Patterns of Influence in Anglo-American Quakerism (review)

Book Reviews Patterns of Influence in Anglo-American Quakerism. By Thomas E. Drake. Journal of the Friends' Historical Society, Supplement No. 28. London: Friends' Historical Society. 1958, 16 pages. Is. 6d. Scanning centuries for reciprocal influences precludes the kind of close analysis Frederick Tolles undertook in 1952, when he limited himself to the first half century of the Quaker "Atlantic community." But Thomas Drake's Presidential Address before the Friends' Historical Society does suggest broad outlines for future investigation. He is convincing but sketchy before 1828 and finds no basic change in relationships until 1776. He is sure where his research on Quakers and Slavery supports him; less sure on the origin and character of Western American Quakerism. The essay suggests five reasons for the failure of traditional ways to raise a Gospel ministry and provide pastoral care: (1) the failure of the traveling ministry to cope with increased distances and shifting locations of meetings; (2) attenuation "by lack of formal education" (p. 11) ; (3) the Separation, ending universal correspondence, especially with the Quaker "capitals" of Philadelphia and London; (4) the spread of cheap printing, so that each branch read its own publications and no others'; and (5) the time-difference in Eastern and Western acceptance of contemporary European thought. The westward movement "explains" too little; rural-urban differences do not correspond enough to religious differences; points 1 and 2 are most controversial. The author emphasizes nineteenth-century Anglo-American differences more than relationships. Did the Atlantic Quaker community survive the separations and the Great Revival? Can we say "that since William Penn's day English and American Quakerism have grown up side by side in a continuing community of Friends" (p. 15) ? The trend shifted after 1890, but we are farther from being a community than in the colonial period. The University of Vermont T. D. Seymour Bassett Some Quaker Portraits, Certain and Uncertain. By John Nickalls. Journal of the Friends' Historical Society, Supplement No. 29. London: Friends' Historical Society and Philadelphia: Friends Historical Association. 1958. 19 pages. 75 cents. John L. Nickalls was named President of the Friends' Historical Society as he rounded out his long term of service as Librarian of the Library of the Society of Friends in England maintained by London Yearly 66 ...