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS Prepared by Barbara L. Curtis Martin D. Ruddock, M. D. is preparing a study on "Development and Application of the Precision Pendulum Timepiece in America" under the aegis of the Smithsonian Institution. His research traces the ownership of horological items, giving appropriate genealogical data. This work is of interest to Friends since several colonial clock and instrument makers were Quakers. Ruddock can be reached at 72 Harriman St., Bedford, Ohio 44146. * * * Irving O. Univer is pursuing research on Quaker costume in the Delaware Valley in the 1850's and '60s. His address is 1 1997 Dumont Rd. , Philadelphia, Pa. 19916. * * * Elizabeth Hartley, of 27 Wallingford Ave., Apt. D-4, Wallingford, Pa. 19086, is preparing a dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania on the contribution of selected women social reformers, among them some Quakers in the field of child welfare. * * # The role of Quaker women is also being investigated by two other scholars. Frances Taber, Pendle Hill, Wallingford, Pa. 19086, is gathering material for a weekend conference at Pendle Hill on the leadership experience of Quaker women with particular emphasis on the early period of Friends' history. Kathleen Pokstefl, 25 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore, Pa. 19003, is preparing a Ph.D. dissertation for the School of Social Work at Bryn Mawr College, on Quaker female benevolent societies in the 17th and 18th century Philadelphia. * * * Arthur B. Nicholls, 27 B Chestnut Terrace Apts., Salem, N.J. , 08079, and Betty Scott, 3 Old Oak Rd., Mickleton, N.J., 08056, are preparing a history of the meetings which compose Salem Quarterly Meeting, New Jersey. * * # Marilena de Souza Chaui is pursuing research about Spinoze and the Quakers in Amsterdam during the seventeenth century. A member ofthe Dept. ofPhilosophy, at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil, she can be reached at Rue Conde de Porto Alegre 2092, Sao Paulo 04608, Brazil. Elaine Craydereff, 152 Stoneway Lane, Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 19004, is preparing a master's thesis at Villanova University on "War Taxes: the Experience of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Quakers Prior to 1 800." * * * Edward Higgins, Associate Professor of English at George Fox College, Newberg , Ore. 97132, is collecting materials for two projects. One is a critical edition of Penn's Fruits of Solitude, and the other is a study of the historical elements of Quakerism in Melville's Moby Dick. Stephen A. Kent, of the Dept. of Sociology. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta. T6E 4S6, is doing research for a book on social protest movements of Interregnum England. Quaker relationships to these movements will be included. 68 Research In Progress69 Friends' meetinghouses are currently a major interest of several scholars. Sandra J. Miller, 216 D Meetinghouse Rd., Twin Oaks, Pa. 19014, is gathering data on Upper Chichester Meeting House as part of a larger study about Upper Chichester Township. Ruth Anna Cary, 4818 Cedar Ave., Philadelphia. Pa. 19143, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, is making a study offne architecture of Radnor Meetinghouse. David S. Wilson, who is preparing lectures for his American Studies course at University of California, at Davis. Ca. 95616, is interested in Friends meetinghouses, both interior and exterior construction, as well as in the artistic work of Edward Hicks, and he would like to hear from anyone working in these areas. =fc F ^ A theme which concerns several scholars is biographical studies of individual Quakers. William P. Taber, Jr., of Pendle Hill, Wallingford, Pa. 19086, is completing a history of Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative), which includes details on the life and work ofElisha Bates (ca. 1779-1861). Leila Zenderland, 3230 Quartz Lane, G7, Fullerton, Ca. 9263 1 , is working on a dissertation at California State University about the family of Henry Herbert Goddard of Vassalboro, Maine. The Goddards were Quaker missionaries who visited Ireland and England in the period of the 1880's and '90's. Carol E. Hoffecker ofthe Department ofHistory at the University of Delaware is gathering material for an article on Benjamin Ferris (1780-1867), a Quaker historian and theologian of Wilmington which will appear in Delaware History. ...