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Anna S. Cox Brinton family papers

 Collection
Identifier: HC.MC-1228

Scope and Contents

The papers of the family of Anna S. Cox Brinton, a notable Quaker educator, activist and minister. Her family includes Joel and Hannah E. Shipley Bean, the founders of the Beanite branch of Quakerism, as well as Catharine M. Cox Miles, who was active with the American Friends Service Committee in Germany after World War I. Other family members are also included.

In addition to letters of writers including Joel and Hannah Bean, Catharine and Walter Miles, Anna Cox Brinton and Catharine Bean Cox, there are detailed lists of other letter writers in the collection. As well, there is a substantial collection of photographs, including some taken in Germany in the 1920s.

Dates

  • Creation: 1825-1960

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials are largely in English, with some German documents (largely related to the AFSC). There are a very few (fewer than 5) documents in Japanese.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Archives with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.

Biographical / Historical

Joel Bean (1825-1914) was a Quaker minister associated with the "Beanite" branch of Quakerism. Born in New Hampshire, he moved to West Branch, Iowa as a young man, where he met and married Hannah Elliot Shipley. Joel was appointed clerk of Iowa Yearly Meeting in 1867, and the couple went on a ministry tour of Europe from 1872-1873. When they returned from the trip to Europe the Beans could not approve of the direction the revival movement among Friends in Iowa had taken. The revivalists were bringing into their meetings such things as programmed worship and paid pastors, and were departing from such Quaker ideas as the universality of the Inner light and the need for spiritual discipline and gradual growth rather than instant perfection. Even though the Beans opposed this so-called 'holiness movement,' they would not join a group of Conservative Friends who left the Iowa Yearly Meeting to found a rival, "Conservative," yearly meeting in opposition to that movement. They disliked division and did not want to be part of it. After moving to San Jose, California for the sake of Joel’s health and meeting other Friends there who had been a part of the Iowa Yearly Meeting, they helped to establish the College Park Association of Friends, a loose organization of likeminded Quakers. In 1893 the Iowa Yearly Meeting deposed them as ministers and in 1898 disowned them altogether. The Beans had two daughters, Lydia Shipley Bean (Cox) and Catharine Elliot Bean (Cox), who married brothers Isaac and Charles Cox.

Hannah Elliot Shipley Bean (1830-1909) was the daughter of Thomas Shipley and Lydia Richards. A Philadelphia Quaker, she married Joel Bean and was involved in his activities in Iowa and California.

Anna Shipley Cox Brinton (1887-1969), daughter of Lydia S. Bean Cox and Charles E. Cox and granddaughter of Joel and Hannah E. Shipley Bean, was born in College Park, CA. She attended Westtown School and graduated from Stanford University, Phi Beta Kappa, and Ph.D. in 1917. She was involved in the transformation of the College Park Association of Friends into Pacific Yearly Meeting. In 1918, she became a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting for the Western District. Around 1920, she was appointed to the child feeding program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Upper Silesia (northern Poland). In 1921, she married Howard Haines Brinton, with whom she had four children. In 1928, ASCB was recorded a minister in the Society of Friends. Later, at Mills College, she became professor of Archaeology and Convener of the School of Fine Arts, as well as Dean of the Faculty. From there, she went to Earlham College where both she and Howard Brinton taught. In 1936, the couple was appointed permanent directors of Pendle Hill. In 1948, Anna was appointed the AFSC Commissioner for Asia. Under that title she addressed the Women‘s Problems Group in Philadelphia and authored a Pendle Hill pamphlet. Both Anna and Howard worked toward the reunification of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. After the Friends World Conference of 1952, the Brintons volunteered in Japan, and Anna was in charge of post-war relief at one of the two Friends Centers in Tokyo. Anna served as a member of the AFSC Board of Directors (1938-1952) and then as vice chairman (1958-60; 1962-65). Her head was the model for Sylvia Judson Shaw‘s sculpture of Mary Dyer, the Quaker martyr. ASCB was president of Friends Historical Association in the 1960s.

Catharine Elizabeth Bean Cox (1865-1964) was born in Iowa to Joel and Hannah E. Shipley Bean. She received a BA from Bryn Mawr College in 1889. In 1891, she married Isaac Milton Cox. In 1898, she and her family moved to Hawaii, spurred by Isaac’s poor health. She taught at the Punahou School and helped Anna Rice Cooke research and catalog her art collection, which became the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Catharine Cox also served as director of the Honolulu Academy of Arts from 1927 to 1928. She died December 7, 1964. She had at least one child, Joel Bean Cox.

