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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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  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.