Rufus M. Jones papers

Rufus Matthew Jones (1863-1948) was a Quaker historian, mystic, and philosopher. Born in South China, Maine, to Edwin and Mary Gifford Hoxie Jones, he taught philosophy at Haverford College between 1893 and 1934, and was involved in the Haverford Emergency Unit, American Friends Service, and Fellowship of Reconciliation, and is often attributed as having helped to unite Yearly Meetings in the United States. Jones also promoted the concept of affirmative mysticism. He was a presiding clerk of the Five Years Meeting and served on the Bryn Mawr College Board of Trustees between 1898 and 1936. and was a close collaborator of M. Carey Thomas, John Wilhelm Rowntree, William Bratihwaite, and Henry and L. Violet Hodgkin, among others.

After the United States entered the first World War in 1917, Rufus Jones investigated the concept of alternative service and helped to organize the Emergency Unit at Haverford College and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Beginning in 1935, Jones sought to help Jewish refugees, and after the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) in Germany (November 9-10, 1938), a special refugee division of AFSC was established. Rufus M. Jones, D. Robert Yarnall, and George Walton were chosen to analyze the situation in Germany, where they met with Jewish leader Wilfred Israel and the Gestapo.

Jones was also active outside of Europe. In 1926, Jones visited with Japanese Quakers and spoke Viscount Shibusawa on Nippon-American relations. In China, he met with Wellington Koo, the Chinese Cabinet, and ex-premier W.W. Yen. In India, he met with Mahatma Gandhi. In 1932, Jones again traveled to Asia as part of the Laymen’s Foreign Mission Inquiry. The group published “Rethinking Foreign Missions” as a result of their inspections and analyses and argued that missionaries should be acquainted with the country in which they are proselytizing. In 1938, invited by South African Quakers, Jones traveled to Cape Town to meet with members of Cape Town, Johannesburg and other South African meetings, primarily discussing issues relating to race. Near the end of his life in 1948, Jones also involved himself in Israeli-Palestinian relations.

While teaching at Oakwood Seminary in 1885, Rufus Jones met Sarah Coutant, and the two married in 1888. Sarah C. Jones died of tuberculosis in 1899. Shortly after, Rufus Jones became engaged to Ellen Wood; Wood died in 1900 of typhoid fever. In 1902, Rufus Jones married Elizabeth Bartram Cadbury, who, like Sarah Coutant, was influential in shaping Jones’ thinking.

Rufus Jones had two children: Lowell Coutant Jones (1892-1903), with Sarah Coutant Jones, and Mary Hoxie Jones (1904-2003), with Elizabeth Cadbury Jones. Between 1905 and 1952, Ada Smith (ca. 1879-1957) lived with and worked for the Jones family at 2 College Circle as a nanny and house manager. Smith was born to formerly enslaved parents in Charlottesville, Virginia, and frequently appears in Jones family correspondence. Rufus Jones died on June 16, 1948, in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth “Lillie” Bartram Cadbury Jones (1871-1952) was born on August 15, 1871, in Philadelphia to Joel and Anna Kaighn (Lowry) Cadbury. She attended Bryn Mawr College between 1892 and 1893 and served as a member and chairperson of the Haverford Friends School Committee, a member of the Representative Meeting of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the Yearly Meeting Recording Clerk, and elder and overseer of Haverford Monthly Meeting. Jones also served as treasurer of Friends School Haverford, on the board of the Young Women’s Christian Association, and as chairperson of the YWCA’s International Institute. Jones additionally contributed, often uncredited, to Rufus Jones scholarship through translating German works, correcting proofs, preparing indices, and engaging in travel and correspondence. Jones assisted her daughter Mary Hoxie in the original arrangement of the Rufus Jones papers.

Mary Hoxie Jones (1904-2003) was born on July 27, 1904 at 7 College Lane and spent much of her life at 2 College Circle. She attended the Baldwin School between 1916 and 1922 and was a member of the class of 1926 at Mount Holyoke College, where she focused on Greek and English. She served as executive secretary of the Young Friends Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting between 1927 and 1929 and began working as her father’s secretary in 1930. Between 1939 and 1951, she held a variety of positions at the American Friends Service Committee before dedicating herself to the arrangement of the Rufus Jones papers and on Cadbury and Jones genealogy. In 1962, she was named a Research Associate in Quaker Studies at Haverford College, and in 1985 she was awarded an honorary doctorate. Mary Hoxie Jones authored several histories of Quaker meetings and organizations as well as several books of poetry.

Between 1936 and 1976, Mary Hoxie Jones lived in Bryn Mawr with Frances Canby Ferris (1886-1976), principal of Haverford Friends School from 1919 to 1946.

For more information about Rufus M. Jones, see

Jones, Mary Hoxie. Rufus M. Jones. London: Friends Home Service Committee, 1955.

Vining, Elizabeth Gray. Friend of Life: The Biography of Rufus M. Jones. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1958.

For more information about Elizabeth Cadbury Jones and Mary Hoxie Jones, see

Crosfield. John F. A History of the Cadbury Family. Cambridge: University Press, 1985.