Letter of William Huddleston
Scope and Contents
The letter consists of four loose-leaf, lined, bifolium pages written on in pen by the author, William Huddleston, about his efforts to run a newly-opened church out of his hometown, Lotus, Indiana, in the spring of 1872.
Dates
- Creation: 1872
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Biographical Note
William Huddleston was a 19th Century Indiana atheist turned spiritualist who attained some amount of notoriety for circulating anti-religion rhetoric throughout the midwest and in his hometown of Lotus, Indiana. An article in The American Spiritualist from February, 1872, reports on Huddleston's effort to disrupt a religious convention taking place in Cincinatti by passing out copies of his 16-line poem, "Religion is a humbug", which opens with the lines, "Religion is a humbug,/The Bible is a hoax,/The Preacher's in the pulpit/Bamboozling the folks". This collected letter of William Huddleston documents an effort he made to the stymy the conversion efforts of a church that had opened up in his hometown of Lotus, Indiana.
Extent
.01 linear ft. (1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The letter of William Huddleston, a spiritualist, sees Huddleston reporting on his Spring 1872 efforts to run a newly-opened church out of his hometown, Lotus, Indiana. In the letter, Huddleston reports: "We have a Church in the hearing of my home, which just closed 15 days [of?] distracted meeting. I have been in attendance all of the latter party thereof; and have labored with my magnetism, Psycology [sic], and 'will' to counteract their efforts, and they have died a shameful death without a single convert..."
Arrangement
Collection was arranged by the creator.
Acquisition
Acquisition unknown.
Processing Information
Processed by Phillip Norman; completed April, 2019.
- Title
- Letter of William Huddleston, 1872
- Author
- Phillip Norman
- Date
- April, 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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