The correspondents include a many bishops, rectors, and canons of the Episcopal Church both in America and in England, as well as several persons connected to the Oxford Movement in England. Other correspondents include American politicians (Governor, Senator, Assistant Secretary of State, and Secretary of State), English and American academics and scholars, university presidents, authors, industrialists, and socialites.

A couple of the early letters were written to Douglas’ father, but the vast majority was written to the Rev. George William Douglas. As might be expected, the correspondence focuses on theological matters, as well as social comments such as congratulations on sermons given, or books written, books sent to them, etc.

       Rev. George William Douglas (1850-1926)

The Rev. George William Douglas was born in New York City on 8 July 1850, the son of banker William Bradley Douglas of New York City and his wife Charlotte Cornelia Dickinson Ferris.  His father was cashier of the Bank of Ithaca, New York. Afterwards William moved to New York City and with others founded the Mercantile Bank, becoming its first president.

George William Douglas attended St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, graduating in 1868. He attended Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut, graduating with a B.A. (valedictorian) in 1871 and received his M.A. from Trinity in 1874. He then attended and graduated from the General Theological Seminary in New York later the same year. He was ordained a Deacon in June of 1874 by the Right Reverend Horatio Potter, who also ordained him a priest in December of 1876. Douglas was also a student at the Universities of Oxford and Bonn between 1874 and 1876. He received a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from Hobart College in 1885 and a Doctor of Divinity degree both from Trinity College in 1895.

Douglas became a leading American preacher and religious leader. With his studies abroad, he had connections throughout the world with religious leaders of the time. During his career he held various positions including: tutor at General Theological Seminary, NY, 1877-78; Assistant at Calvary Church in NY, 1878; assistant at Trinity Church, Wall Street, NY, 1879-86, where he resigned due to poor health. He went to Europe for two years, returning to become rector at. John’s, Washington, DC, 1888-92; dean and trustee at the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, Washington, DC, 1891-92; select rector at St. John’s Church, Washington, D.C.; 1889-1898; rector at Trinity Church, New Haven, CT, 1892-1898; select preacher at Grace Church, NYC, 1898-1904; and canon at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, NYC, 1904-1913. In addition, Douglas was instructor at the Training School for Deaconesses, NY, 1889-1904; examining chaplain, Diocese of NY, 1904-12; select preacher at Beloved Disciple, NYC, 1916-21; lecturer at Christian Institutions and Episcopal Church Polity, Union Theological Seminary, NY, 1915-18; and acting rector at St. John’s, Washington, DC, 1920.

By 1910, Douglas was a leading member of the Diocese of New York’s Social Service Commission, the director of the New York published “The Churchman,” and chair of the executive committee of the Christian Unity Foundation. In later years, he was a lecturer at the Union Theological Seminary in New York and, from 1920 until his death in 1926, served as honorary canon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Along with his ministerial duties, Douglas was also an author of several books and essays including: The Trinity Church Catechism of the Chief Things which a Christian Ought to Know (NY: E. & J. B. Young &  Co., 1880); Christ’s Challenge to Man’s Spirit in this World Crisis (NY: Anson D. Randolph & Co., 1893); The Transfiguration of Self Sacrifice (Hartford: Press of Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1886); and Essays in Appreciation (London: Longmans Green, 1912).

During his period as rector of St. John’s Church, Dr. Douglas was active in the effort to organize a National Cathedral Foundation for the purpose of building a cathedral in Washington, D.C. He solicited funds for the cathedral foundation and obtained a pledge from Mrs. Phoebe Hearst to pay for the entire cost of the first building on the cathedral’s land: the National Cathedral School for Girls.

Also, during his time at St. John’s in Washington, D.C., on 5 Feb 1890, Douglas officiated at the joint funerals of Mrs. Delinda Tracy and Ms. Mary Tracy, the wife and daughter of Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy. The two women died in a tragic fire and the Tracy family were members of St. John’s Church, hence Douglas being asked to officiate the funeral ceremonies which took place in the East Room of the White House, the first funeral service to be held in the White House since the death of President Abraham Lincoln. In attendance were President Benjamin Harrison, his cabinet, the senior military leadership, and the Washington diplomatic corps.