Charles Ellwood Cox (1854-1930) was a Haverford alumnus (class of 1880), professor at Stanford University, a widely known Quaker, and a representative of the Provident Mutual Life Company. He was born in Indiana, the eldest of 8 children, including brothers Isaac, Benjamin, Alvin and E. Morris. He married Lydia Shipley Bean Cox in 1884--they had two children, Catharine Morris Cox (Miles) and Anna Shipley Cox (Brinton). After LSBC's death, he married Sarah T. Walton. He served in various positions of public responsibility in the San Jose area. He served as a professor of mathematics at Stanford and elsewhere.

Lydia Shipley Bean Cox (1860-1922) was the daughter of Joel Bean and Hannah Shipley Bean. Born in Iowa, she moved with her parents to San Jose, California, where she met and married Charles Ellwood Cox. They had three children, of whom two, Anna Shipley Cox (Brinton) and Catharine Morris Cox (Miles), survived to adulthood.

Catharine Morris Cox Miles (1890-1984) was an American psychologist known for her work on intelligence and genius. Born in San Jose, CA, to Lydia Shipley Bean and Charles Ellwood Cox, she earned a PhD from Stanford University. After World War I, she was involved with the efforts by Quakers and the nascent American Friends Service Committee to feed the starving German populace. In 1927 she married psychologist Walter R. Miles. She was a professor of clinical psychology at the Yale Medical School and affiliated with Yale's Institute of Human Relations. She and Walter R. Miles had one child, Anna Miles Jones.

Elizabeth R. Kirk Miles (-1925) was the first wife of Walter R. Miles. She and WRM had three children.

Walter Richard Miles (1885-1978) was an American psychologist. He developed his own apparatus for his studies on drunkenness and learning, among other subjects. He married Elizabeth R. Kirk in 1908 and had three children. After her death in 1925, he married Catharine Morris Cox, with whom he had one additional child.

Sources: Wikipedia, American Psychologist, Ancestry.com, Pennock.ws, Quaker.org, Ms.Coll.1189 finding aid, materials in the collection. Some of this writing is quoted from Wikipedia and the finding aid for collection 1189.

Extent

9 linear ft. (36 boxes)

Additional Description

Abstract

The papers of the family of Anna S. Cox Brinton, a notable Quaker educator, activist and minister. Her family includes Joel and Hannah E. Shipley Bean, the founders of the Beanite branch of Quakerism, as well as Catharine M. Cox Miles, who was active with the American Friends Service Committee in Germany after World War I. Other family members are also included.

Custodial History

Gift of Anna M. Jones, daughter of Catharine Morris Cox Miles, 2008.

Related Materials

Howard and Anna Brinton Papers, coll. no. 1228

General

Numbers of items in a folder are estimated and rounded.

General

Certain abbreviations are used in this finding aid in place of names which occur often. They are:

