Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting (Society of Friends) – Special Collections & University Archives

Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting (Society of Friends) Records

1935-2012

1 box 1.5 linear feet

Call no.: MS 902 C6668

Part of: New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Records

Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting is one of eight quarterlies currently comprising the New England Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends. In 1935, the Connecticut Valley Association of Friends was formed as “a temporary organization to promote fellowship among… meetings in and adjacent to the Connecticut Valley, but which was otherwise unaffiliated.” At the time of the general unification of Wilburite and Gurneyite meetings in New England in 1944, this Association was accepted into New England Yearly Meeting as a quarterly.

The record of Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting are an important resource for documenting the post-World War II growth of the Society of Friends in western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The bulk of the collection consists of minutes of the Quarterly from its formative year to the present, however the minutes often extend beyond simply the recorded transactions of the meeting. In many cases, the minutes include quite an array of supporting material, correspondence, calendars, state of the society reports from constituent monthlies, ministry and counsel reports, minutes of concern on social issues, planning documents, and budgetary information.

Background on Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting

Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting is one of eight quarterlies currently comprising the New England Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends. In 1935, twenty-seven years of informal efforts to organize Friends in the Connecticut River Valley resulted in formation of the Connecticut Valley Association of Friends, which they intended as “a temporary organization to promote fellowship among… meetings in and adjacent to the Connecticut Valley, but which was otherwise unaffiliated. At the time of the general unification of Wilburite and Gurneyite Friends in New England in 1944, this Association was accepted into New England Yearly Meeting as a quarterly.

Currently, Connecticut Valley Quarterly oversees nine monthly meetings in Connecticut and Massachusetts, all unprogrammed, including Hartford (since 1944), Litchfield Hills (1980, known as Watertown Monthly, 1975-1980), Middletown (1956), New Haven (1944), New London (1967), and Storrs (1963) in Connecticut; and Northampton, Mount Toby (1964, known as Middle Connecticut Valley Quarterly from 1945-1964), and South Berkshire (1984) in Massachusetts; as well as a worship group in Cornwall, Conn. (1993-present). The monthly meeting in Northampton has a complex history, although mostly under care of Connecticut Valley Quarterly: the original Northampton Monthly met from 1937-1945, after which it changed name to Middle Connecticut Valley (1945-1964), and then Mount Toby. A new Northampton Monthly was set off from Mount Toby in 1994.

Historically, Connecticut Valley Quarterly cared for a handful of meetings in western New England that have been laid down or transferred to other quarterlies. Northwest Quarterly Meeting was set off from Connecticut Valley in 1959 and oversees a number of meetings in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Meeting	Current status

Guilford, Conn. (1957-1866)	Laid down, 1966
Monadnock, N.H. (1958-1973)	Northwest Quarterly
New London, Conn., Worship Group (1964-1967)	Monthly meeting
Pleasant Street (1963-1973) and Pleasant Street-Worcester, Mass. (1973-1988)	Rhode Island-Smith Quarterly (1988-present)
Springfield, Mass. (1945-1946)
Upper Connecticut Valley, Vt. (1956-1959)	Northwest Quarterly

Scope of collection

The records of Connecticut Valley Quarterly appear not to have been centrally maintained, but have been assembled from former clerks and the records of constituent meetings. Consequently there are both gaps and points of duplication, as well as some inconsistency in what has been retained.