William Adams Brown Papers, 1865-1938

William Adams Brown was a Presbyterian minister, an ecumenist, and a Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He also served as Secretary of the General War-time Commission of the Churches during WWI.

William Adams Brown was born in 1865 in New York City, the son of John Crosby Brown and Mary Elizabeth Adams. His father was a merchant banker and partner in Brown Brothers and Company.

Brown studied at St. Paul's Preparatory School in New Hampshire, followed by four years at Yale University, with an additional year of graduate study. He continued his schooling at Union Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1890. He then began two years of graduate study in Germany, where he studied with the historian Adolph Harnack. Upon his return to the United States in 1892, Brown was appointed to the faculty of UTS as an instructor of Church History. Five years later, Brown was named Roosevelt Chair of Systematic Theology.

Brown worked in causes outside the Seminary as well. He was deeply involved with two outreach ministries in New York City around the turn of the century. As chairman of the Presbyterian Church's Home Missions Committee, Brown helped organize and run the American Parish on the Upper East Side in upper Manhattan and the Labor Temple in the East Village section. Both were designed to bring the ministry into close contact with poorer, mostly immigrant populations. The latter situation became a source of controversy, as conservative Presbyterians deemed it a breeding ground for radical Socialists.

Brown took part in the founding of Union Settlement in East Harlem, beginning in the 1880s as a way to improve the lives of people in poorer communities. Union Theological Seminary's Alumni Association decided in 1893 to open a settlement, and Brown was named to the site committee. The Settlement, opened in 1895 in the Upper East Side, provided education, health, and other community services, often using Seminary students as volunteers. Brown's role aside from site selection included president of the Union Settlement Association, and he was largely responsible for fundraising. Union Settlement continues to this day to provide services to East Harlem.

In addition to difficulties over the Labor Temple, Brown was engaged in other issues with the conservatives of Presbyterianism. After a speech at Harvard in 1910, his critics charged that he and the Seminary both promulgated heretical beliefs. The situation culminated in 1913 at the Presbyterian General Assembly in Atlanta, where Brown was accused of heresy. He was not allowed to respond, but on the next day the Seminary president, Francis Brown, delivered an address that swayed enough of the Assembly to prevent formal charges.

Brown was married in 1892 to Helen Gilman Noyes. They had four children; John Crosby, (1892), William Adams Jr., (1894), Winthrop Gilman, known as Bob, (190?), and Helen Gilman, changed to Helen Adams (1910). Tragedy struck the family in 1928 when daughter Helen contracted infantile paralysis as she was about to enter Vassar. Her condition deteriorated over six days, and she died.

Brown's involvement in politics was not limited to his friendship with Seth Low. In 1904 Brown joined others like Charles Parkhurst in the fight against the corrupt political machine of Tammany Hall. Brown was also invited to join the Committee of Fourteen, a group that was formed to fight commercialized vice.

When the United States entered World War I, Brown joined the General War Time Commission of the Churches as Secretary. Brown spent the years following the war on a number of different projects. He became a Permanent Fellow of the Yale Corporation, and spent a number of years helping his Alma Mater reorganize. He retired as professor of Systematic Theology in 1930, and became instead a Research Professor in Applied Christianity. He turned his attention to issues like the proper education for ministers, the relation of church and state in the U.S., and the role and practice of Christian colleges in Asia.

Brown retired from Union Theological Seminary in 1936, concluding his tenure by delivering the historical address at the centennial celebration of the school. He died in 1943.