JB: Joel Bean

HESB: Hannah Ellicott Bean

LSBC: Lydia Shipley Bean Cox

CEC: Charles E. Cox

CEBC: Catharine E. Bean Cox

ASCB: Anna Shipley Cox Brinton

CMCM: Catharine Morris Cox Miles

WRM: Walter R. Miles

Related Names

Subjects

Deaccessions

  • "Bureau of Missing Persons" movie poster; The Results of the Emmanuel Movement, Elwood Worcester, D.D., Ph.D., n.d.; Quaker Pictures flier; Card describing the Friends Select Schools; Temperance Society of Friends of Philadelphia—announcement of founding and invitation to join, 1881; Wittenberg, Bez Halle photo postcard; Im Schwarxatel Thur Wald photo postcard; Children pointing at zeppelin drawn postcard; Children being fed drawn postcard; Solingen photo postcard; Kinderhaus, Zandroort, Holland (Yorkshire QM Hostel) ; 1920 AFSC Christmas card, “Before the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the whole world” [Latin, translated]; New Years’ card to AFSC staff, celebrating the beginning of their second year of work in Germany, n.d. [German, translated]; Managing director in the Lord of the Local Committee for Foreign Aid (Quaker feeding) [German, translated title]; Basis for the requirement of sample forms [German, translated title]; Order forms for the local committee _____ [German, translated title]; Guidelines for selection and acquisition of small children from 2-6 years (from the age of 2 years until they enter the school) to participate in a daily feeding, single page document, January 1921 [German, translated title]; Guidelines for the collection and selection of juvenile (ages 14-17) to participate in a daily feeding, single page document, January 1921, [German, translated title]; Organization of the American children’s aid mission in Germany, single page document, 1921 [German, translated title]; Fact sheet for providing food, January 1921 [German, translated title]; Map of Berlin, “showing organization of feeding.” n.d. ; Pictures of Psychologists sales flier; A Message from Paradise poem postcard; ‘Refined Gold’ poem; ‘Lines Suggested by a Dream’ poem by Samuel R. Shipley, 1888; ‘Christmas Hymn,’ words by Samuel R. Shipley, 1898; “Invitation to the German women for weeks on the Rhine in Cologne” 1925 [German, translated title]; "Gelukkig Nieuw Jaer" [Happy New Year] postcard [Dutch, translated title]; Printed Christmas card of Joel and Hannah Bean.
  • Samuel R. Shipley obituary, 1908/4/23; Richard M.S. Cresman obituary, 1974/4/5; [P]lan to educate gifted children, ____/12/18; The Perfect Young Man, n.d.; Boston Herald p. 27/28, 1931/4/10; Income Tax Returns Due By March 16th, n.d.; Lauds University Women's Society, n.d.; Governor Turns First Spadeful, Pacific Grove Commercial Advertiser (Honolulu, HI) 1910/1/11, p. 2; Production of 'Roman School' given at C.P., n.d.; Emmanuel Study Class of Trinity Organized, 1908/10/21; Mr. Matthew Arnold, n.d.; Last Public Address of the Rev Joel Bean, 1914/3/2; Mrs. Chas. E. Cox’ Death is Mourned (3 copies, n.d.); Service Held for Mrs. Chas. E. Cox (3 copies, 1922/4/16); Charles E. Cox, Former S.J. Man, Passes in East, n.d.; Just for Fun (poem) n.d.; Joke regarding physics professor, n.d.; Series of columns by H.G. Wells on the Washington Naval Conference, 1922/11/15-1922/12/10 (17 total columns); Children are Being Fed by the Quakers in Berlin, 1920/12/5; Clippings regarding the wedding of ASCB and Howard Haines Brinton--total of 10, various CA newspapers. July 14-18, 1921; 200 Guests at Episcopal Wedding, Los Angeles Examiner, 7/17[1921]; Swarthmore College in Ruins: 270 persons driven from their bed by fire-late September(?) 1881; Swarthmore College to be Rebuilt, n.d.; Dr. Hodgkin Says Japan Must Prove Her Friendship for China; Feelings against Japan are bitter; Tahoe is Menaced by Water Project; The Passing of Rincon Hill; Cheaters’ Names to be Withheld, Swain Announces; Newspapers Investigate Wilbur Rumor; The Prowler (column); We Think the Quakers Are Not in the War; Earlham Honors W.N. Trueblood; Praises Quaker Relief Efforts, 1919/10/20; The Promise of Science; Girl Scouts Raise Funds for National Building; Common Sense: How Men Are Taught; The Marching Gods; A Wish for You; Six Appointed to Stanford’s Teaching Body/Gandhi Bored with London Conference; New Professors for Wesleyan; Opportunity (poem); When Dreams Depart (poem); Reception at White House Attended by 4,000 Persons, 1925; The Thread-and-Needle Tree (poem); Honor Wesleyan Professor, 1918; The Spirit of the House (poem); The Backwards Road (poem); The Help of the Quaker Jan 1921 [German, translated title]; Large