Arthur C. McGiffert Sr. papers, 1882 -- 1926

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Series 1: Correspondence, 1913 -- 1926

This series is open for research.

2.5 linear feet; 2.5 linear feet; 5 boxes

This series contains substantial correspondence regarding publications, lectures, addresses, invitations to speak, correspondence with certain institutions and individuals, and other professional and personal correspondence. The bulk of correspondence is from the period of McGiffert's presidency at Union Theological Seminary (1917-1926). Some of the publications included in that grouping of correspondence (Folders 1-7) are: "God of the Early Christians," Martin Luther, the Man and His Work, and The Rise of Modern Religious Ideas. Some of the publishers included in that grouping of correspondence (Folders 8-15) are: The American Journal of Theology, The Christian Work, The Macmillan Company, and Charles Scribner's Sons. The correspondence in Box 5, folder 12 is related to McGiffert's summer property in West Falmouth, Massachusetts, as well as a boat and car used there. The correspondence in Box 5, Folder 13 relates to financial matters both personal, such as payment of income tax and investments, and UTS-related, such as payment for a new chapel window and messages seeking to improve telephone service for the president. The correspondence in Box 6, Folder 1 is connected to the McGiffert family and includes writings from family members such as Rev. Dwight F. Mowery, one of McGiffert's sons-in-law, and James H. McGiffert, a cousin of McGiffert and an attorney at the National City Bank in Cleveland, Ohio.

This series is arranged by type of correspondence.



Box 1 Folder 1-7 Publications, 1915 -- 1926


Box 1 Folder 8-15 Publishers, 1915 -- 1926


Box 1 Folder 16-18 Lectures, 1916 -- 1925


Box 1 Folder 19 Addresses, 1916 -- 1923



Box 2 Folder 1-2 Invitations to speak -- Churches/Religious Groups, 1915 -- 1926


Box 2 Folder 3-4 Invitations to speak -- Educational Institutions, 1915 -- 1926


Box 2 Folder 5 Invitations to speak -- Organizations, 1915 -- 1926


Box 2 Folder 6 Invitations to committee membership, 1915 -- 1926


Box 2 Folder 7-11 Institutions, 1916 -- 1926



Box 3 Folder 1 Institutions, 1916 -- 1926


Box 3 Folder 2 List of Individuals, 1913 -- 1926


Box 3 Folder 3-19 Individuals A-L, 1913 -- 1926



Box 4 Folder 1-12 Individuals M-Z, unidentified, 1913 -- 1926


Box 4 Folder 13 List of correspondents, 1913 -- 1926


Box 4 Folder 14-17 Election to UTS presidency A-Y, 1917 -- 1918


Box 4 Folder 18-19 Inauguration A-W, 1918


Box 4 Folder 20 Honors, 1916 -- 1922



Box 5 Folder 1-8 Organizational memberships A-W, circa 1916 -- 1922


Box 5 Folder 9 List of correspondents, circa 1916 -- 1922


Box 5 Folder 10 Class reunions, 1915 -- 1926


Box 5 Folder 11 Travel, 1920 -- 1926


Box 5 Folder 12 West Falmouth, 1916 -- 1926


Box 5 Folder 13 Financial, 1916 -- 1926


Box 5 Folder 14 McGiffert Family, 1919 -- 1924


Box 5 Folder 15 Memorial and obituary materials, including photographs, circa 1919 -- 1924

Series 2: Writings, 1883 -- 1925

This series is open for research.

0.25 linear feet; 0.25 linear feet; 1 box

This series contains writings and notes of McGiffert including addresses, sermons, and other pieces. Known titles of writings are in quotation marks.

This series is unarranged.



Box 6 Folder 1 Farewell address to graduating class, 1925


Box 6 Folder 2 Memorial address, Western University, circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 3 "Epic of the Themes", circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 4 "Literature and Life," Chi Alpha, 1906


Box 6 Folder 5 "The Pastor and the Professor in Relation to Criticism," Chi Alpha, 1903


Box 6 Folder 6 "Hospital Nurses", circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 7 Longfellow, First Congregational Church, 1883


Box 6 Folder 8 Robert Burns, circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 9 The Religions of Authority and the Religion of the Spirit, Auguste Sabatier, circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 10 "The Temptation of a Young Clergyman", circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 11 What is There in Religion, Henry Sloane Coffin, 1923


Box 6 Folder 12 "Appreciation of President Eliot" for The Christian Register, Boston, circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 13 The Autobiography of Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, circa 1883 -- 1925


Box 6 Folder 14 Notes, circa 1883 -- 1925

Series 3: General, 1882 -- 1921

This series is open for research.

1 linear feet; 1 linear foot; 2 boxes

This series contains a printed volume of McGiffert's Marburg Dissertation (Dialogue between a Christian and a Jew) dedicated to the Rev. Phillip Schaff from 1889, early notebooks, a scrapbook of news clippings of reviews of his work "A History of Christianity of in the Apostolic Age," and a diary.

This series is unarranged.



Box 7 Folder 1 Memorabilia - programs, bibliography, 1918 -- 1921


Box 7 Folder 2 Rome diary, 1882 -- 1887


Box 7 Folder 3 Common-place book, 1883


Box 7 Folder 4 Hebrew word book, circa 1883


Box 7 Folder 5 Dialogue between a Christian and a Jew, 1889



Box 8 Scrapbook of reviews of A History of Christianity of in the Apostolic Age, circa 1882 -- 1921