Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/9019s245v
Princeton University Student Christian Association Records, 1855-1967: Finding Aid
AC135

Taken from a pamphlet on deputation work, 1920
65 Olden Street
Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA
Phone: 609-258-6345
Fax: 609-258-3385
mudd@princeton.edu
http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd
Published in 2001
©2006 Princeton University Library
Summary Information
- Creator:
- Student Christian Association (Princeton University).
- Title and dates:
- Princeton University Student Christian Association Records, 1855-1967
- Abstract:
- The Student Christian Association and its predecessors were the dominant religious organizations at Princeton University for almost a hundred and fifty years. The Philadelphian Society, founded by a small group of students in 1825, was the quasi-official campus religious agency by the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1930 the Student-Faculty Association (SFA), organized by the Dean of the Chapel, took over the Society's programs, focusing on community service. In 1946 the Student Christian Association (SCA) replaced both the Society and the SFA, coordinating both religious and community service activities in campus. The Student Volunteers Council succeeded the SCA in 1967.
- Size:
- 21.91 linear feet (15 archival boxes, 1 half-box, and 13 custom boxes)
- Call number:
- AC135
- Location:
- Princeton University Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
Princeton University Archives.
Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA - Language(s) of material:
- English.
- Storage note:
- This collection is stored onsite at the Mudd Manuscript Library.
History of the Princeton University Student Christian Association
The first student religious societies appeared at the College of New Jersey before 1770; later groups included the Nassau Hall Bible Society (1813) and the Nassau Hall Tract Society (1817). On Christmas Eve, 1824, a small group of students founded a secret fraternity called Chi Phi, dedicated to its members' spiritual life and personal holiness. In February 1825, they changed the group's name to the Philadelphian Society. The Society had exclusive membership requirements and very strict codes of behavior; students had to testify to a personal experience of conversion and be unanimously elected. Exclusive and student-directed, it became popular as a student-directed alternative to the college's all-inclusive and compulsory chapel services and Bible classes.
In 1877, three members of the Society helped to found the Intercollegiate YMCA Movement; one, Luther Wishard, became the Movement's first secretary. The Society became known as the “Mother Society” of the Movement, the dominant national student organization through World War I. The Philadelphian Society built the movement's first building, Murray Hall (1879), later joined by Dodge Hall (1900). Philadelphians went on to become prominent in the Student Volunteer Movement (which focused on missions) and the World's Student Christian Federation.
The 1890s saw an increasing role for the Society. College faculty members, less interested in organizing campus religious life, by default turned it over to the Society, making it the college's quasi-official religious agency. The Society organized Bible study and other courses, as well as coordinating student volunteer activities in the community. By 1897 the Society employed a full-time general secretary to run its expanding programs; to help pay the secretary's salary, the college's trustees created a board of directors for the Society, made up of alumni and faculty members. The Society became the university's all-inclusive religious organization, incorporating all elements of campus religious life; in 1914 it included as members all students who belonged to evangelical (broadly defined) churches. The Society ran a campus-wide campaign to raise funds for its work and for other charities. In 1905, at the request of the International YMCA, the Society founded a settlement house in China, called Princeton-in-Peking; this mission became Princeton-in-Asia. In 1906 the Society founded the Princeton Summer Camp for inner-city boys.
World War I marked the peak of the Society's work. In 1919 followers of Frank Buchman, an itinerant evangelist, joined the Society's staff and used Buchman's often-controversial evangelical methods on campus. In 1926 the resulting conflict led President Hibben to appoint a special committee to investigate the Society's work; while the Society was cleared of scandal, it never regained its standing on campus. Its explicitly religious work was largely taken over by the Dean of the Chapel, appointed in 1928. The Student-Faculty Association, created by the Dean in 1930, coordinated student volunteer activity, the campus fund-raising drive, and other campus good works (such as an emergency loan fund for students and faculty-student social events) under the direction of the Assistant Dean of the Chapel. A skeletal Society board raised money for and held title to the camp in Blairstown, New Jersey.
