The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Collecting area: Religion

Lawrence-Andover Friends Meeting

Lawrence-Andover Friends Meeting Records

1886-1987
21 vols., 2 boxes 3.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 L397

The Lawrence Monthly Meeting of Friends evolved from Boston Monthly in the late 1880s and 1890s, achieving status as a monthly meeting in 1899. Although they became inactive in 1985, they were revived in 1994, and joined with a preparative meeting in Andover to form the present Lawrence-Andover Monthly Meeting.

The records of Lawrence-Andover Monthly Meeting include a relatively complete set of minutes, extending back to the earliest days as a preparative meeting to about the time of its becoming inactive in the mid-1980s. The collection also includes minutes and accounts for its Elizabeth Fry Missionary Circle, its Leprosy Mission, Missionary Society, and Sabbath School, along with records of births, deaths, and marriages in the meeting, 1892-1975.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Lawrence (Mass.)--Religious life and customsMissionaries--MassachusettsQuakers--MassachusettsSociety of Friends--Massachusetts

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)Vital records (Document genre)
Laymen’s Academy for Oecumenical Studies (LAOS)

Laymen's Academy for Oecumenical Studies Records

1956-1976
22 boxes 11.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 020

An oecumenical ministry based in Amherst, Massachusetts, that sought to inspire local citizens to act upon their religious faith in their daily lives and occupations, and to reinvigorate religious dialogue between denominations.

Includes by-laws, minutes, membership records, news clippings, press releases, treasurer’s reports, letters to and from David S. King, correspondence between religious leaders and local administrators, and printed materials documenting programs and organizations in which the Laymen’s Academy for Oecumenical Studies (L.A.O.S.) participated or initiated, especially Faith and Life Meetings. Also contains questionnaires, announcements, bulletins, and photographs.

Subjects

Christian union--Massachusetts--HistoryInterdenominational cooperation--Massachusetts--History

Contributors

King, David S., 1927-Laymen's Academy for Oecumenical Studies (Amherst, Mass.)

Types of material

Photographs
Lewiston Monthly Meeting of Friends

Lewiston Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1980-1993
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 L495

The Society of Friends has had a long, but discontinuous history in Lewiston, Maine. After periods of activity from 1785-1851 and 1867-1911, Quaker worship in Lewiston was revived in 1972, leading to reinstatement of a monthly meeting in 1980. Oxford Hills Monthly Meeting was set off from Lewiston in 1993.

The records of the Quaker meeting in Lewiston, Maine, cover its third and most recent iteration, including minutes from 1980 to 1993 ad a handful of state of society reports. The collection also include limited documentation of the Oxford Hills Worship Group prior to its setting off as a monthly meeting in 1993.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Lewiston (Me.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--MaineSociety of Friends--Maine

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)
Litchfield Hills Monthly Meeting of Friends

Litchfield Hills Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1979-1991
1 folder 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 L583

The Quaker Litchfield Hills Monthly Meeting began as a worship group in Watertown, Conn., that met under the care of Hartford Monthly Meeting from 1969 to 1974. Set off as a monthly meeting in 1975, the name was changed to Litchfield Hills in 1980. The meeting has been part of Connecticut Valley Quarter since its establishment.

The scant documentation of the Litchfield Hills Monthly Meeting consist solely of an incomplete run of meeting minutes from 1979-1984 and a state of the society report from 1980.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Litchfield (Conn.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--ConnecticutSociety of Friends--Connecticut

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)
Lyons Family

Lyons Family Correspondence

1859-1895
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 133

Includes letters addressed mostly to Mary Lyons or her brother Frederick D. Lyons about friends and family in Greenfield and Colrain, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. Topics discussed are sickness, death, accidents, an instance of probable wife abuse, recipes, Greenfield scandals, clothing, quilting, Methodist/Universalist bickering, and Aunt Mary’s investments.

