Samuel Macauley Jackson Papers
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Abstract
The collections contains the papers of Samuel Macauley Jackson (1851-1912) and The American Society of Church History (1888-1896) of which he was the secretary and treasurer for the eight years of its existance. It contains mostly correspondence between Jackson and other church leaders as well as a scrapbook of items and publications.
Biographical note
Samuel Macauley Jackson (1851-1912) was a Presbyterian clergyman, philanthropist, church historian and professor at New York University. He studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary, as well as at the Universities of Leipzig and Berlin. He spent four years as pastor of a New Jersey Presbyterian church and spent the remainder of his life in New York engaged in historical scholarship and social Christian activity. He served on the executive committees of the Charity Organization Society and the Prison Association.
Jackson was secretary of the American Society of Church History form its organization in 1888 until its amalgamation with the American Historical Association in 1896. Jackson then became secretary of its church history section. He wrote and edited many works, including "The Concise Dictionary of Religious Knowledge," a bibliography of foreign missions, and a biography of Huldreich Zwingli for a series, "Heroes of the Reformation," which Jackson edited. From 1895 until his death in 1912 he was professor of church history at New York University.
Arrangement
Jackson's division of this collection into two series, each further separated into several chronological sections, has been retained.
Series I is the correspondence of the American Society of Church History 1888-1895. The four subseries each contain folders A to Z with correspondence filed alphabetically according to the writers' last names (in a few instances documents are filed by organization, such as the Evangelical Association. The four subseries are as follows Subseries A: February 1888-December 1980 Subseries B: February 1889-June 1892 Subseries C: January 1892-December 1893 Subseries D: December 1893-December 1895
Series II is the personal correspondence of Samuel Macauley Jackson. Divided in four subseries, the first three subseries are arranged chronologically Subseries A: January-December 1894 Subseries B: November 1894-December 1895 Subseries C: January 1896-December 1896 Subseries D: Scrapbook 1893-1986
This collection is organized into three series. The original organization of this collection has been preserved.
Missing Title
- American Society of Church History
- Personal Correspondence
- Publications
Scope and Contents
The papers cover the years 1888-1896 and pertain to the organizational and editorial activities of the American Society of Church History and the to the person and professional affairs of Samuel Jackson. The documents are primarily manuscript and typed letters but also include clippings, printed flyers, reports, receipts, bills, advertisements, invitations, printer's page proofs, and a few photographs. Correspondence in Subseries A relates primarily to the Society's founding, with many letters concerning membership and dues. Subseries B contains a membership acceptance letter from abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Correspondence in subseries C and D deals mostly with with subjects of papers read by members at the Society's meetings, with the organization's Editorial Committee, and the American Society of Church History publications.
Series II contains three subseries of letters, receipts, clippings and printed materials from 1894-1896, and one section which was a scrapbook with materials from 1893-1896. The three alphabetically arranged correspondence sections deal with Jackson's writing and publishing, his philanthropic activities, and his business affairs but also include a small amount of family correspondence. The scrapbook contains mainly clippings and flyers reflecting Jackson's personal interests and his organizational memberships. It includes background and financial reports of the Charity Organization Society during 1895; materials on the City Club of New York, election laws of the city, and statements on candidates; the platform of the Democratic Reform Committee of 1894; printed flyers and notices from the Good Government Clubs D and E; resolutions by the Prison Association plus reports and statements; various news clippings on subjects that appear to have interested Jackson, including book reviews, Tammany Hall corruption reports, charity cheating, and poems. Publications represented include "The Evangelist," "The Independent,""Harper's Weekly" and "The Evening Post."
Series III contains seven bound volumes of the annual meetings of the American Society of Church History.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Access Restrictions
This collection is open to researchers.
Use Restrictions
Questions regarding the use of these materials may be submitted to:
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2641
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: university-archives@nyu.edu
Preferred Citation
Published citation should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Samuel Macauley Jackson Papers; MC 1; box number; folder number; New York University Archives
Location of Materials
Provenance
The American Society of Church History papers and most of the private correspondence appear to have been deposited in the NYU Archives, then known as the NYU Historical Collection. Another box was later contributed by Philip Price, Director of the Gould Student Center at University Heights.
Other Finding Aids
A printed copy of the finding aid from 1979 is available at the Archives upon request.
Other Finding Aids
A list of correspondents in the collection is available from the repository.
About this Guide
Processing Information Note
This collection was preliminarily processed by Marcia Bienfield. Processing was completed by NYU Archives Staff in June 1979. The finding aid was updated by Aleksandr Gelfand in 2013.