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North Easton Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends)

North Easton Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1980-1994
3 boxes 1.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 N437

Responding to a concern expressed in the New England Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in 1971, Quakers in eastern Massachusetts set out to create an intentional Quakerly community for the care of elder Friends. The first meeting for worship took place in 1977, with the first residents moving in to Friends Crossing in 1979, leading to recognition of North Easton as a monthly meeting under Rhode Island-Smithfield Quarter in 1980. In the following years, however, the reduction in numbers of older members and decline in attenders, led to the decision in 1994 to lay down the meeting.

The records of North Easton Monthly Meeting document the short career of a meeting built around a planned Quaker intentional community. The relatively complete set of minutes is accompanied by a mixed, but useful body of financial records documenting the meeting’s dissolution.

Background on North Easton Monthly Meeting of Friends

Responding to a concern expressed in the New England Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in 1971, Quakers in eastern Massachusetts set out to create an intentional Quakerly community for the care of elder Friends. In 1976, an 86 acre site in North Easton, Mass., was purchased, with a small cottage that became the first site for an independent worship group the following year.

Ground breaking for the planned community, Friends Crossing, took place in November 1978, with the first residents moving in a year later. Renting space for their meeting in town, in expectation that a meetinghouse would eventually be built, the community grew sufficiently that Rhode Island-Smithfield Quarter authorized them as a new monthly meeting in August 1980. By the early 1990s, however, the aging out of members sapped the meeting, and in the face of a sharp decline in attenders, the decision was made in 1994 to lay down North Easton Monthly.

Scope of collection

The records of North Easton Monthly Meeting document the short career of a meeting built around a planned Quaker intentional community. The relatively complete set of minutes is accompanied by a mixed, but useful body of financial records documenting the meeting’s dissolution.

Inventory

Minutes
1980-1994
11:D3
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1980 Sept.-1981 June
Box 1: 1
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1981 Sept.-1982 July
Box 1: 2
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1982 Sept.-1983 June
Box 1: 3
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1983 Sept.-1984 June
Box 1: 4
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1984 Sept.-1985 June
Box 1: 5
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1985 Sept.-1986 June
Box 1: 6
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1986 Sept.-1987 June
Box 1: 7
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1987 Sept.-1988 July
Box 1: 8
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1988 Sept.-1989 June
Box 1: 9
North Easton Monthly: Minutes
1990-1993
Box 1: 10
North Easton Monthly: Meeting agendas
1988-1992
Box 1: 11
Correspondence and reports
1980-1994
11:D3
North Easton Monthly: Archives correspondence
1993-1994
Box 1: 15
North Easton Monthly: Clerk’s correspondence
1989-1994
Box 1: 18
North Easton Monthly: Committee to lay down the meeting
1990-1994
Box 1: 19
North Easton Monthly: Nominating Committee
1986-1992
Box 1: 12
North Easton Monthly: Outreach
ca.1999
Box 1: 16
North Easton Monthly: State of Society reports and statistics
1980-1992
Box 1: 13
Worship and ministry
1989-1991
11:D3
North Easton Monthly: Ministry and Counsel minutes
1989-1991
Box 1: 14
Vital records
1980-1993
11:D3
North Easton Monthly: Member lists
1991-1993
Box 2: 12
North Easton Monthly: Members and removals
1980-1993
Box 2: 11
North Easton Monthly: Memorials: minutes and services
1990-1993
Box 2: 13
North Easton Monthly: Record book (members, meeting history)
1980-1993
Box 2: 10
North Easton Monthly: Removals, final transfers
1989-1994
Box 2: 9
Finance and property
1980-1994
11:D3
North Easton Monthly: Account book (checking)
1980 Sept.-1988
Bound vol.
Box 2: 1
North Easton Monthly: Account book
1981 June-1982 May
Bound vol.
Box 2: 2
North Easton Monthly: Account book
1986 June-1990 Mar.
Bound vol.
Box 2: 3
North Easton Monthly: Account book
1990 Apr.-1994 Jan.
Bound vol.
Box 2: 4
North Easton Monthly: Bank statements, closing accounts
1988-1994
Box 2: 6
North Easton Monthly: Finance Committee
1988-1992
Box 2: 5
North Easton Monthly: Finance: Correspondence
1990-1994
Box 2: 8
North Easton Monthly: Finance: Project Help
1990-1994
Box 2: 7
Newsletters and publications
1980-1991
11:D3
North Easton Monthly: Newsletters
1980-1986
Box 3: 1
North Easton Monthly: Newsletters
1987-1991
Box 3: 2
Miscellaneous
1980-1993
11:D3
North Easton Monthly: Guest book
1980-1993
Box 1: 20
North Easton Monthly: Photographs
1988
Box 1: 17

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Records, March 2016.

Related Material

This collection is part of the New England Yearly Meeting Records.

Processing Information

Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, November 2018.

Language:

English

Copyright and Use (More information )

Cite as: North Easton Monthly Meeting of Friends Records (MS 902 N437). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Search terms

Subjects

  • North Easton (Mass.)–Religious life and customs
  • Quakers–Massachusetts
  • Society of Friends–Massachusetts

Names

  • New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Genre terms

  • Minutes (Administrative records)
  • Newsletters
  • Vital records (Document genre)

Link to similar SCUA collections

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

North Easton (Mass.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--MassachusettsSociety of Friends--Massachusetts

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)