The Rev. Douglas married at Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island, on 2 Sept 1884 Cornelia De Koven Dickey, daughter of Judge Hugh T. Dickey (1811-1892) and Frances Russell De Koven (1829-1900). It is possible that his wife’s family (the DeKoven’s) were related to James DeKoven (1831-1879), who was a priest, educator, and a leader of the Oxford Movement in the Episcopal Church. James DeKoven writes one letter to Douglas in this collection. The letter’s tone is very friendly towards Douglas.

The Rev. George William Douglas died on 20 Oct 1926, at his residence in Tuxedo Park, NY. His funeral was held at St. Mary’s Church, Tuxedo Park, NY, on 23 Oct 1926. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.

Outline of Correspondence in the Collection

Douglas’s correspondents include leading churchmen in America and England. On the American side of the Atlantic, Douglas receives 130 letters (250 pp.). His correspondents are a range of individuals from various walks of life, with many from the Episcopal Church. There are 26 different Bishops, rectors and canons of Episcopal churches, as well as one of the Apostles of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Douglas also receives letters from politicians (a Governor, a U.S. Senator, and a Secretary of State), judges, and lawyers, as well as college presidents, scholars, authors, and industrialists. A list of the 73 different American correspondents is as follows:

Christopher Columbus Augur (1821-1898), Brigadier General, veteran of the Mexican War, Indian Wars, and Civil Wars; William Morris Barker (1854-1901), Bishop of Washington state; Rev. Dr. Walton Wesley Battershall (1840-1920), Rector of St. Peter’s Church, Albany, NY; Thomas Francis Bayard (1828-1898), United States Senator and Secretary of State under President Cleveland; William Bisham (1838- ), friend of Mark Twain and Edwin Booth; Rev. Lester Bradner, Jr. (1867-1929), Author, Rector St. John’s Episcopal Church, Providence, RI; Rt. Rev. Chauncey Bunce Brewster (1848-1941), Fifth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut; William Montgomery Brown (1855-1937), Radical American Bishop, Marxist and Communist; John Lee Carroll (1830-1911), 37^th Governor of Maryland; Thomas March Clark (1812-1903), American Episcopal Bishop; Rev. Dr. Henry Augustus Coit (1830-1895), First Rector of St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH; John Howard Coit (1831-1906), Second Rector of St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, brother of Rev. Dr. Henry Augustus Coit; C. George Currie, D.D., Rector of Christ Church, Baltimore, MD, previously Rector of Grace Church, Providence, RI; John Davis (1851-1902), U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Judge of the United States Court of Claims; John Chandler Bancroft Davis (1822-1907), American lawyer, diplomat, president of Newburgh and New York Railway Company; William Heathcote DeLancey (1797-1865), Sixth Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, Bishop of Western New York; James DeKoven (1831-1879), Priest, educator, and a leader of the Oxford Movement in the Episcopal Church; Richard H. Derby, New York ophthalmologist, Oculist. Morgan Dix (1827-1908), American Episcopal Church priest, theologian, author; William Croswell Doane (1832-1913), Bishop and founding member of Burlington College, New Jersey; Elijah Winchester Donald (1848-1904), Rector of Trinity Church, Boston; Roswell Pettibone Flower (1835-1899), 30^th Governor of NY from 1892-1894; Rt. Rev. James E. Freeman (1866-1943), Third Bishop of Washington, Founder of the Cathedral College, Washington; Rt. Rev. Thomas Frank Gailor (1856-1935), Third Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee; Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908), educator and academician, First President of Johns Hopkins University; Charles Chapman Grafting (1830-1912), 2^nd Bishop of Fond du Lac, WI; Anson Rogers Graves (c1842-1931), Bishop of West Nebraska; David Hummell Greer (1844-1919), American Protestant Episcopal Bishop; William Mercer Grosvenor (1863-1916), Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York; Arthur Twinning Hadley (1856-1930), President of Yale University; Rev. Benjamin I. Haight, St. Paul’s Chapel, New York, NY; Arthur C. A. Hall (1847-1929), Bishop of Vermont; Rev. Daniel Henshaw (1822-1908), Bishop of Rhode Island; F. A. Henry, early 20^th Century American composer of