TABLE OF CONTENTS
Detailed Description of the Collection
Guide to the Laban Clark Papers, 1794 - 1935
Descriptive Summary |
|
| Repository | Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University |
| Creator | Clark, Laban, 1778-1868. |
| Title | Laban Clark Papers, |
| Dates | 1794 - 1935 |
| Linear Feet | 1 |
| Archival Boxes | 2 |
| Abstract | Laban Clark (1778-1868) worked as a missionary and an elder in the Methodist Church in New York state. He suggested Middletown, Connecticut as the site of a Methodist college, Wesleyan University, and served as the first president of Wesleyan's Board of Trustees. |
| The Laban Clark Papers contain correspondence, sermons, lectures, and journals by Laban Clark, as well as papers about his life's history, the founding of Wesleyan University, and his finances. | |
| Call Number | 1000-87 |
| Location | For current information on the location of these materials, please consult Special Collections & Archives staff. |
| Language of Material | Material in English |
Biographical Note
Laban Clark, D.D., father of Wesleyan University and first president of Wesleyan's Board of Trustees, was born in Haverhill, New Hampshire in 1778. He was twice married, first to Harriet Fairchild, daughter of Anson Fairchild and Orpha Spelman. Harriet died in 1836,leaving three children: Joseph, William P. and Marianne Clark (Howland). Clark remarried in April 1837 to Sarah Dorchester Hanks. She lived until 1866, two years before her husband. Laban Clark and his wives are buried in the Wesleyan cemetery on Foss Hill.
From 1801 to 1851, Laban Clark was engaged in the work of the ministry, New York and New York East Conferences, Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1803 he served as a missionary in Lower Canada. Laban Clark introduced the resolution to organize the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City in 1819. Clark took an active part in advocating Willbur Fisk's educational report in the General Conference in 1828. Both were in sympathy with the movement to establish a Methodist college.
It was while Clark was presiding elder of the New Haven District in 1829 that he became interested in acquiring the buildings and grounds of the American Literary, Military and Science Academy in Middletown, Connecticut. At the Troy Conference in May 1829 Clark made the proposal to buy the ALS&M Academy property. After other locations were studied as well, and the endowment funds raised, the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut granted a charter to the Wesleyan University on May 21, 1831. Laban Clark served as the president of the Board of Trustees from 1831 to 1868. In 1852, Clark was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from the University.
He died on November 28, 1868, in Middletown Connecticut.
Return to the Table of Contents
Collection Overview
The Laban Clark Papers contain correspondence, sermons, lectures, and journals by Laban Clark, as well as papers about his life's history, the founding of Wesleyan University, and his finances.
Return to the Table of Contents
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright for Official University records is held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Return to the Table of Contents
Related Material
Willbur Fisk Papers, Wesleyan University Special Collections & Archives
Letter seal, pen, and spectacles belonging to Laban Clark, Wesleyan University Special Collections & Archives
Portrait of Laban Clark, first floor, Olin Library, Wesleyan University
Return to the Table of Contents
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Return to the Table of Contents
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Laban Clark Papers, Collection #1000-87, Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Likely came to Wesleyan University at the time of Laban Clark's death in 1868.
