Amy Grace Mekeel papers concerning , New York SC.286 Susanna Morikawa.

Last updated on May 13, 2021.

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Amy Grace Mekeel papers concerning Conservative Friends,

Table of Contents

Summary Information...... 3 Biography/History...... 4 Scope and Contents...... 4 Administrative Information...... 4 Related Materials...... 5 Controlled Access Headings...... 5 Collection Inventory...... 7

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Summary Information

Repository Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Source New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

Creator Mekeel, Amy Grace, 1885-1976

Title Amy Grace Mekeel papers concerning Conservative Friends, New York Yearly Meeting

Call number SC.286

Date [inclusive] 1946-1968

Extent .02 linear feet (5 folders)

Language English .

Mixed Materials [] Folder

Abstract The collectionn contains Mekeel's notes and abstracts concerning Quaker meetings in the Scipio and Farmington Quarterly Meetings of New York Yearly Meeting, particularly concerning the various nineteenth century Orthodox separations. There is also a small group of correspondence focused on Quaker meeting records.

Cite as:

[Indicate the cited item or series here], Amy Grace Mekeel papers concerning Conservative Friends, New York Yearly Meeting, SC/284, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.

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Biography/History

Amy Grace Mekeel was a birthright member of Hector (Conservative), great- granddaughter of Jesse and Amy (Quimby) Mekeel and daughter of Jesse and Rebecca Owen Mekeel. She received her BA in 1910 from Cornell University and taught at Friends Boarding School, Barnesville, Ohio, after graduation. She subsequently earned Masters and PhD degrees from Cornell and taught zoology at Cornell from 1917-1947. She was one of the founders of the Ithaca worship group and became its first treasurer when the meeting was formally organized as the Ithaca Association of Friends in 1926. It became Ithaca Monthly Meeting in 1938, a united meeting. After her retirement from teaching, Mekeel became interested in the history of in the Scipio Quarter of New York Yearly Meeting and their divisions. Hector Monthly Meeting was established in 1822 by Farmington Quarter. After the Separation of 1828 there was another Separation in the Orthodox faction, resulting in an Orthodox (Gurneyite) and Conservative (Wilburite) branches. In 1859, the Conservative branch split again, yielding Kingite and Otisite meetings. These meetings reunited as Conservative in 1881 and ceased to meet after 1955. Amy Grace Mekeel's parents were members of the Kingite faction of Hector Monthly Meeting. She was distantly related to Arthur J. Mekeel (1909-2005), Quaker activist and historian.

Scope and Contents

The collection contains primarily Mekeel's notes and abstracts concerning Quaker meetings in the Scipio and Farmington Quarterly Meetings and some correspondence with Percy Clapp, Keeper of the New York Yearly Meeting records and fellow Cornell graduate.

Administrative Information

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Susanna Morikawa.

- Page 4 - Amy Grace Mekeel papers concerning Conservative Friends, New York Yearly Meeting Use Restrictions Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http:// rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.

Immediate Source of Acquisition Gift of New York Yearly Meeting, 1997

Processing Information When the deposit of New York Yearly Meeting records was initially proceesed, Mekeel's correspondence with Percy Clapp, Keeper of the NYYM Records, was filed in Biographical reference, PG 7. With the processing of her abstracts and notes in 2017, her related corrrespondence was reunited into a small collection.

Related Materials

Related Materials Percy E. Clapp papers, 1916-1966, SC 231; Mekeel Family correspondence, Haverford College Special Collection; Photocopies of Mekeel correspondence in Haverford Special Collecction, filed Reference: PG 7 Mekeel Family; New York Yearly Meeting records, RG 2/NY

Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

• New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends • New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Scipio Quarterly Meeting

- Page 5 - Amy Grace Mekeel papers concerning Conservative Friends, New York Yearly Meeting • New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Orthodox : 1828-1955). Scipio Quarterly Meeting • New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Orthodox : 1828-1955). Farmington Quarterly Meeting (1828-1955)

Subject(s)

• Quakers -- New York (State) -- New York -- History • Society of Friends -- New York (State) • Society of Friends -- Hicksite Separation

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Collection Inventory

Notes and correspondence, 1946-1967. Folder Scope and Contents

Letters to Percy Clapp, Keeper of the records, 1953, describe her work on family history and includes her 1946 New Years greeting which featured a transcript of her great- grandmother's letter. In 1966, she corresponded with Levinus Painter who was writing a book on the History of Friends in New York State. She notes that his previous booklets didn't cover the separations and lawsuite involved. A letter to her cousins mentions Painter's project and her desire to have the records of Conservative Friends convenient to her research rather than in New York City where the Yearly Meeting records were being consolidated in the Haviland Records Room.

Extracts from the records concerning the Hicksite separation in New York Yearly Meeting, Folder 1829-1831, circa 1968.

Notes and abstracts on Scipio Quarterly Meeting, Kingite and others, 1828-1869, Circa Folder 1968.

Notes and abstracts on Scipio Quarter Wilburite, DeRuyter and others, Circa 1968. Folder

Notes and abstracts, Scipio Quarter Wilburite. Folder Scope and Contents

Scipio Preparative, Collins Meetings

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