hymns, graduate of the University of Michigan; George Hendric Houghton (1820-1897), American Protestant Episcopal clergyman, Rector of the Church of Transfiguration in New York; Frederick John Foakes Jackson (1855-1941), Church historian; Augustus D. Julliard (1836-1919), businessman whose philanthropy built the renowned conservatory of dance, music and theatre in NYC, the Julliard School; John A. Kasson (1822-1910), U.S. Congressman from Iowa’s 5^th District; Frederick J. Kingsbury (1863-1927), industrialist; William Lawrence (1850-1941), 7^th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts; Douglas Merritt, Trustee of St. Stephen’s (now Bard) College; George Macculloch Miller (1832-1917), Lawyer and Secretary of Cathedral of St. John the Divine, along with J.P. Morgan, served as director of the New York, New Haven, Hartford Railroad; William Joseph Mills (1849-1915), jurist, served three terms as Chief Justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court, as well as the 19^th (and final) governor of New Mexico Territory; Theodore Thornton Munger (1830-1910), American Congregational clergyman and author; Francis Phillip Nash (1836-1911), Professor of Latin and Modern Languages, Hobart College, Geneva, NY; William Woodruff Niles (1832-1914), Third Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of NH; Thomas Jones Packard (1854-1912), Episcopal priest and rector of Christ Church, Mt. Laurel, VA; Benjamin Henry Paddock (1828-1891), Bishop of Massachusetts; Edward Melville Parker (1855-1925), Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States; William Stevens Perry (1832-1898), Second Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa; John Phillips (1810-1867), Calvinistic Methodist minister and first principal of the Normal College, Bangor, ME; Henry Codman Potter (1835-1908), 7^th Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of New York; Wilford Lash Robbins (1859-1927), Dean of All Saints Cathedral, Albany, NY, and Dean of the Theological Seminary New York; Rev. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon (1823-1904), President of Trinity College, Hartford, CT; Henry Yates Satterlee (1843-1908), First Episcopal Bishop of Washington, established the Washington National Cathedral; Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830-1908), 19^th Century American socialite; Charles Michael Schwab (1862-1939), American entrepreneur;

Storrs Ozias Seymour (1836-1918), Rector at St. Michaels Church, Litchfield, CT; Rev. Charles Morton Sills (1850-1924), Canon of St. Luke’s Cathedral, Rector of Trinity Church, Geneva, NY; Rev. George Williamson Smith (1836-1925), Navy Chaplain, Asst. Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, New York, NY; John Henry Smith (1848-1911), Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; John Franklin Spalding (1828-1902), Missionary Bishop of Colorado, with jurisdiction in the Territories of Wyoming and New Mexico; Bishop Strong, Christ Church Rectory, New York; Rev. Albert Rhett Stuart (1846-1902), Episcopal Minister in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.; Ethelbert Talbot (1848-1928), Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; Henry Russell Talbot, Canon Washington Cathedral, formerly Dean of All Saints Cathedral, Albany, NY and St. Stephen’s Church, Boston; Philip Reese Uhler (1835-1913), American librarian and entomologist who specialized in Heteroptera; Lemuel Henry Wells (1841-1936), First Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, WA: Ozi William Whitaker (1830-1911), American Bishop; Cortlandt Whitehead (1842-1921), Second Bishop of Pittsburgh; Charles David Williams (1860-1923), Bishop of Michigan Diocese of the Episcopal Church, advocate of the “social gospel” views of Walter Rauschenbusch; John Williams (1817-1899), Eleventh Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States; George Worthington (1840-1908), Second Bishop of Nebraska;

      Many of the correspondents only wrote one letter. However, there are several men that wrote more often such as John Chandler Bancroft Davis (6) who married the granddaughter of Rufus King, one of the last signatories of the Constitution. He was the brother of U.S. Congressman Horace Davis and the son of Massachusetts Governor John Davis. He became harge d’ affaires at the American Embassy in London, later appointed by President Grant as Assistant U.S. Secretary of State and finished his career on the Court of Claims.

