Guide to the Leiper Family Papers

The Leiper Family Papers document the professional and personal life of Henry Smith Leiper, a missionary, minister, and leading figure in the development of the ecumenical movement. The papers also document the lives of many of Henry Smith Leiper’s family members, including his parents, Joseph McCarrell and Fanny Heywood Smith Leiper; his first wife, Eleanor Cory Leiper (sometimes called Susie by the family); his second wife, Elizabeth Olyphant Leiper; and, most notably, his daughter, Juliet McCarrell (Carrell) Leiper Hall.

The papers offer an important perspective on the prolific career of their primary creator, Henry Smith Leiper, through correspondence, essays, journals, and extensive notes. Researchers using the collection will gain insight into how Leiper became a capable leader, admired by his peers for his organizational abilities and for his talent for communicating the principles of Christian unity, religious tolerance, and mission that were the foundation of his work. Although the collection does not include extensive official correspondence or minutes of the World Council of Churches, researchers studying that organization will wish to see Leiper’s writings and notes on the development of the Council, as well as the journal letters he wrote during his international travels to meet with church leaders and promote interchurch unity.

The collection consists of five series: Henry Smith Leiper professional and organizational activities, 1908-2011, bulk 1908-1975; Correspondence, 1896-2011; Family papers, circa 1800-2011; Photographs, 1890s-1957; and Schmidt and Ouellette biography, 1939-1988, bulk 1983-1985.

The Henry Smith Leiper professional and organizational activities series comprises five subseries: Organizations and institutions, 1913-1975; Writings, addresses, and sermons, 1908-1984, bulk 1908-1971; Notes, 1915-1968; Subject files, 1917-2011, bulk 1917-1971; and Journals, calendars, and accounts, 1908-1971. The first subseries documents Leiper’s work, both professional and personal, for organizations including the American Bible Society, the Chautauqua Institution, the Missions Council of the Congregational Christian Churches, the Benevolence Committee of the Riverside Church in New York City, the World Council of Churches, and others. Researchers should note that additional documentation of Leiper’s professional life is also found in other files throughout the collection. Notably, documentation of his work for the World Council of Churches and related organizations can be found among his writings, notes, and correspondence, in biographical materials filed with his family papers, and in the Photographs series. Items in the Organizations and institutions subseries are arranged in alphabetical order by organization name.

The second subseries includes articles, essays, radio addresses, newsletters, and sermons.  Materials in this subseries are in both draft and published forms. Many of the writings address the topics of Christian unity and the development of the World Council of Churches. The subseries includes manuscript and published copies of Leiper's biography of S. Parkes Cadman, Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, Great Churchman and Christian (1967). Items in this subseries are filed alphabetically by material type or title.

The third subseries consists of unsorted notes, grouped roughly by date. Included in this subseries are Leiper’s reading and lecture notes; ideas, sources, and outlines for sermons; notes from meetings; and thoughts on a wide variety of topics, such as Christian unity, anti-Semitism, race relations, Christian mission, the uniqueness of Christ, and Communism.  There are other materials, such as church bulletins, clippings, pamphlets, and ephemera, interfiled with the notes.

The fourth subseries contains clippings, publications, addresses, minutes, correspondence and other materials filed alphabetically by subject. Included in this subseries are articles, clippings, and addresses on the 1936 German Olympics and the efforts of the Committee on Fair Play in Sports to boycott the games. The subseries also includes correspondence regarding the Bonhoeffer family (1945-1947) and an essay by Leiper recounting his meetings with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some of these subject files were maintained by Leiper and the remainder were created when the collection was arranged.

The fifth subseries contains Leiper’s journals, calendars, and account books, which document Leiper’s daily activities and finances. The journals (1909-1915, 1942, 1946) include his reflections on lectures, sermons, readings, and meetings, and offer researchers a view of his intellectual influences and his relationships with figures in the missionary and ecumenical movements.

The Correspondence series is divided into six subseries:  Henry Smith Leiper family and professional, 1899-1975; Henry Smith Leiper journal letters, 1916-1952; Carrell Leiper Hall autograph collection, 1896-1987; Eleanor Cory Leiper, 1898-1935; Elizabeth Olyphant Leiper, 1935; and Carrell Leiper Hall and Homer J. Hall, 1926-2011. The journal letters, which Leiper wrote weekly, were circulated among his family and friends. They contain rich descriptions of his experiences as a missionary in North China, his journey to Siberia as a volunteer for the YMCA at the end of World War I, and his trips to Great Britain, Europe, Mexico, India, Australia, and New Zealand to foster ecumenical relations. Carrell Leiper Hall spent many years compiling the autograph collection. It consists of letters and cards written by church leaders of many denominations, politicians, stars of stage and screen, and other notable public figures.  In addition to the correspondence in this series, researchers will find letters, filed according to topic, throughout the collection.

The Family papers series comprises six subseries: Genealogy, circa 1800-2011; Henry Smith Leiper family papers, 1860s-2000; Eleanor Cory Leiper papers, 1907-1996; Elizabeth Glover Olyphant Leiper papers, 1915-1980; Carrell Leiper Hall and Homer J. Hall papers, 1914-1999; and Henry Martyn Welling (Hal) Leiper and Jane Leiper papers, 1959-2008. This series includes genealogical research, biographical materials, scrapbooks, yearbooks, clippings, and other items documenting members of the Leiper family.  The genealogy subseries includes the research of Henry Smith Leiper, Carrell and Homer J. Hall, and other family members on the Leiper, McCarrell, Smith, Cory, Wickes, and  Olyphant families and related lines. In this subseries can be found articles and notes on Thomas Leiper's railroad, the first permanent railway in the United States, built in 1809 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The Henry Smith Leiper family papers subseries includes materials related to his mother and father, his brothers Bartram (Bart) and McCarrell (Mac) Leiper, and several items belonging to his McCarrell aunts. There is a small amount of documentation of Joseph McCarrell and Fanny Heywood Smith Leiper’s work as missionaries to Park Hill in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), including Fanny Leiper’s sketchbook of drawings of the people, structures, and natural surroundings of the mission.  The subseries also contains biographical materials on Henry Smith Leiper, including biographical sketches, clippings, obituaries, and an audio recording of his memorial service. The Eleanor Cory Leiper subseries includes her sister-in-law Julia Cady Cory’s notes for a 1921 address to the Women’s Association, First Presbyterian Church, Englewood, New Jersey, describing Eleanor Cory Leiper’s work in Tientsin, China.

The Photographs series contains photographic prints, photo albums, cabinet cards, .tiff files, and other photographic formats, and is divided into two subseries: Family, 1890s-1947; and Professional, 1931-1957. The Family subseries includes images taken in China, Korea, and Japan in the 1920s, which are available to researchers in digital form.  Researchers should note that additional photographs can be found in other files throughout the collection.

The Schmidt and Ouellette biography series consists primarily of manuscripts for the 1986 biography of Henry Smith Leiper, What Kind of a Man?, by William Schmidt and Edward Ouellette. The series also includes correspondence related to the book’s research, editing, and publication.