Joseph H. Crooker Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-036

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers of Joseph H. Crooker document Crooker's career as a writer, minister, and theological scholar. The collection includes professional correspondence, limited personal correspondence, printed matter including talk and sermon programs, writings by Crooker including manuscripts and editorials, and writings about Crooker including book reviews and editorials.

The collection consists of biographical material (which was received from a scholar as part of accession 2002/143) and a small amount of personal letters. The correspondence reveals his contact with book, newspaper, and magazine publishers, other churches and church associations, universities and colleges, and temperance organizations. In addition to the correspondence, the collection contains programs from Crooker's talks and sermons, delivered in churches, meeting halls, at university commencements, and to various associations around the country.

The writings series is divided into two subseries, one of writings by Crooker and the other comprised of writings about him. Crooker's interests, theological scholarship, church organization issues, and anti-alcohol temperance work, are apparent in both. His articles range from dealing with theological questions to shorter cultural critique. The result is a mixture of sermon-like, philosophical texts and shorter editorials. Two large folders contain many miscellaneous clippings of shorter book reviews, editorials, and speaking announcements. Titles of manuscripts include Law and Liberty, The New Jesuitism, and Life and Liberty. A separate folder contains color broadsides from the Central China Temperance Association (Chinese/English text, larger broadsides have been relocated).

The collection is divided into four series. Series I. Biographical, 1926, 2002 Series II. Correspondence, 1873-1912, 1914-15, 1917-27, 1929-31, Series III. Talks and Sermons, 1890-1929, undated, Series IV. Writings, 1877-1930, undated.

Dates

Creation: 1873-2002
Creation: Majority of material found in 1873-1931
Other: Date acquired: 04/17/1969

Creator

Crooker, Joseph H. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Joseph H. Crooker was an ordained Unitarian minister, an active theologian and scholar, a writer, lecturer and author. He was the founder of several Unitarian churches and an activist in many national church-related associations such as the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, the American Unitarian Association, and the Unitarian Temperance Association. The Unitarians rejected Calvinist doctrines and strived to save souls by what they saw as the simple truth of the Universal Fatherhood of God and the natural brotherhood of man on earth.

Crooker was born in Foxcroft, Maine, on December 8, 1850, to Orin B. (1816-1885) and Eliza A. Crooker (1820-1880). He was a descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims through John Howland (1592-1673). From 1916-17 he and his second wife Florence Ellen Kollock (1848-1925) stayed in Oberlin, where Crooker worked on manuscripts and Kollock attended lectures. The collection also reveals an amicable relationship with Ida C. Finney of Oberlin. Crooker was married to Mary Francis Burt (1848-1893) in 1872, with whom he had one son: Orin Edson (1874-1949), and later remarried to Florence Kollock on June 18, 1896.

Crooker began his career as the minister of the first Unitarian settlement in La Porte, Indiana, serving there for 4 years. He later served as the minister to large and more diverse congregations, composed mainly of students and university professors, in Madison, Wisconsin 1881-1891, and Ann Arbor Michigan, 1898-1905. Between these two positions, Crooker founded a church and several charities in Helena, Montana. His charity work in Montana compelled similar projects in St. Louis, Missouri and Madison, Wisconsin. He spent two years lecturing on the theological topics of his scholarship in the British Isles, 1914-1916.

As an active traveler and public speaker, Crooker gave talks and sermons across the country, from the West Coast to the East Coast, in churches, meeting halls, at university commencements, and to varying types of associations. His work for and participation in several temperance associations ranged from writing anti-alcohol editorials, pamphlets and books, as well as serving as the president of the Unitarian Temperance Association for a decade, to active correspondence with members of the Central China Temperance Association.

A prolific published author, Crooker wrote in the fields of religion, history, and cultural criticism. He wrote: Jesus Brought Back, 1889; Problems in American Society, 1889; A Plea for Sincerity, 1898; Different New Testament Views of Jesus, 1900; The Growth of Christianity; The Supremacy of Kindness, 1900; The Menace to America, 1900; Religious Freedom in American Education, 1903; The New Bible and its New Uses, 1903; The Supremacy of Jesus, 1904; The Church of To-day, 1908; The Church of To-morrow, 1911; and Shall I Drink?, 1914. For many years he consistently contributed essays to the national magazine the Christian Register, as well as many other periodicals and newspapers. He died on May 29, 1939 in his home in Kansas City, Missouri.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Who's Who biographical entry for Joseph H. Crooker, and Back to Church He Built in the Springfield Sunday Republican, April 1, 1917.

Note written by Matthew Vella.

Extent

1.20 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Method of Acquisition

The papers of JHC were received in two lots. The bulk of materials were received on April 17, 1969 from the Oberlin College Library. In 2002, photocopies of materials were received from Tom Beauvais.

Accruals and Additions

Accessions: 75, 2002/143.

Related Materials

For letter from Crooker to Irving W. Metcalf, June 7, 1917 see (30/9), Metcalf Papers, Box 3 Irving W. Metcalf was on the executive committee of the Home Missionary Society, with which Crooker was involved. The G. F. Wright Papers, (30/21), contain 3 letters from Crooker. See Who's Who In America, 1897-1942 for biographical information for Joseph H. Crooker and his wife, Florence Kollock.