Augustus Field Beard papers

Predominantly correspondence (1923-1935), also one speech (Dec. 10, 1930), a short memoir (undated), and a few clippings (1929-1931). With three exceptions all outgoing letters (156) are addressed to Frederick Leslie and Ruth Brownlee. The Rev. Brownlee (1883-1962) was Dr. Beard's sucessor as Corresponding Secretary of the American Missionary Association and Mrs. Brownlee, a distant cousin.

There are eight incoming letters. Among the subjects discussed are the publication program of the American Missionary Association, especially the content and format of the American Missionary; reunions and alumni of Yale University, including William B. Pickens and Henry Swift de Forest; teachers and conditions of institutions affiliated with the American Missionary Association--Cotton Valley School, Fisk University, LeMoyne College, Talladega College, and Tougaloo College.

Officials of the American Missionary Association most frequently mentioned are the Rev. Irving C. Gaylord and the Rev. Henry Smith Leiper. Writers of single letters are Bessie Beard, daughter of Dr. Beard; the Rev. Charles Thwing; the Rev. C. F. Sargent; Lee de Forest; Mrs. Helen Wells; L. Hollingsworth Wood; and two physicians of the Rockefeller Institute who were taking gerontological tests of the Rev. Beard in 1930-1931. Of interest are Beard's recollections of Senator Leland Stanford, whose son, Leland Jr., was brought to Dr. Beard's church in Paris after his death.

Additional items include 41 sermons delivered on various occasions, copies of some which had appeared in print; pamphlets, poems, and addresses commemorating the founding of Norwalk, Connecticut, delivered at Yale reunions, commencement exercises at Syracuse University, memorial services for General Grant, etc. Of interest is an issue of the Congregationalist Handbook devoted to the administration of the American Missionary Association.