This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
This collection contains the unfinished typescript of John Ferguson Moore's The Attitude of the Christian Church Toward Secret Societies, in which Moore examines Roman Catholic views of secret societies such as the Freemasons, including the Leo Taxil hoax. The typescript includes Parts 1 and 2 of the work as well as the title pages for Parts 3 and 4. This collection also contains reports on the Roman Catholic Church that Moore compiled on behalf of the Y.M.C.A., documenting religious conditions in Europe and North America and focusing on the status of Catholicism, as well as bibliographies, lists of interview subjects, and conference notes used as part of Moore's research on the Catholic Church.
John Ferguson Moore papers, circa 1925 -- 1927
This series contains the unfinished typescript of John Ferguson Moore's The Attitude of the Christian Church Toward Secret Societies, in which Moore examines Roman Catholic views of secret societies such as the Freemasons, including the Leo Taxil hoax. The typescript includes Parts 1 and 2 of the work as well as the title pages for Parts 3 and 4. This series also contains reports on the Roman Catholic Church that Moore compiled on behalf of the Y.M.C.A., documenting religious conditions in Europe and North America and focusing on the status of Catholicism, as well as bibliographies, lists of interview subjects, and conference notes used as part of Moore's research on the Catholic Church.
William Adams Brown Ecumenical Library Archives
This collection is arranged in ones series in original order.
This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.
Item description, WAB: John Ferguson Moore papers, circa 1925-1927, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
MRL 12: YMCA and YWCA Records, 1925-1945, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Kautz Family YMCA Archives, University of Minnesota.
The exact provenance of this collection is unknown.
Columbia University Libraries, Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary
Manuscripts and memoranda were cataloged by Lynn A. Grove on 1988-08-09. Metal clips and staples were removed from materials and folded items were flattened. Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Acidic items were separated from one another by interleaving with acid-free paper as needed. The finding aid was created by Virginia Pastor in 2013 with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2020.
2013-08-22 XML Instance Created by Virginia Pastor.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2020-05-19 EAD spot checked and corrected and description updated by Leah Edelman.
John Ferguson Moore was born in Albany, New York in 1867, and worked as a secretary in local branches of the Y.M.C.A. in New York. In 1897 he became a travelling secretary in the Railroad Department, maintaining communications between Y.M.C.A. headquarters and local branches. By 1919, Moore was the Senior Railroad Secretary for the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A.
Moore wrote several works on the development of the Y.M.C.A., including The Story of the Railroad "Y" (1930) and The "Y" in Rhyme (1940). He is most well-known for his manuscript, Will America Become Catholic? (1931), which examined the political, social, and financial influence of America's Catholic population. This work addressed rising fears that Catholics would assume a powerful position in American government and social institutions; Moore found these fears to be greatly exaggerated, and stated that "the issue today is not whether America is to be made Catholic but whether America … is to be made Christian."
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