After the dislocations of World War II, the university reorganized its religious life by replacing the Society and the SFA with the Student Christian Association, a more explicitly religious organization that coordinated student community service and religious societies. It also connected students to national and international student religious movements. In 1967 the SCA was replaced by the Student Volunteers Council, which concentrated on community service without an explicitly religious component.
Description
While these three organizations had different names and operated under different charters, they shared a common tradition and filled the same role in campus life. This collection documents their activities on campus and elsewhere, with both official documents (minutes, letters, memoranda) and clippings from the Daily Princetonian. The collection is incomplete, being informally assembled by many people over the years.
Arrangement
The Student Christian Association records are organized into three series, arranged as follows:
- Series 1, Philadelphian Society Records, 1855-1946
- Series 2, Student Faculty Association Records, 1930-1946
- Series 3, Student Christian Association Records, 1946-1961
Within each series, the records are arranged hierarchically, starting with constitutions and minutes, followed by material describing activities, and concluding with clippings.
Access and Use
Access
Collection is open for research use.
Restrictions on Use and Copyright Information
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the University Archivist. Copyright is held by the Trustees of Princeton University.
Acquisition and Appraisal
Provenance and Acquisition
This collection documents the activities of these organizations from 1855 (the earliest records of the Society were lost in the Nassau Hall fire of 1855) through 1967. It includes constitutions and by-laws, board and cabinet minutes, committee reports, membership lists, correspondence, publications, clippings and scrapbooks. Particularly important are documents relating to the Buchmanism controversy of 1926-1927 and the Philadelphian Society's long relationship with the Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Movement. Numerous important Protestant churchmen served as officers or staff of the Society during their Princeton years, including Luther Wishard, Samuel Shoemaker, Henry Pitney Van Dusen, Eugene Carson Blake, John D. Rockefeller III, and John Oliver Nelson.
Related Archival Material
Nassau Hall Bible Society Records, University Archives [AC# 038]
Nassau Hall Tract Society Records, General Manuscripts, University Archives
Dean of the Chapel Records, University Archives, [AC# 144]
Historical Subject Files, University Archives, [AC# 109]
–Student Religious Organizations
–Selden Papers on the Princeton Summer Camp
–Princeton-in-Asia
H. Alexander Smith Papers (regarding Buchmanism) [MC# 120]
Daniel Sack, “Disastrous Disturbances: Buchmanism and Student Religious Life at Princeton University, 1919-1935” (Princeton Dissertation, 1995)
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Daniel Sack in Summer 1995. Finding aid written by Daniel Sack in Summer 1995.
Descriptive Rules Used
Finding aid content adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard.
Encoding
Machine-readable finding aid encoded in EAD 2002 by Techbooks and Cristela García-Spitz on November 03, 2006.
Finding aid written in English.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Princeton University Student Christian Association Records, Box and Folder Number; University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
Subject Headings
These materials have been indexed in the Princeton University Library online catalog using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.
- Buchman, Frank -- Contributions in religion.
- Philadelphian Society (Princeton University)
- Princeton Summer Camp (Blairstown, N.J.)
- Princeton University -- Societies, etc.
- Princeton-in-Peking Program.
- Student-Faculty Association (Princeton University)
- Young Men's Christian Association -- New Jersey -- Princeton.
- Charities -- New Jersey -- Princeton.
- College students -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- Societies and clubs.
- Deans, Cathedral and collegiate -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 20th century.
- Lay ministry -- New Jersey -- Princeton.
- Religious camps.
- Religious education -- New Jersey -- Princeton.
- Student volunteers in social service -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 20th century.
- Clippings.
- Constitutions.
- Correspondence.
- Minutes.
- Scrapbooks.