Processing Information
Processed by Susanne Javorski, July 1978
Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, October 2007
Return to the Table of Contents
Detailed Description of the Collection
| Biographical | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | "Reverand Laban Clark, D.D.," by Florence B. Dean, circa 1929 | |||||||||
| Laban Clark, notes by George M. Dutcher, undated | |||||||||||
| Illustration: "Rev. Laban Clark, D.D., Father of Wesleyan University,"Wesleyan University Alumnus, Volume 15 No. 3, December 1930 | |||||||||||
| Laban Clark portrait reproduction, taken from the "Wesleyan University Bulletin," Vol. 16 No. 2, June 1922 | |||||||||||
| "Laban Clark Homestead," from Old Houses of Connecticut: Middletown, by Jessie M. Alsop, 1935 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | "A Christmas piece, or the birth of Christ, an ode written in the year 1813" by Giles F. Yates | |||||||||
| Certificate of life membership, American Bible Society, October 8, 1847 | |||||||||||
| Court of Common Council, Middletown, Connecticut, to Laban Clark, July 9, 1853, regarding new street | |||||||||||
| Laban Clark funeral announcement, November 30, 1868 | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous Papers | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 1 | Diary of the weather in the year 1797, possibly by Laban Clark | ||||||||||
| Letter in part, December 24, 1850 | |||||||||||
| Marriage certificate, May 7, 1838 | |||||||||||
| Notes, undated | |||||||||||
| "The claim of divine right . . ." undated | |||||||||||
| "The committee to whom was refered the subject of education . . ." undated | |||||||||||
| "The general diffusion of the benefits of eduation . . .," undated | |||||||||||
| "Evidences of the authenticity of the Scriptures" | |||||||||||
| "There Shall be a Council of Revision . . ." | |||||||||||
| "Questions on Watson's Institutes" | |||||||||||
| "The purpose of logic" | |||||||||||
| Financial Papers | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Receipt book, for rental payments made by Laban Clark, New York and Bridgeport, 1824-1830 | |||||||||
| Household accounts, 1818-1845 | |||||||||||
| 1 volume. Includes receipt for Laban Clark from Joseph W. Barlow, Brooklyn, 1833. | |||||||||||
| Revd. Laban Clark's Book. | |||||||||||
| Account book, containing six pages of records of receipts over the period from June 15, 1850 to May 1851. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Pass book | |||||||||
| Fifteen receipts for money received by L. Clark for shares of capital stocks in the New York and Boston Railroad, May 30, 1855-June 8, 1855 | |||||||||||
| Legal papers concerning the estate of Anson Fairchild, 1828-1829 | |||||||||||
| Eleven miscellaneous financial pieces | |||||||||||
| Wesleyan | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Photocopy of Willbur Fisk document, December 3, 1829 | |||||||||
| Regarding the selection of Middletown, Connecticut for Wesleyan University; the endowment; the Board of Trustees and Visitors, etc. | |||||||||||
| "On the founding of Wesleyan University," circa 1839 | |||||||||||
| Written at the time of Fisk's death. Both original and typewritten copies. | |||||||||||
| "Money collected by Laban Clark, money paid to the treasurer," 1832-1833 | |||||||||||
| Laban Clark's scholarship for Elias Gilbert Merwin, April 27, 1838 | |||||||||||
| Resolution entered on the record of the Joint Board of Trustees and Visitors, July 20, 1864 | |||||||||||
| Regarding the gift of a portrait of Rev. Laban Clark to the Institution. | |||||||||||
| Lectures | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 1 | "Elements of Christian Theology" by Revd. Laban Clark, D.D. | ||||||||||
| A collection of sixteen autograph lectures, with earlier version of lectures 1 and 2. The lectures were first given in 1833-1834 when Clark was in the New York East Circuit. He had formed a Bible class of about 10 who had applied for a license to preach. In the fall of 1852, at the request of President Smith, Clark revised and enlarged the lectures and delivered them to the students at the Wesleyan University chapel on Sunday mornings over a period of two years, circa 1852-1854. "The design of these lectures is to assist the young students in theology by giving a condensed view of the most important doctrines of Christianity with the duty and qualifications of a Christian minister." | |||||||||||
