Dr William's Trust and Library : a history / Alan Argent.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Argent, Alan, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Williams, Daniel, 1643?-1716.

Williams, Daniel.

Dr. Williams's Library--History.

Dr. Williams's Library.

Private libraries--England--London--History.

Private libraries.

Dissenters, Religious--Great Britain--History.

Dissenters, Religious.

Charitable uses, trusts, and foundations--Great Britain--History.

Charitable uses, trusts, and foundations.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xix, 335 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Woodbridge, Suffolk ; Rochester, NY : The Boydell Press, 2022.

Summary:

The library contains the fullest collection of material relating to English Protestant Dissent. Opening in the City of London in 1730, it moved to Bloomsbury in the 1860s. Williams and his first trustees had a vision for Protestant Dissent which included maintaining connections with Protestants overseas. The charities espoused by the trust extended that vision by funding an Irish preacher, founding schools in Wales, sending missionaries to native Americans, and giving support to Harvard College. By the mid-eighteenth century, the trustees had embraced unitarian beliefs and had established several charities and enlarged the unique collection of books, manuscripts and portraits known as Dr Williams's Library. The manuscript and rare book collection offers material from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, with strengths in the early modern period, including the papers of Richard Baxter, Roger Morrice, and Owen Stockton. The eighteenth-century archive includes the correspondence of the scientist and theologian Joseph Priestley. The library also holds several collections of importance for women's history and English literature. The story of the trust and library reveals a rare example of private philanthropy over more than three centuries, and a case study in dissenting enterprise. Alan Argent illuminates key themes in the history of nonconformity; the changing status of non-established religions; the voluntary principle; philanthropy; and a lively concern for society as a whole.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Dr Williams and His Will

2. Benjamin Sheppard, Receiver 1721

31: Faith, Fitness, and Diligence

3. Constructing the Library Building 1725

30: A Proper Plan

4. Francis Barkstead, Receiver 1731

47: Piety and Charity

5. John Cooper, Receiver 1748

62: Liberty and Liberal Dissent

6. Richard Jupp junior, Receiver 1762

95: A Very Respectable Body

7. Richard Webb Jupp, Receiver 1795

1850, and David Davison, Receiver 1850

7: Fashionable Sympathies Amid Increasing Light

8. Walter D. Jeremy, Receiver 1857

93: The Scrupulous Observer

9. Francis H. Jones, Secretary and Librarian 1886

1914: Introducing Order

10. Robert Travers Herford, Secretary and Librarian 1914

25: Application and Imagination

11. Stephen Kay Jones, Librarian 1925-46, and Joseph Worthington, Secretary 1925

44: A New Age with Old Strains

12. Roger Thomas, Secretary 1944-66 and Librarian 1946

66: Trusted Innovator

13. Kenneth Twinn, Secretary and Librarian 1966

76: Modest Dependability

14. John Creasey, Librarian, and James McClelland, Secretary, 1977

98: Mixed Blessings

15. David Wykes, Director 1998

2021: Past, Present, and Future

16. Dr Williams's Trust: An Assessment.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

9781783277025

1783277025

OCLC:

1285919685

Publisher Number:

99990892553