sheet of newsprint—one article circled: Life and Writings of John Woolman 9 Dec 1920. [German, translated headline]; Political cartoon, captioned The Bolterbund has stones for Germany—the Quakers have bread. n.d. [German: translated caption]; Girl Scouts Aid in Study of Food Needs of Children August 7, 1921.; 3 newspapers, unmarked. No immediately noticeable Quaker connections in the headlines. Frankfurt Zeitung, February 1 1921. Berliner Lokal-Anzeiner, April 23 1920. Berner Tagblatt, August 22, 1946 ; About 4 million: the total number of votes n.d. [German, translated headline]; A School Program n.d. [German, translated title]; Grasshoppers' Plague 1927/2/25; The University of Louvain 1928/3/28; Assigns German Relief to Quakers: Hoover Asks Society to Take Charge Boston Herald, 1919/11/26
  • The Upper and Nether Springs, Joel Bean, 1910. (2 copies); A Solitary Way, n.d. (2 copies); In Bereavement, A.C. Staples, 1902.; Coverings for the Head and Feet, n.d.; The Old Testament on War, George Gillett, 1895.; A Paper of Puns, Brander Matthews, n.d.; A Prophet of Disarmament, Edward Berwick, 1921. (4 copies); Pedigrees of the Sutton and Underhill families, n.d.; Chautauqua Assembly program, 1903.; Central Union Church (Honolulu, HI), 1906.; Third National Conference on City Planning, 1911.; The Society of Friends, Howard H. Brinton, n.d.; Penn College Bulletin, 1908. ; Kobuch Il nach der Praxis aufgestellt, Olga Andrussov, n.d.; Yea, Let Him Take All, n.d.; American Association of University Women 50th Anniversary Dinner, 1931.; Oh! We'll Grow Old Together, n.d.; The Fellowship Crusade, n.d.; Resolution Regarding Perpetual Use of the Million Dollar Fellowship Fund, n.d.; Postcard book of New Haven, CT, n.d.; An Autograph Letter from Mr. Alexander Agassiz, torn from printed material, n.d.; The Journey, n.d.; Railroadman's Building and Saving Association, n.d.; Ninfa che si toglie una spira; La Madonna col bambino ei Sir Giovannino (postcards), n.d.; Over the River, Mrs. J. Hamilton Thomas, n.d.; Cordial Greetings from Joel Bean, n.d. (2 copies); Why I am a Friend, Joel Bean, 1894.; Articles of Incorporation, College Park Association of Friends, n.d.; The Last Canto of the Paradiso of Dante Alighieri, trans. Melville B. Anderson, 1916 (2 copies); Memory’s Greeting, by Mrs. Mary Emory, 1899; Plane Geometry, Charles E. Cox, 1894 (4 copies); Directory of NY Monthly Meeting Members, 1885; Directory of Whitewater MM (Richmond, IN) members, 1905; Boston MM Treasurer’s Report, 1918; A Friendly Effort to meet a Friendly Need; Journal of the Friends Historical Society marketing leaflet; To the Members of Our Religious Society; Eight Letters from G. Stanley Hall to H.P. Bowditch with Introduction and Notes, by WRM and CMCM; AAA Map of PA and NJ, 1932?; Faculty and Students of Wesleyan University, 1913-1914; Joint Debate on the Covenant of Paris (Henry Cabot Lodge v. A. Lawrence Lowell), 1919; Offprint of Character and Personality Journal, March 1936; Daily Food for Christians (Hard-bound book), American Tract Society, 1917; Report on the “purpose and aims of the German mission of the American Friends Service Committee, and describes its work up to January 1st 1921.” 4-page report, with attached chart.; Report on the “purpose and aims of the German mission of the American Friends Service Committee, and describes its work up to September 1st 1920.” 4-page report, with attached maps and chart.; “Teaching and auxiliary books for students of natural science” pamphlet, n.d. [German, translated title]; Memorandum of the Association of German High School Teachers of Geography, 15 pages plus maps. [German, translated title]; Has Tuberculosis Increased Further in Germany? German Medical Journal, 1921. [German: translated title]; The infant mortality in Berlin during the war and after, 1920. 17-page report. [German, translated title]; Walter R. Miles autobiographical sketch, published in A History of Psychology in Autobiography, 1967
  • Haverford College commencement program, 1881; Loganian Society 50th anniversary invitation; Dorian Cricket Club opening night invitation, 1879; Loganian Society speaker invitation, 1881/4/14; Invitation to the formal re-opening of the Haverford Gym, 1881/4/30; "The Tie That Binds" leaflet by the Class of 1907 making fun of the Class of 1908.

Administrative Information

Title
Anna S. Cox Brinton family papers, 1825-1960
Status
Completed
Author
Jon Sweitzer-Lamme and others
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

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