| Journal, May 18, 1802-October 1810 | |||||||||||
| Composed of 25 unbound signatures (sections). | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||
| 2 | May 18, 1802-January 1, 1803 | ||||||||||
| January 1, 1803-June 29, 1803 | |||||||||||
| July 1, 1803-January 18, 1804 | |||||||||||
| January 19, 1804-April 23, 1804 | |||||||||||
| April 24, 1804-August 9, 1804 | |||||||||||
| August 10, 1804-October 27, 1804 | |||||||||||
| October 27, 1804-Decemer 22, 1804 | |||||||||||
| December 24, 1804-March 25, 1805 | |||||||||||
| March 26, 1805-July 25, 1805 | |||||||||||
| July 27, 1805-November 13, 1805 | |||||||||||
| November 13, 1805-March 1806 | |||||||||||
| March 8, 1806-August 23, 1806 | |||||||||||
| August 24, 1806-November 22, 1806 | |||||||||||
| November 28, 1806-February 20, 1807 | |||||||||||
| February 21, 1807-July 18, 1807 | |||||||||||
| July 19, 1807-December 1807 | |||||||||||
| December 25, 1807-July 26, 1808 | |||||||||||
| July 27, 1808-January 22, 1809 | |||||||||||
| January 24, 1809-October 1, 1809 | |||||||||||
| Expenses from June 3, 1809, collections received September 1809, November 1809 | |||||||||||
| October 1, 1809-October 10, 1810 | |||||||||||
| Record of towns preached in, miles traveled, passages in Bible used, and 1802 expenses | |||||||||||
| "A Book of Accounts containing the expenses and quartereges which is received by Laban Clark, Methodist preacher," August 18, 1802-February 1806 | |||||||||||
| Includes "Texts of scriptures to prove that the wicked will be damned" and "Texts to prove a possibility of falling from grace," undated | |||||||||||
| Expenses, 1806-1807 | |||||||||||
| "A Skeleton Book by Laban Clark," outlines to sermons, undated | |||||||||||
| Sermons | ||||||||||||
| Box | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Sermons or briefs of sermons, possibly by Laban Clark, 1833-1834 | |||||||||||
| 1 volume. | ||||||||||||
| Sermons (possibly by Laban Clark), Lyme | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | August 3, 1794 (no. 42) | ||||||||||
| September 27, 1794 (no. 50) | ||||||||||||
| June 6, 1802 (repeated January 1826) | ||||||||||||
| April 1802 (repeated 1826) | ||||||||||||
| Sermon preached on the funeral occasion of Revd. William Dixon, 1849 | ||||||||||||
| 2 drafts, and printed as "Ministerial Toil Rewarded," 1850. | ||||||||||||
| Sermon on Thessalonians 1:9, undated | ||||||||||||
| Published as "A Semi-Centennial Sermon," 1851. | ||||||||||||
| Correspondence | ||||||||||||
| Letters from Laban Clark | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Harriet Clark (his first wife), May 5, 1824 | ||||||||||
| Mr. Agar Judson, October 11, 1830 | ||||||||||||
| William Capters, December 30, 1830 | ||||||||||||
| Appeal for money for the new university. | ||||||||||||
| Stephen Olin, April 1839 | ||||||||||||
| Photocopy. Informing him of election to the presidency of Wesleyan University. | ||||||||||||
| The President and faculty of Wesleyan University, August 1841 | ||||||||||||
| Recommends John W. Beach for admission. | ||||||||||||
| Rev. William Martin, October 17, 1845 | ||||||||||||
| Sarah Clark, his second wife, 1848-1852 | ||||||||||||
| 9 letters. | ||||||||||||
| Letters to Laban Clark | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 3 | Adams, Henry, December 16, 1832 | ||||||||||
| Allen, Charles J., April 29, 1828 | ||||||||||||
| Bangs, H., February 7, 1867 | ||||||||||||
| Bartlett, Charles, June 8, 1846 | ||||||||||||
| Bonfield, Thomas, undated | ||||||||||||
| Broughton, W. W., August 15, 1844 | ||||||||||||
| Brown, S. D., June 9, 1856 | ||||||||||||
| Burch, Thomas, November 3, 1829 | ||||||||||||
| Burton, Henry, May 10, 1845 | ||||||||||||
| Campbell, L., December 19, 1843 | ||||||||||||
