Activists and Reformers
at Longwood Quaker Meetinghouse
Longwood Progressive Friends Meeting
1855 - 1940
Above: The Quaker meetinghouse survives at the entrance to Longwood Gardens. The landmark building is no longer used as a tourism center. It is closed to the public.
Digital Quilts
A Few of the Activists and Reformers
Who Lectured at Longwood Meetinghouse
I created these digital quilts to honor the men and women who gathered at the Longwood Progressive Friends Meetinghouse from 1855 to 1940. Many were prominent advocates for the abolition of slavery, women's rights, peace, religious freedom, and social reform.
Portraits and Biography Links:
Above: John Cox, Hannah Cox, Sojourner Truth, Joseph Williams Thorne. (John and Hannah Cox were prominent leaders of the meeting but are not on the documented list of speakers.)
Bibliography:
Longwood Progressive Friends Meeting
Published Proceedings:
Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends. Published proceedings, 1853–1905.
Books and Historical Studies:
Fager, Chuck. Angels of Progress: A Documentary History of the Progressive Friends, 1822–1940. Kimo Press, 2014.
Fager, Chuck. Remaking Friends: How Progressive Friends Changed Quakerism and Helped Save America, 1822-1940. Kimo Press, 2014.
Wahl, Albert J. The Congregational or Progressive Friends in the Pre-Civil War Reform Movement. Ed.D. dissertation, Temple University, 1951.
Scholarly Articles:
Densmore, Christopher. “Be Ye Therefore Perfect: Anti-Slavery and the Origins of the Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends in Chester County, Pennsylvania.” Quaker History 93, no. 2 (2004): 28–46.
Wahl, Albert J. “The Progressive Friends of Longwood.” Bulletin of Friends' Historical Association 42, no. 1 (1953): 13–32.
Wahl, Albert J. “The Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends.” Pennsylvania History 25, no. 2 (1958): 122–36.
Wahl, Albert J. “Longwood Meeting: Public Forum for the American Democratic Faith.” Pennsylvania History 42, no. 1 (1975): 43–69.
Yarnall, Howard E., Jr. “Longwood Meeting.” Bulletin of Friends' Historical Association 17, no. 2 (1928): 49–54.
Archival Collections:
Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends Records, 1851–1941, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
Dr. Albert J. Wahl Papers. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Special Collections and University Archives, Manuscript Group 11.