     Another multiple letter writer is Bishop Henry Codman Potter, who wrote eight letters to Douglas. He was the Episcopal Bishop of the United States, the seventh Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. He was also the son of another Bishop, that being Bishop Alonzo Potter.

The Reverend Dr. Henry Augustus Coit, First Rector of St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, wrote five letters to Douglas. Douglas attended and graduated from St. Paul’s School. Coit’s brother Joseph Howland Coit, the 2^nd rector of the school, also wrote three letters to Douglas.

Morgan Dix, an American Episcopal Church priest, theologian, and religious author wrote 8 letters to Douglas. Dix was connected to Trinity Church in New York, a church that Douglas was once affiliated with. Dix was against the entrance of women into universities, because as he said, “it was not proper for young women to be exposed to the gaze of young men, many of whom were less bent upon learning than upon amusement.”

David Hummell Greer, an American Protestant Episcopal Bishop wrote five letters to Douglas. He became Bishop of the New York Diocese upon the death of Bishop Potter in 1908. Rev. George William Smith, a Navy Chaplin from 1864 to 1876, then assistant rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in Washington, D.C., writes six letters to Douglas.

There are 27 letters (60 pp.) from English correspondents written between 1842 and 1909 from churchmen, theologians, and scholars. Most of these letters date from the 1870s to 1900s, with the earlier letters appearing to have been written to Douglas’ father. Amongst the British correspondents who wrote multiple letters are Henry Parry Lindon, an Anglican priest and theologian. Lindon, who wrote three letters to Douglas, was connected to the Oxford Movement leader Edward Bouverie Pusey, who also writes one letter to Douglas. Lindon was Pusey’s biographer and friend. The list of English correspondents includes:

Sir William Fletcher Barrett (1844-1925), English physicist and parapsychologist; John William Burgon (1813-1888), English Anglican divine, Dean of Chichester Cathedral, and author; Thomas Kelly Cheyne (1841-1915), English divine and Biblical critic; Lord Alwyne Compton (1825-1906), Anglican Bishop; Frederic William Farrar (1831-1903), Cleric of the Church of England, Dean of Canterbury, schoolteacher and author; Charles Gore (1853-1932), Anglican bishop, liberal theologian, and ecumenical leader; William Henry Havergal (1793-1870), Rector, Canon, hymn writer; Joseph Singer Henderson (1786-1866), Bishop of Meath; Hebert Hensley Henson (1863-1947), Anglican priest, a controversialist and Bishop of Durham; Edward King (1829-1910), Anglican Bishop of Lincoln; The Right Reverend The Honorable Augustus Legge (1831-1913), Bishop of Litchfield; William John Knox Little (1839-1918), English preacher, Canon of Worcester, and Sub-Dean; Louis George Mylne (1843-1941), Bishop of Bombay from 1876-1897; Edwin Palmer (1824-1895), English churchman and academic, Corpus Professor of Latin at Oxford, and archdeacon of Oxford; Benjamin Parsons Symons (1785-1878), Warden of Wadham College; Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882), England Anglican theologian, scholar, and a leader of the Oxford Movement; Charles Williams (c1804-1877), Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, from 1857-1877; Henry Parry Liddon (1829-1890), Anglican priest, theologian, close friend and biographer of the Oxford Movement leader Edward Bouverie Pusey.

There are also 29 Miscellaneous Letters (46 pp.), dated 1831 to 1925, with the majority being in the 1890s to 1920s.