Henry Joel Cadbury papers

Henry Joel Cadbury (1883-1974) was a biblical scholar and Quaker historian. He was born on December 1, 1883, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Joel Cadbury Jr., and Anna Kaighn Lowry. Henry Cadbury was educated in Quaker schools, graduating in 1899 from William Penn Charter School. He attended Haverford College, where he wrote for the college newspaper, the Haverfordian, eventually working his way up to editor-in-chief during his senior year. He was also a part of the Campus Club, a club dedicated to the planting and maintenance of Haverford’s grounds. He became secretary of the Classics Club, treasurer of the Tennis Club, and a member of the gymnastics team. He also earned honors in Greek and philosophy, a prize for systematic reading and mathematics, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and became class president and class poet. Cadbury earned his master's degree from Harvard University in 1904 and his Ph.D., also from Harvard, in 1914. He taught at the University Latin School in Chicago, Westtown School, Haverford College, Harvard University, and Bryn Mawr College.

Cadbury married Lydia Brown on June 17, 1916, and the couple had four children: Elizabeth (b. 1917), Christopher Joel (b. 1921), Warder Henry (b. 1925), and Winifred (b. 1926). Cadbury was a founder and early member of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). During World War I, in addition to his work with the AFSC, Cadbury wrote letters to various press sources. Cadbury became a volunteer publicist for the AFSC, and traveled to France and Germany to provide aid to children in Europe.

He was the director of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), 1928-1934 and 1944-1960. He delivered the Nobel Prize lecture in 1947, on behalf of the AFSC and the British Friends Service Council, when the organizations accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends.

In March of 1954, Cadbury retired from teaching. He moved to Pendle Hill, a Quaker retreat in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and lectured there. The remainder of Cadbury’s life was spent teaching, traveling, and supporting the American Friends Service Committee. He finished writing three books in 1972, including Narrative Papers of George Fox, the work he had started when on sabbatical in Woodbrooke almost 30 years earlier. Henry Cadbury died on October 9, 1974.