Indexing the Arch Street Records

32BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Standard. I have waited to hear from him before I thanked thee for the sum given and the note accompanying it, which I sent to New York. A letter from James to C. C. Burleigh makes mention of it in grateful terms. I entirely accord with thy remarks on the importance of the paper, as well as other Abolition periodicals, not being turned aside from their direct object, to assail one another. There has been too much of it, and it has doubtless checked the onward course of the Anti-Slavery movement . But the attentive reader will discover that much in the " Old Organization " papers has been on the defensive side—if that will excuse it. A sectarian spirit found its way into our ranks and made similar ravages to those made in our religious Society some ten or twelve years ago, when many thought it necessary to defend our simple faith by replies to orthodox accusations. I never, however, felt much interest in those controversies ; neither now do I read with any satisfaction the criminations and recriminations which sometimes mar our pages. I hope therefore thy word of exhortation will be suffered among them, and that thou wilt retain an interest and guardian care over the advocates of the cause of the suffering and the dumb. With thanks, on behalf of the Society, for thy gift, I am thine for Truth and Liberty, Philada. i2mo. 8, 1840.Lucretia Mott. [To A. S. Lippincott, Esq. 369 Arch St.] INDEXING THE ARCH STREET RECORDS. By Max I. Reich. The work of indexing and cataloging the contents of the old vault attached to the Arch Street Meeting House is still in progress. There has been hidden away in the vault an accumulation of manuscripts and rare publications of literary value. The undersigned, who has been engaged for some time in examining and classifying this valuable literary hoard, has discovered documents bearing on the early history of the settlement of Friends in Philadelphia ; on the relations of Friends with the Indians from the earliest times ; on the rise and growth of the concern which crystallized in the Tunesas'sa enterprise; on the suffering testimony borne by Philadelphia Friends at the time the governmental control of the colony passed out of Friendly hands ; of their steady protest against the Militia law, and against taxation for military purposes ; not to speak of their patient and unpopular labors on behalf of the enslaved Africans in America. THE WALKING PURCHASE.33 More than thirty boxes of these manuscripts have been gone through in this manner, leaving some thirty more, bringing the work down to the year of the unhappy separation of well nigh one hundred years ago. Many important manuscripts, throwing light both on the doctrinal controversy and its unfortunate by-products, have been cataloged and made available for the student of that disturbed period of Friendly history. Then there is the Meeting for Sufferings Library. More than 1030 separate pamphlets and books have already been put into shape. These deal with such subjects as Indians, Negroes, War, Keithian controversy, Revolutionary War, Friends' Sufferings, Hicksite Separation, Beaconite Secession, Wilbur Separation, Ministry, Worship, Discipline, Exhortations , Epistles; Law, Tithes, Education, Doctrinal Matters, Sermons, Memorials, Controversial Subjects, Baptism, Lord's Supper, Jews, etc.,—a perfect treasure trove for historical research. There remain yet several thousand pamphlets and books to be indexed, the contents of the bound volumes of important publications, patiently collected by departed Friends, such as the elder Joseph Elkinton, Joseph Kite, George Scattergood, and others, and bequeathed to the Meeting for Sufferings. Many of these publications bear the signatures of honored names, their former owners, such as those of Pemberton, Benezet, Dillwyn , Fothergill, Emlen, Evans, and many other ancient worthies of fragrant memory. We are grateful to those Friends who had the concern of providing a modern receptacle for these priceless treasures, in the large Fire-proof Room attached to Friends' Book Store at 302 Arch Street, Philadelphia. THE WALKING PURCHASE. By Charles F. Jenkins. On Seventh month 22, 1921, Albert Cook Myers and Charles F. Jenkins started from the monument erected at Wrightstown meeting-house to mark the beginning of the Indian...