The shadow and impact of Charles Augustus Briggs still hangs over Union Theological Seminary and the collections at the Burke Library. Charles, as well as his family members Emilie Grace, Julia and Alanson Tuthill, all have collections at the Burke, and many other faculty and staff collections contain records showing how the Briggs’ heresy trial affected their lives and work.
But did you know that there is another family, with a wide variety of collections at the Burke Library, which have also left just as much of a mark on the history of UTS?
The family would be that of William Adams Brown.
When I was hired at the Burke Library almost four years ago, part of my project was to process the William Adams Brown Ecumenical Library Archives. Apart from that being a really long name, I only knew WAB as an individual through his small collection of papers in MRL3. That collection in MRL however was more about Brown’s activities rather than Brown The Man. Now, as part of my second grant to process the UTS Papers, I’ve been given a different perspective.
I recently processed WAB’s papers in the Union record group and thought, “Wow, he was a pretty cool guy.” I wrote his biographical note in the finding aid and realized that much more how accomplished he was; although organizing these materials over seventy years after his death, there is only so much you can “know.”
That was until I reached his family scrapbooks. This collection of 15 boxes contains six very large scrapbooks, assembled by the Brown Family, that contain an amazing amount of detail, ephemera, sketches, poems, and just life.
I was convinced that I finally appreciating how great WAB was. Little did I know what I would understand about his family with the next collection I processed.
That would be the papers of William Adams.
Other than being the maternal grandfather of William Adams Brown, and his namesake, I knew Adams was a theologian, minister, UTS professor and president. Adams’ collection is comprised of 29 boxes of material, 24 of which are sermons. The most informative things (on the surface anyway) were Adams’ collection of memorial books.
These seven volumes contain in amazing detail who William Adams was, and why we need to remember who he was in the present. His most important impact was to that at UTS. He was professor of Sacred Rhetoric, instructor of Church Polity, on the board of directors, and he served as UTS President from 1873-1880. Union had not had a president named by the directors for 31 years when Adams was appointed to the post.
He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the organization during his presidency, raised Union’s status in church life, and had a profound impact on the other students and faculty during his short time in the presidency. After Adams’ death in 1880, Roswell D. Hitchcock was named to the presidency; he said of Adams,
“The whole institution was toned up. Professors and Students, equally and all, felt the magnetism of his courtly and stimulating presence. On all public occasions, he was our ornament and pride.”
Remembrances from other UTS faculty who were impacted by Adams included Thomas Hastings, Charles Cuthbert Hall, Charles Briggs, Francis Brown and Charles Gillett.
While I was processing the William Adams Papers, I had assigned two smaller collections for interns to work on: John Rogers Coe and Jonas Coe. Again, we knew almost nothing about these men. Turns out that not only were they related to William Adams Brown, but he was the one to donate their collections to the library.
The Burke Library also has the papers of William Adams Brown’s father, John Crosby Brown. John Crosby’s father, James, was also interested in Union, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to establish professorships. John Crosby joined the Board of Directors at Union in 1866, becoming Vice President in 1883 and President in 1897. During his tenure Brown was involved in the great controversies affecting Union, including the heresy cases against Charles Briggs and Arthur C. McGiffert. He was also instrumental in many of the great advances made by Union over the forty years that he served. He donated a good deal of money to the Seminary, and he successfully encouraged others to give as well. The Board, under Brown’s leadership and with the help of faculty president C. C. Hall, convinced board vice-president D. Willis James to make the major donation in what would become the Morningside campus of UTS. John Crosby’s legacy is still in effect at Union: the tower built in 1928 that dominates the skyline over the Seminary was named the Brown Tower in his honor.
William Adams Brown and his family impacted Union Theological Seminary through their positions as professors, presidents and board of directors. However they also continue to impact the Burke – I have a feeling that there are more collections at the Burke Library thanks to the donation of William Adams Brown. I look forward to even more of these discoveries!