Browse other finding aids related to the following terms:
Contents List
Series 1: Philadelphian Society
Series Description
Series 1, Philadelphian Society Records, 1855-1946, consists of bound volumes and files containing the Society's charter and by-laws, membership lists, and minutes of Society, board, and cabinet (undergraduate officer) meetings. (The bulk of the collection ends in 1930, while board minutes and correspondence continue until 1946, relating to business matters of the Princeton Summer Camp.) Files contain reports of general secretaries and committee chairs to the board and the cabinet. Committee records include bound volumes and files of membership and financial information, including information on the annual campus fund-raising drive, plus material relating to the Society's religious and social work. Among the Society's publications are several journals, the Student Handbook, and a newspaper. Files regarding Buchmanism contain testimony before President Hibben's committee of 1926, the committee's report, and clippings and correspondence related to the controversy. Several scrapbooks include correspondence, circulars and clippings regarding the Society's work on and off campus.
Constitution and membership (bound volume), 1874-1896
Box 1 Constitution and amendments, membership lists (bound volume), 1865-1873
Box 2, Folder 1 Constitution and by-laws, 1874, 1883, 1884, 1887
Box 2, Folder 2 Charter and by-laws, 1914, 1927-1929
Box 2, Folder 3-4 Minutes–Society (bound volumes), 1855 March-1905 April
Box 2, Folder 5-8 Minutes–Society (bound volume), 1899 March-1905 April
Box 3, Folder 1 Minutes–Board of Directors, 1925-1946
Box 3, Folder 2 Minutes–Cabinet (bound volume), 1898 November-1906 May
Box 3, Folder 3 Minutes–Cabinet, 1927-1930
Box 3, Folder 4-5 General Secretary–Secretary's book (bound volume), 1897-1900
Box 3, Folder 6 General Secretary–Town Work, Library, and Summer Conferences Book (bound volume), 1897-1898
Box 3, Folder 7 General Secretary–Address book, 1897-1898
Box 3, Folder 8 General Secretary–Reports to the board of directors 1911, 1915, 1916, 1920, 1925-1927
Box 3, Folder 9 President–President's book (bound volume), 1900-1906
Box 3, Folder 10 Minutes of the board of directors (bound volume), 1915 September-1925 June
Box 4 Cabinet–Committee reports (bound volume), 1883-1891
Box 5, Folder 1 Cabinet–Statistical record and reports, 1892-1896
Box 5, Folder 2-4 Cabinet–Reports to the Society President, 1927 April
Box 5, Folder 5 Cabinet–Reports, 1927-1929
Box 5, Folder 6-7 Bible Study Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1893
Box 5, Folder 8 Bible Study Committee–General Secretary's book (bound volume), 1897-1901
Box 5, Folder 9 Bible Study Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1891-1901
Box 5, Folder 10 Bible Study Committee–Policy book (bound volume), 1902-1907
Box 6, Folder 1 Deputation Committee–General Secretary's book (bound volume), 1897-1900
Box 6, Folder 2 Deputation Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1897-1903
Box 6, Folder 3 Deputations Committee–Correspondence, 1927-1930
Box 6, Folder 4-6 Finance Committee–General Secretary's book (bound volume), 1897-1901
Box 6, Folder 7 Finance Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1898-1906
Box 6, Folder 8 Finance Committee–Dues record, 1898
Box 6, Folder 9 Finance Committee–Ledger (bound volume), 1908-1915
Box 7, Folder 1-2 Finance Committee–Ledger (bound volume), 1921-1926
