Briefer Notices

BRIEFER NOTICES Prepared by John and Barbara Curtis The annual spring meeting of the Friends Historical Association was held at Radnor Friends Meeting on Sunday, May 16, 1982. Friends joined in worship with Radnor Monthly Meeting and then enjoyed their picnic lunches on the grounds. Dessert and coffee were generously provided by Radnor Friends. The session in the afternoon was opened by John M. Moore, President of the Friends Historical Association, who introduced Conrad Wilson. Wilson gave a talk on the history of the meeting and its various meetinghouses. The principal address was made by J. William Frost, Director of the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, on the subject of "The Peace Testimony and Religious Liberty: die 1660 Declaration." The fourth biennial Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists was held at Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. 27410, from June 25-27, 1982. Jack Marietta, coordinator, and Barbara Curtis, convenor, were in charge of the program. Two of the papers given concerned the relation of southern Quakers to the slavery problem. John M. Shay discussed the role of Friends in the activities of the North Carolina Manumission Society in the antebellum period, while Kenneth Carroll reported on his research on the problem of manumission among the Maryland Quakers. Other topics considered were: a biographical account of Alice Paul by Amelia R. Fry, a study of the origin of Albert Smiley's interest in Indian affairs by Clyde A. Milner II, and a comparison of two colonial Massachusetts towns with regard to die social and property aspects of Quaker membership by Jonathan Chu. An informal session was devoted to a discussion of the current state of research on William Penn in view of the tercentenary celebration of the founding of Pennsylvania. One session was devoted to the interests of Quaker archivists, and Diana Alten, manuscripts librarian of the Haverford College Quaker Collection, presented a paper on the materials on the life and work of Rufus Jones which have been recently organized and made available to scholars. Participants in the conference enjoyed die excellent hospitality of Guilford College under the watchful care of Damon Hickey, Associate Librarian and Curator of the Friends Historical Collection there. Persons planning research in Quaker archives will be interested to note the appointment in September 1981 of Ina M. Kelley to the position of Curator of the Quaker Collection at Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio. The Quaker Collection at Haverford College has announced the appointment of Elisabeth Potts Brown to the position of Quaker bibliographer on May 3, 1982. 133 134Quaker History An important exhibit in connection with the city-wide celebration of "Philadelphia Century IV" was launched on April 22, 1982 under the auspices of the William Penn Charter School. "Friendly Beginnings: the Quaker Origins of Philadelphia Schools" was prepared under the guidance of Grace Wheeler, clerk of overseers of the school, and project director Bruce Cooper Gill. The exhibit is mounted in the portrait gallery of die Second National Bank on Chestnut St., in Philadelphia, and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be available until October 1982. More than 250 guests attended the opening reception, many of whom were descendants of the original members of the board of overseers of the school. Institutions cooperating in the exhibit include St. Charles Seminary, Episcopal Academy, die Franklin Institute, die Ludgwig Institute, and the University of Pennsylvania. ...