Manuscripts & Correspondence

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  Mennonites: Notes of a Talk Given at Wilmington, Delaware

  Earl Clement Davis

  The notes for this talk are quite sketchy, with no obvious “through-line” indicating what Davis spoke of. It is worth noting that Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where Earl Davis was then serving, was home to a large population of Mennonites.

  One nice surprise: In addition to the notes for this talk, the envelope contained a playbill for the comedy “Tillie.” at the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster. It is nice to think of Earl and Annie Davis attending this performance shortly before or after this talk. Included in the supplementary files is a scan of the playbill.

  Date refers to Date Given.
  
  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.
  
  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  The Lost Stream of Frankness and Freedom

  Earl Clement Davis

  “The Lost Stream of Frankness and Freedom” is a manuscript for a text that Earl C. Davis submitted to The Atlantic Monthly for publication. His letter to the Atlantic is below. We do not believe that the article was accepted for publication, or ever published.

  Davis argues that the history of thought, governance and religion in the West is a history of moving away from Galilee and Rome, authoritarianism, and the infallibility of Christ and the Bible. He discusses what he sees as two clues. The first are the implications of the letter of greetings sent to the poet Goethe by fifteen English men of letters for his eighty-second birthday. The second comes from Professor J.A Cramb's book Germany and the Next War.

  He references how long he has been thinking about these subjects by starting out:
  
  "Is there any spiritual significance in the restlessness and confusion of our times? Is there any definite tendency or undercurrent whose nature we may grasp and the direction of whose movement we may discover? If there is any tendency or meaning, what is it? Such was the question that I was laboring with in the years 1913 and 1914."

  Included in the supplementary files is the letter Davis wrote to the Editor of the Atlantic Monthly on June 6, 1923, which was sent along with this manuscript.

  The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.
  
  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Notes on Book, "The Glass of Fashion"

  Earl Clement Davis

  Notes comprised mostly of quotes from "The Glass of Fashion" by Gentleman with a Duster (the author was Harold Edward Begbie).

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing. Transcription by Davis Baird.

  Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Notes on "The Renaissance of Prayer", article by Samuel McComb

  Earl Clement Davis

  Notes taken from Samuel McComb's article "The Renaissance of Prayer" in the November 1922 edition of Contemporary Review. Contains mostly quotes transcribed from the book, discussing the role of prayer in a modern/scientific world.

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.
  
  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  The Great Relay Race, Notes on an Address to Students at the YMCA F+M Academy

  Earl Clement Davis

  Notes for a talk Davis gave to students entering (it appears) the Lancaster YMCA F+M Academy. He discusses the Way of Life, as conceptualized by Jesus, is something we have yet to realize. This is one of the things being handed off in the relay race to this new generation --"You carry precious freight".

  Date refers to Date Given.
  
  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.
  
  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Article and Correspondence from James H. Maurer, President, Pennsylvania Federation of Labor

  James Maurer

  Among the materials left in the trunk was an envelope titled, “Maurer, James H., Penn State Federation of Labor, Article on the Open Shop.” The envelope contained a printed copy of this article – from a speech that Maurer gave before the Miners’ Special Convention in DuBois, Pennsylvania on February 22, 1921. In addition, the envelope contained three letters from Maurer to Earl Davis confirming a meeting for the two of them on March 9, 1921. Unfortunately, the envelope did not contain Earl Davis’ side of this correspondence, nor anything about the meeting on March 9th.

  James Maurer was President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.

  The primary document here is a scan of the printed version of the speech. Then, the supplementary files contain the correspondence from James Maurer to Earl Davis, and a scan of the outside of the envelope.

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  Notes on Book, "The Mirrors of Downing Street"

  Earl Clement Davis

  An envelope with the title “Notes on Mirrors of Downing Street” included a review of "The Mirrors of Downing Street" by "Gentleman with a Duster" (the author was Harold Edward Begbie) and a companion book, The Mirrors of Washington, that was published in the Christian Weekly Review. The notes themselves are quotations that Earl Davis transcribed from "The Mirrors of Downing Street".

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription.
  
  The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing. Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Notes on da Vinci's The Last Supper

  Earl Clement Davis

  A transcription by Davis from Lafayette Charles Loomis's entry on da Vinci's Last Supper in the book The Index Guide to Travel and Art-Study in Europe. This was likely part of Davis's research before dedicating a reproduction of the painting in the Lancaster church.

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Notes on Silhouettes of My Contemporaries by Lyman Abbott

  Earl Clement Davis

  Notes taken from Lyman Abbott's book Silhouettes of My Contemporaries. Contains mostly quotes transcribed from the book.

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.
  
  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Letter Exchange between C.E Haupt and E.C Davis

  Earl Clement Davis and C.E Haupt

  Dr. C. E. Haupt, Priest of the Lancaster Lutheran Church, wrote Earl Davis with concerns about the religious views that Davis espoused (Man is not fallen; The death of Jesus is not a vicarious atonement. etc.). Davis' response is a reasoned reply to the "older" more "transcendental" approaches to religion, and why he thinks a creedless, less transcendental approach fits the modern age.

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.
  
  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Letter to the Editor of the Lancaster Public Ledger

  Earl Clement Davis

  A letter to the Lancaster Public Ledger expressing concern about the recent coverage of Armistice Day where, evidently, the Russian revolution was described in hostile terms. Davis seeks a more balanced representation, one that supports the workers.

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.
  
  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Notes on the Book The Behavior of Crowds by Everett Dean Martin

  Earl Clement Davis

  This appears to be a book review draft on Everett Dean Martin's The Behavior of Crowds, which brings a Freudian analysis to crowd behavior and propaganda. An interesting thing to note; Davis mentions having to "talk down" a mob of 2,000 striking miners bent on violence.

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.

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  Remarks at the Unveiling of the Frieze of the Prophets

  Earl Clement Davis

  Brief remarks by Davis for the reproduction unveiling of John Singer Sargent's Frieze of the Prophets at the Church in Lancaster.

  The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

  Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.