Box 7, Folder 2 Finance Committee–Budgets, 1917, 1924-1927
Box 7, Folder 3 Finance Committee–Financial Statements, 1928-1929
Box 7, Folder 4 Finance Committee–Annual drive publicity, 1920-1924
Box 7, Folder 5 Finance Committee–Annual Combined Drive, 1924-1927
Box 7, Folder 6 Finance Committee–Campus Drive, 1927-1930
Box 7, Folder 7 Finance Committee–Financial Reports, 1932-1942
Box 7, Folder 8 Finance Committee–Investments, 1938-1944
Box 7, Folder 9 Library Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1897-1904
Box 7, Folder 10 Library Committee–Catalogue, 1877, 1883, 1886
Box 7, Folder 11 Library Committee–Catalogue (bound volume), 1904
Box 7, Folder 12 Membership Committee–Statistical record (bound volume), 1894-1897
Box 7, Folder 13 Membership Committee–Preparatory schools of members (bound volume), circa 1893-1896
Box 8 Membership Committee–General Secretary's book (bound volume), 1898-1899
Box 9, Folder 1 Membership Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1897-1903
Box 9, Folder 2 Membership Committee–Membership roll (bound volume), 1898-1905
Box 9, Folder 3-10 Missionary Committee–General Secretary's book (bound volume), 1897-1901
Box 10, Folder 1 Missionary Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1897-1903
Box 10, Folder 2 New Student Committee–General Secretary's book (bound volume), 1897-1902
Box 10, Folder 3 New Student Committee–Reports (bound volume), 1903-1904
Box 10, Folder 4 Religious Meetings Committee–General Secretary's book (bound volume), 1897-1899
Box 10, Folder 5 Religious Meetings Committee–Chairman's book (bound volume), 1897-1899
Box 10, Folder 6 Student Volunteer Band–Constitution and minutes, 1900-1904
Box 10, Folder 7 Correspondence–Board of Directors, 1923-1930
Box 10, Folder 8-9 Correspondence–Board of Directors, 1931-1946
Box 11, Folder 1-4 Correspondence–General Secretary, 1900-1918
Box 11, Folder 5 Correspondence–Cabinet, 1927-1930
Box 11, Folder 6-7 Activities–Correspondence, 1928-1929
Box 11, Folder 8 Activities–Lists, 1928-1930
Box 11, Folder 9 Activities–Boy Scouts, 1928-1930
Box 11, Folder 10 Activities–Freshman, 1928-1930
Box 11, Folder 11 Activities–Princeton-in-Peking, 1907, 1918, 1927-1930
Box 11, Folder 12 Activities–Princeton Summer Camp, 1917
Box 11, Folder 13 Activities–Town Club (I) (bound volume), 1900-1901
Box 11, Folder 14 Activities–Town Club (II) (bound volume), 1900-1901
Box 12, Folder 1 YMCA– College Association Buildings by John R. Mott, 1895
Box 12, Folder 2 YMCA–Conference, 1917-1928
Box 12, Folder 3 YMCA–Correspondence, 1927-1930
Box 12, Folder 4 YMCA–Intercollegiate Movement (booklets), 1881, 1885
Box 12, Folder 5 YMCA–Intercollegiate Work in New Jersey (bound volume), 1882-1891
Box 12, Folder 6 YMCA–Local, county, and state, 1906, 1917-1919, 1927-1928
Box 12, Folder 7 YMCA–Middle Atlantic Field Council, 1925-1928
Box 12, Folder 8 YMCA–National Council, 1927-1930
Box 12, Folder 9 YMCA–Notebook, circa 1892
Box 12, Folder 10 YMCA–Preparatory School Conference, 1928-1930
Box 12, Folder 11 YMCA–Student Volunteer Movement, 1927-1928
Box 13, Folder 1 YMCA–Week of Prayer, 1927-1928
Box 13, Folder 2 Publications– The Philadelphian 1 (bound volume), 1887 January-June
Box 13, Folder 3 Publications– The Philadelphian 2 (bound volume), 1887-1888
Box 13, Folder 4 Publications– Philadelphian Bulletin 1, 1891-1892
Box 13, Folder 5 Publications– The Philadelphian 1-3, 1902-1904
Box 13, Folder 6 Publications– Princeton Men in India (bound volume), 1911
