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  Count Leo Tolstoy: A Tragedy of the Times

  Earl Clement Davis

  A relatively long discussion of Tolstoy's life and, in Davis' view, ultimately unfinished spiritual growth. There is analysis of two books, Anna Karenina and The Resurrection. Davis concludes Tolstoy failed to shed the need for dogma, and that this is a tragedy of our times because we are in change.

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

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  Industrial Cooperation

  Earl Clement Davis

  A lengthy analysis on how to have more productive and humane systems of production, by aligning the three necessary elements of production (capital, management, and labor) in a more "organic" way. Interesting examples include Edme-Jean Leclaire (1801-1872) and N.O. Wilson (1844-1922).

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

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  Permanent Characteristics of Liberal Religion

  Earl Clement Davis

  An incomplete -- but long -- manuscript. Davis arrives at two key generalizations. The first is that social developments grow out of forces already operating in life. The second is a moral generalization -- that free inquiry is a fundamental moral principle for modern life. His route to these generalizations is by considering the lives and efforts of early pioneers, his own ancestors, and Thomas Hooker, who co-founded Hartford, Connecticut in the mid-1600s. Davis tries twice to argue that the world is imbued with moral purpose, but the essay is incomplete on this point.

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

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  Review of "The Introduction of Androcles and the Lion" by George Bernard Shaw

  Earl Clement Davis

  An overall very positive review of George Bernard Shaw's introduction to his play Androcles and the Lion. Davis takes Shaw's bait -- "Why not give Christianity a trial" -- and discusses the playwright's compelling vision for revisioning Christianity for the modern world. Davis states that "the point is that the pathway of history is strewn with the remains of dead Gods. They are dying today. In all the fields of modern activity we make our generalizations in accord with the facts of experience."

  While this manuscript has no date, Davis wrote another piece on George Bernard Shaw in 1913 ("The Court Jester to King Bourgeois"). Additionally, "Androcles and the Lion" was published and first performed in 1912. It is reasonable to date this piece around the same time.

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

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  The Ethical Aspect of Socialism

  Earl Clement Davis

  This is an address supporting socialism, where Davis situates socialism as an obvious next move in the historical trajectory from feudalism to freedom; authority to democracy. Davis sees said historical trajectory as an ongoing movement away from monopolies of truth, state power, and industrial production and distribution.

  Unfortunately, this essay, clearly written for a particular audience (“I assume that you have not come here to be entertained…”) has no definite date in the manuscript, or identification of the event where it was presented. There is ample textual evidence that it was written during the time Earl Davis was the Minister of the Unity Church in Pittsfield (1905-1919).

  During this time Davis published a short pamphlet, “Socialism: A Reply to The Common Assertion that the Socialist Movement is Atheistic, Irreligious, and a Menace to the Family” (1910). “The Ethical Aspect of Socialism” clearly derives from a common concern to explicate and support the Socialist movement in the United States.

  Davis also references “the Pres. of the United States.” This could be Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1906 said, among other things, “The very reason why we object to state ownership, that it puts a stop to individual initiative and to the healthy development of personal responsibility, is the reason why we object to an unsupervised, unchecked monopolistic control in private hands. We urge control and supervision by the nation as an antidote to the movement for state socialism. Those who advocate total lack of regulation, those who advocate lawlessness in the business world, themselves give the strongest impulse to what I believe would be the deadening movement toward unadulterated state socialism.” Davis' essay could be read as a response to this stance by Roosevelt.

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

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  Five Months at Camp Devens

  Earl Clement Davis

  With America’s entry into World War I in April 1917, a massive mobilization of troops was initiated. Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts was one of the training facilities used for this purpose. Religious support for the troops-in-training was provided, and Earl C. Davis spent five months at Camp Devens (November 1917 through March 1918) providing this service as a voluntary chaplain. In this writing he describes his time there, the character of the troops, and the making of an army from individual men.

  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 Pittsfield Eagle

  Earl Clement Davis

  Earl Davis wrote this letter in part to damp down anxieties over the recent Russian Revolution.

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  The Strike of the General Electric Company Employees

  Earl Clement Davis

  A pretty straight discussion of the history and issues that led to the then current strike taking place at several General Electric plants, including Pittsfield, but also Fort Wayne, Indiana, Schenectady, New York, and Lynn, Massachusetts.

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

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  Correspondence from Elmer Forbes to Earl Clement Davis re: Financial Reimbursement forCamp Devens

  Elmer Forbes

  A letter from Elmer Forbes, then Secretary of the Department of Community Service for the American Unitarian Association, containing expense statements for reimbursement regarding Davis' time as voluntary chaplain for Camp Devens (November 1917 through March 1918).

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

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  Correspondence from Samuel Eliot to Earl Clement Davis

  Samuel Eliot

  This correspondence includes several letters from Samuel Eliot, then President of the American Unitarian Association regarding his role as voluntary chaplain for Camp Devens. Unfortunately, the correspondence is only those received by Earl Davis. None of Davis' letters to Eliot have been found.

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

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  The Other End of a Shad Dinner

  Earl Clement Davis

  This is a a first-person account by Davis of a night out in Boston in May of 1916 and a summer vacation in Maine the same year. He compares the ways of life of the city and the country. Annie Davis is part of this story.

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

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  The Court Jester to King Bourgeois

  Earl Clement Davis

  This manuscript was written for the Pittsfield Paper and Pen Club, likely a book club, and discusses the important work of George Bernard Shaw (the 'Court Jester'). It would appear that a fair bit of the material is drawn from Archibald Henderson's 1911 biography of Shaw and Davis' own experience of Shaw's plays. Particular attention to the subject of marriage in his work.

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

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  Robert Burns: The Poet of Common Life

  Earl Clement Davis

  A discussion of the poetry of Robert Burns, emphasizing his attention to nature and a "common man's" experience.

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

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  Address Given at the Presentation of Diplomas to Members of the Graduating Classes of Grammar Schools of Pittsfield

  Earl Clement Davis

  A graduation address for the Grade 9 class of all Pittsfield schools. He focuses on the importance of education in rendering better and more useful citizens.

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

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  Address at the Lincoln Celebration; Held Under the Auspices of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church

  Earl Clement Davis

  In this address, Davis lauds Lincoln for his acts and fundamental integrity, but emphasizes the amount of work that remains with both Race and labor. He writes that integrity, being a truth-seeker, and taking responsibility are necessary.

  This is an incomplete copy of this address; one page is missing. It is also unclear exactly which church this event was held at.
  

  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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  Record [of Experience of a Psychic Phenomenon]

  Earl Clement Davis

  Here is a curious document from the trunk of Earl Davis’ manuscripts. He describes in some detail, and with care about the particulars, an experience that he takes to be of a psychic phenomenon. This took place on the night before Halloween. Three couples, including Earl and Annie Davis, met with two who were reputed to be "impersonating mediums". One of the mediums, Mr. James T. Rhodes, went into a trance and presented himself as a deceased but very close friend of Davis'.

  To our knowledge, Earl Davis never did anything with this document. It is interesting that it was bound closed, whereas most of his materials were bound open, so that the first page was visible.

  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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  Religion in a Democracy

  Earl Clement Davis

  In this manuscript, Davis argues for a evolving church -- and church doctrine -- that is in step with evolving science and evolving social systems of shared government. He traces other kinds of church governance and doctrine to the times of their formation.

  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.