Stony Run Friends (and predecessors) Records
Scope and Contents
The records of Stony Run Friends (active 1944 - present) plus some of its Hicksite predecessor monthly meetings in Baltimore: Baltimore Monthly Meeting (Park Avenue) and Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Western District (Lombard Street).
Most of the records date from the existence of the predecessor meeting, Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Western District, which was established in 1807. The collection includes a comprehensive run of business minutes (men's, women's, and joint), and a near-comprehensive run of Ministry & Counsel records (from 1828 - present).
There are substantial property and financial records, primarily related to the 20th century operations of the Trustees, various building committees related to the meeting houses, and records of the Taylor Home. Several dozen current and laid down committees are represented. Series 7 includes material across the active years of the meeting, including some records of notable members, like the peace activist Norman Morrison, burial ground files, and historical ephemera. A full run of the newsletter is present.
Dates
- Creation: 1658 - 2020
Creator
- Baltimore Monthly Meeting of Friends (Stony Run) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Access may be provided via digital or microfilm copy, per repository policy. Digital files are accessible to TriCollege accounts or on-campus users.
Biographical / Historical
In 1807, Baltimore Monthly Meeting was divided into two meetings. The successor of the original Baltimore Monthly Meeting (formed in 1792) became the Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Eastern District and continued to meet at Aisquith. The new monthly meeting was called Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Western District, and met at Lombard Street. Tensions arose between the two over use of the burial ground. These disagreements resulted in the laying down of Eastern District by Baltimore Yearly Meeting in 1819; the former became a preparative meeting under the Western District.
In 1864, Hicksite Western District officially changed its name to Baltimore Monthly Meeting. In 1889, the meeting moved to the Park Avenue Meeting House. They changed their corporate name to Baltimore Monthly Meeting, Stony Run in 1944 when they began to meet at the Friends School on North Charles Street. Stony Run Friends Meeting remains an active meeting.
The Orthodox branch took the name Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Eastern and Western Districts (Orthodox), and was informally known as Courtland after the location of its meeting house. Courtland was sold in 1867, and the Orthodox meeting moved to Eutaw Street. In 1922, this meeting moved again to the Homewood Meeting House on North Charles St and took the name Baltimore Monthly Meeting, Homewood. Homewood records are described separately.
Extent
40.5 linear ft. (46 boxes, plus volumes)
0.1 GB
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The records of Stony Run Friends, and some of its predecessors: Baltimore Monthly Meeting, Stony Run (Hicksite), Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Western District, with coverage from the 1650s through 2020s (bulk 1807- ). Includes business minutes and vital records, plus substantial coverage of the committee business of the meetings, financial records (from 19th century on), and other related files.
Arrangement
Divided into series: 1 Men's and Joint Minutes; 2.Women's Minutes; 3.Vital Records; 4.Ministers & Elders; 5.Financial, Property, & Trustees; 6.Committees; 7.Miscellaneous Records; 8.Publications.
Physical Location
This collection is stored at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Deposit, Stony Run Friends (ongoing). Digital records from the 2010s deposited by Wayne Finegar, General Secretary of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, in 2020. Some files donated by Harry Scott and by Cushing Niles Dolbeare.
General
The records of Baltimore Monthly Meeting before 1807, and those of Baltimore Monthly Meeting for the Eastern District have been described in another finding aid: http://trilogy.brynmawr.edu/speccoll/bym/baledmm.xml
The two Baltimore Yearly Meetings were consolidated after 1968. We have used "U" (United) to describe the affiliation of monthly meeting records created after consolidation, even though some meetings did not affiliate with both the FGC (Friends General Conference) and the FUM (Friends United Meeting) at that time.
- Title
- Baltimore Monthly Meeting (Stony Run) Records
- Date
- 2005
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Find It at the Library
Most of the materials in this catalog are not digitized and can only be accessed in person. Please see our website for more information about visiting or requesting repoductions from Quaker Meeting Records at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Library