Box 13, Folder 7 Publications– Princeton and Service, 1920
Box 13, Folder 8 Publications– One Hundred Years, 1825-1925, 1925
Box 13, Folder 9 Publications–Report to alumni, 1899-1900
Box 14, Folder 1 Publications– The Real Issue 1-4, 1924
Box 14, Folder 2 Publications– Student Handbook, 1900-1901, 1911-1912, 1910-1911
Box 14, Folder 3 Buchmanism Controversy–Committee testimony, 1926
Box 14, Folder 4-5 Buchmanism Controversy–Committee report, 1926
Box 14, Folder 6 Buchmanism Controversy–Correspondence, 1926-1969
Box 14, Folder 7 Buchmanism Controversy–Clippings, 1926-1970
Box 14, Folder 8 Miscellaneous, 1877-1927
Box 14, Folder 9 Scrapbook (Circulars and correspondence), 1897-1901
Box 15 Scrapbook (Circulars and correspondence), 1915-1921
Box 16 Scrapbook (Circulars and correspondence), 1921-1926
Box 17 Scrapbook (Circulars and correspondence), 1926-1930
Box 18 China scrapbook (Clippings), circa 1896
Box 19 Scrapbook (Clippings), 1915-1916
Box 20 Scrapbook (Clippings), 1915, 1919-1924
Box 21 Scrapbook (Clippings), 1924-1927
Box 22 Scrapbook (Clippings), 1927-1930
Box 23 Series 2: Student-Faculty Association Records
Series Description
Series 2, Student-Faculty Association Records, 1930-1946, contains primarily papers from the files of the Assistant Dean of the Chapel, who served as the SFA's director. This series includes the SFA's board minutes and materials relating to the Association's various good works. Most important were its Depression relief activities and its programs to bring faculty and students together socially.
Board of Directors–Minutes, 1930-1934
Box 14, Folder 10 Board of Directors–Committee Reports, 1931-1943
Box 14, Folder 11 Board of Directors–Correspondence, 1930-1943
Box 14, Folder 12 Director–Reports to President of the University, 1935-1943
Box 14, Folder 13 Campus Drive, 1930-1945
Box 14, Folder 14-15 Financial Reports, 1931-1937
Box 14, Folder 16 Activities–Campus–Discussion Groups, 1932-1934
Box 14, Folder 17 Activities–Campus–Freshman Advisory System, 1930-1931
Box 24, Folder 1 Activities–Campus–Hospitality, 1930-1931
Box 24, Folder 2 Activities–Campus–Lunches, 1936-1942
Box 24, Folder 3 Activities–Campus–Student Loan Fund, 1933-1942
Box 24, Folder 4 Activities–Campus–Student Loan Library, 1934-1943
Box 24, Folder 5 Activities–Local–Community Reading Room, 1933-1940
Box 24, Folder 6 Activities–Local–Dorothea's House, 1938-1942
Box 24, Folder 7 Activities–Local–Food distribution, 1939-1942
Box 24, Folder 8 Activities–Local–Jamesburg Reformatory, 1930-1936
Box 24, Folder 9 Activities–Local–Princeton Summer Camp, 1930-1931
Box 24, Folder 10 Activities–Local–Prospect Heights, 1930-1932
Box 24, Folder 11 Activities–National–YMCA, 1930-1931
Box 24, Folder 12 Activities–International–Grenfell Mission, 1931-1940
Box 24, Folder 13 Activities–Miscellaneous, 1930-1946
Box 24, Folder 14 Series 3, Student Christian Association Records
Series Description
Series 3, Student Christian Association Records, 1946-1961, also largely drawn from the files of the Assistant Dean of the Chapel, contains the SCA's charter, and minutes of its board and cabinet. The bulk of the collection relates to the SCA's activities on campus (including the campus drive), in the local community, nationally (including the Student Christian Movement and the YMCA), and internationally (including the World's Student Christian Federation). A small group of files describe the activities of other campus religious societies grouped under the SCA's umbrella.