Subjects

Abused wives--United States--History--19th centuryClothing and dress--United States--History--19th centuryColrain (Mass.)--BiographyColrain (Mass.)--Social life and customs--19th centuryCookery--United States--History--19th centuryGreenfield (Mass.)--BiographyGreenfield (Mass.)--Social life and customs--19th centuryLyons familyMethodist Church--Relations--Universalist ChurchMethodist Church--United States--History--19th centuryQuilting--United States--History--19th centuryScandals--Massachusetts--Greenfield--History--19th centuryUniversalist churches--Relations--Methodist ChurchUniversalist churches--United States--History--19th centuryWife abuse--United States--History--19th centuryWomen--Massachusetts--Colrain--Correspondence

Contributors

Lyons, J. LLyons, Mary

Types of material

Letters (Correspondence)
Maple Grove Monthly Meeting of Friends

Maple Grove Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1890-1955
1 vol. 0.2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 M375

After meeting as a worship group for thirty years in Fort Fairfield in the northern reaches of Maine, Maple Grove Monthly Meeting of Friends was set off Unity Monthly Meeting in 1890. It was a part of Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting until it was laid down in 1962 to Vassalboro Monthly.

The single volume of surviving records from Maple Grove contain a nearly complete run of minutes for the duration of the monthly meeting, lacking only the last seven years.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Fort Fairfield (Me.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--MaineSociety of Friends--Maine

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)
Marion Monthly Meeting of Friends

Marion Monthly Meeting of Friends Records

1973-1990
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 M3756

Quakers have a tangled history in Marion, Mass., a coastal town located on the northwestern edge of Buzzards Bay. As early as 1702, Friends established a preparative meeting in the village of Sippican (currently part of Marion), however this fed particular meetings in the neighboring towns of Rochester or Mattapoisett, rather than Marion itself. An independent worship ground was established in East Marion in 1946, followed in 1970 by a separate independent meeting in Marion under the care of Sandwich Quarter. This latter became the core of Marion Monthly Meeting, which was formally set off in 1973. The meeting was laid down in 1992.

Somewhat intermingled, this collection documents the complete, though comparatively brief history of the Quaker monthly meeting in Marion, Mass. It includes a thorough set of minutes for all but the final two years of the meeting, plus a small quantity of correspondence and financial information.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

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

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)Newsletters
Martha’s Vineyard Friends Meeting

Martha's Vineyard Friends Meeting Records

1984-2007
1 vol., 1 box 0.35 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 M378

A Quaker worship group was held on Martha’s Vineyard from 1946 to 1953 under the care of Providence Monthly Meeting and was revived as an independent worship group in 1978. The group was accorded status as a monthly meeting under Sandwich Quarter in 1984.

The collection contains a nearly complete set of minutes for the Martha’s Vineyard Friends Meeting from its inception in 1984 to 2007.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Martha's Vineyard (Mass.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--MassachusettsSociety of Friends--Massachusetts

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)
Massachusetts Indian Association. Stockbridge Auxilliary

Massachusetts Indian Association Stockbridge Auxiliary Records

1886-1909
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 151 bd

The Stockbridge Auxilliary of the Massachusetts Indian Association was formed by prominent local women in western Berkshire County who sought to aid in educational and missionary work for and among Indians, and to “abolish all oppression of Indians within our national limits.”

Records include minutes that document the group’s committees, meetings, dues, and contributions to Indians on reservations nation-wide, accounts, membership lists, and a letter.

Subjects

Indians of North America--Arizona--Social conditionsIndians of North America--Government relations--HistoryIndians of North America--Missions--HistoryIndians of North America--Social conditionsIndians, Treatment of--United States--HistoryLake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the IndianLake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indian and Other Dependent PeoplesStockbridge Indians--Social conditions

Contributors

Carter, Henry JMassachusetts Indian Association. Stockbridge Auxiliary
Midcoast Friends Meeting

Midcoast Friends Meeting Records

1964-2009
2 boxes 0.75 linear feet
Call no.: MS 902 M533

Founded in coastal Camden, Maine, the Midcoast Friends Meeting began as an independent worship group in 1962 and was set off as Camden Monthly Meeting in 1964. After the meeting moved to Damariscotta, it changed name in 1972 to Midcoast Friends Meeting.

The records of Midcoast Monthly Meeting (formerly Camden Monthly) are comprised of a nearly unbroken run of minutes from 1964 to 2009, lacking only 2002.

Gift of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, April 2017

Subjects

Camden (Me.)--Religious life and customsDamariscotta (Me.)--Religious life and customsQuakers--MaineSociety of Friends--Maine

Contributors

New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

Types of material

Minutes (Administrative records)