Frederic Mayer Bird papers, 1846 -- 1910

Frederic Mayer Bird, whose first name is sometimes spelled "Frederick," was born on June 28, 1838 to Mary Elizabeth Mayer (1809-1868) and Robert Montgomery Bird (1806-1854) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bird's maternal grandfather was a Lutheran pastor. Bird's father was a successful dramatist and novelist. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1857) and Union Theological Seminary (A.M., 1860), Bird was ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1860. His first position was as pastor in Rhinebeck, New York. He served as chaplain to the 103rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment from October 1862 to February 1863. His pastorship in in Valatie, New York began in 1866 and ended in 1888. After taking orders as a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1868, he advanced to the priesthood in 1869. From 1870 to 1874, he was rector in Spottswood, New Jersey. It was there that he met Frances Palmer Snowhill (1858-1941), whom he married in 1877. They had one child, a son, survive to adulthood, Robert Montgomery Bird (1882-1942). After spending some years as a rector in Indianapolis, Indiana, Hightstown, New Jersey, Iowa City, Iowa and Waterloo, Iowa, Bird was appointed Chaplain and Professor of Psychology, Christian Evidences, and Rhetoric at Lehigh University in 1881. He held that position until his retirement in 1887. Bird was also a contributor to the secular press, including the New York Independent and The Nation, and the religious press, including The Lutheran and Missionary. From 1893 to 1898, he was editor of Lippincott's Magazine. Bird died on April 2, 1908 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Some of his publications include Charles Wesley Seen in his Finer and Less Familiar Poems (1866) and The Story of Our Christianity (1893). By the order of the Lutheran General Council, Bird co-edited Hymns for the Use of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (1865) with Beale Melanchthon Schmucker (1827-1888). He also co-edited Songs of the Spirit (1871) with William Henry Odenheimer (1817-1879). In addition to his editorial work, Bird contributed multiple entries to John Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology (1892), one of which remarked that "his library of hymnological works is the largest in the United States." That library, which numbered over 3,000 volumes, came to Union Theological Seminary as a gift from Henry Day, a member of the Board of Directors, in 1888. Bird also wrote two novels: A Pessimist in Theory and Practice (1888) and An Alien from the Commonwealth (1889). In 1889, he published A Belated Revenge, a novel based on a manuscript that his father left unfinished before his death.