Reorganization, 1945-1947
Box 24, Folder 15 Charter and By-Laws, 1946-1954
Box 24, Folder 16 Board of Directors–Minutes, 1947-1961
Box 24, Folder 17-18 Board of Directors–Correspondence, 1946-1961
Box 24, Folder 19-20 Cabinet–Minutes, 1946-1949
Box 24, Folder 21 Clippings , 1930-1942
Box 25 Cabinet–Minutes, 1949-1960
Box 26, Folder 1-3 Cabinet–Membership, 1949-1967
Box 26, Folder 4 Cabinet–Reports, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1958
Box 26, Folder 5 Cabinet–Correspondence, 1947-1961
Box 26, Folder 6 Financial Statements, 1947-1949
Box 26, Folder 7 Activities–Campus–Banquets, 1946-1949
Box 26, Folder 8 Activities–Campus–Bicentennial Conferences, 1946-1947
Box 26, Folder 9 Activities–Campus–Biennial Conferences, 1955-1966
Box 26, Folder 10 Activities–Campus–Campus Fund Drive (Potential Benevolences), 1946-1947
Box 26, Folder 11 Activities–Campus–Campus Fund Drive, 1947-1963
Box 26, Folder 12-15 Activities–Campus–Foreign Service Committee, 1956-1957, 1962
Box 26, Folder 16 Activities–Campus–Home Preceptorials, 1947-1949, 1958-1959, 1962-1963
Box 27, Folder 1 Activities–Campus–Loan Fund, 1946-1949
Box 27, Folder 2 Activities–Campus– Perspective (correspondence), 1948-1950
Box 27, Folder 3 Activities–Campus–Speakers, 1946-1964
Box 27, Folder 4-5 Activities–Campus–Student Loan Library, 1946-1948
Box 27, Folder 6 Activities–Campus–University Christian Mission, 1950, 1952
Box 27, Folder 7-8 Activities–Campus–Miscellaneous, 1946-1967
Box 27, Folder 9 Activities–Local–Jamesburg Reformatory, 1947-1967
Box 27, Folder 10 Activities–Local–Princeton Summer Camp, 1948-1949, 1963-1966
Box 27, Folder 11 Activities–Local–Social Service, 1947-1948, 1962-1967
Box 27, Folder 12 Activities–Local–Trenton Tutoring Project, 1963-1967
Box 27, Folder 13 Activities–Local–YMCA, 1947-1950, 1962-1967
Box 27, Folder 14 Activities–National–National Intercollegiate Christian Council, 1942-1949
Box 27, Folder 15 Activities–National–Student Christian Movement, 1946-1958
Box 27, Folder 16-17 Activities–National–YMCA, 1946-1958
Box 28, Folder 1 Activities–International–Grenfell Association, 1946-1947
Box 28, Folder 2 Activities–International–Old Clothes Drive, 1947-1952
Box 28, Folder 3 Activities–International–Princeton-Yenching Foundation, 1946-1949
Box 28, Folder 4 Activities–International–Student Overseas Committee, 1947-1952
Box 28, Folder 5-6 Activities–International–Student Overseas Committee–Book Drive, 1948
Box 28, Folder 7 Activities–International–Student Volunteer Movement, 1946-1948
Box 28, Folder 8 Activities–International–World's Student Christian Federation, 1946-1949
Box 28, Folder 9 Publications– Perspective, 1949-1952
Box 28, Folder 10-11 Religious Groups–Evangelical Fellowship, 1946-1949
Box 28, Folder 12 Religious Groups–Inter-racial Committee, 1946-1948
Box 28, Folder 13 Religious Groups–Lutherans, 1946-1948
Box 28, Folder 14 Religious Groups–St. Paul's Society (Episcopalians), 1947-1948
Box 29, Folder 1 Religious Groups–Sunday Evening Club, 1946-1947
Box 29, Folder 2 Religious Groups–Wesley Foundation (Methodists), 1946-1952
Box 29, Folder 3 Religious Groups–Westminster Foundation (Presbyterians), 1946-1952
Box 29, Folder 4 Religious Groups–Witherspoon/Pre-ministerial group, 1946-1949
Box 29, Folder 5 Religious Groups–Miscellaneous, 1946-1949
Box 29, Folder 6 Scrapbook–Individuals & Events, circa 1950s
Box 29, Folder 7 Additional material received in 2001:
Philadelphia Society Minutes, 1927-1944
Box 30 Student-Faculty Association Minutes, 1930-1943
Box 30 Jeremiah S. Finch, 1947-1955
Box 30
Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/9019s245v