| Clark, Charles W. | ||||||||||||
| July 17, 1861 | ||||||||||||
| July 23, 1861 | ||||||||||||
| Clark, Horace, August 6, 1866 | ||||||||||||
| Clark, Joseph, undated | ||||||||||||
| Clark, Samuel, May 15, 1845 | ||||||||||||
| Clark, Sarah | ||||||||||||
| October 18, 1838 | ||||||||||||
| November 19, 1848 | ||||||||||||
| Clark, S. and S. W., January 20, 1838 | ||||||||||||
| Crowder, T. W., March 25, 1846 | ||||||||||||
| Curtiss, Saxton, A., November 26, 1835 | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 4 | Dando, Stephen, February 15, 1840 | ||||||||||
| Day, Alan | ||||||||||||
| February 26, 1821 | ||||||||||||
| March 14, 1829 | ||||||||||||
| Dorchester, D., September 14, 1853 | ||||||||||||
| Drake, T.M. | ||||||||||||
| Possible appointment of Drake to the Wesleyan faculty; suggestions for the establishment of Wesleyan University. | ||||||||||||
| June 19, 1830 | ||||||||||||
| December 14, 1830 | ||||||||||||
| Fairchild, A. P., June 1832 | ||||||||||||
| Fairchild, Orpha, February 18, 1820 | ||||||||||||
| Gilbert, Elias, February 8, 1844 | ||||||||||||
| Gilbert E., October, 1, 1847 | ||||||||||||
| Gilbert, G., May 13, 1845 | ||||||||||||
| Griswold, E. E., July 16, 1847 | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 5 | Haonison, Myron, November 6, 1838 | ||||||||||
| Hayter, Richard, June 5, 1838 | ||||||||||||
| Hill, Morris, May 17, 1838 | ||||||||||||
| Hill, T. R., undated | ||||||||||||
| Hotchkiss, Elisha, May 21, 1838 | ||||||||||||
| Howland, Marianne | ||||||||||||
| January 7, 1852 | ||||||||||||
| January 5, 1853 | ||||||||||||
| Howland, S. | ||||||||||||
| July 20, 1861 | ||||||||||||
| December 7, 1861 | ||||||||||||
| December 25, 1862 | ||||||||||||
| March 11, 1867 | ||||||||||||
| Hoyt, L., November 16, 1867 | ||||||||||||
| Hulbert, E., May 13, 1831 | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 6 | Johnson, Albert, November 20, 1843 | ||||||||||
| Kellogg, N., May 23, 1846 | ||||||||||||
| Knight, Joseph | ||||||||||||
| February 25, 1863 | ||||||||||||
| March 10, 1863 | ||||||||||||
| Miller, Adam, July 3, 1848 | ||||||||||||
| Paige, J. S. | ||||||||||||
| July 7, 1828 | ||||||||||||
| April 17, 1834 | ||||||||||||
| February 2, 1835 | ||||||||||||
| Parker, John, November 11, 1844 | ||||||||||||
| Raymonds, Josiah, May 10, 1849 | ||||||||||||
| Seaman, S., May 21, 1850 | ||||||||||||
| Searles, John E., July 7, 1847 | ||||||||||||
| Sprague, W. B. | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 7 | March 4, 1851 | ||||||||||
| January 30, 1852 | ||||||||||||
| February 25, 1852 | ||||||||||||
| March 12, 1852 | ||||||||||||
| July 19, 1854 | ||||||||||||
| Septemer 14, 1854 | ||||||||||||
| March 12, 1858 | ||||||||||||
| April 28, 1858 | ||||||||||||
| January 19, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| January 24, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| February 13, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| February 24, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| March 3, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| March 23, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| October 9, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| October 22, 1860 | ||||||||||||
| Undated | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 8 | Thorpe, T. B., February 20, 1845 | ||||||||||
| Tibbals, N., undated | ||||||||||||
| VanPelt, Mr. and Mrs. A. H., March 2, 1863 | ||||||||||||
| Ware, George S., July 29, 1847 | ||||||||||||
| Welton, B. M., March 30, 1853 | ||||||||||||
| Willcox, John W., May 17, 1847 | ||||||||||||
| Winsor, S. A. June 4, 1862 | ||||||||||||
| [No last name], Trevie [Clark], February 18, 1868 | ||||||||||||
| Letters to Mrs. Laban Clark | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | |||||||||||
| 2 | 9 | Gildex, July 14, 1846 | ||||||||||
| Kenney, Theda, August 22, 1841 | ||||||||||||
| Morley, George, January 20, 1849 | ||||||||||||
| Morley, John, July 24, 1848 | ||||||||||||
| Smith, William Francis, February 10, 1847 | ||||||||||||
| [No last name], Terviah [Clark], April 19, 1840 | ||||||||||||