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Logan W. Smith Papers

 Collection
Identifier: FMS-85

Scope and Contents

The Smith Papers include a variety of documents, photographs, and materials, nearly all relating to Logan Smith's pastoral and missionary work. This collection documents his life and is typical of the activities of a Quaker pastor from the 1940s into the 1970s.

Dates

  • 1917-1976
  • Other: Date acquired: 01/01/1995

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Some materials may be protected by copyright. Permission to reproduce and to publish for commercial purposes must be requested from the Archivist.

Biographical or Historical Information

Logan Wilkinson Smith (1917-1976) was a prominent Quaker pastor and missionary who served pastoral Friends in Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina as well as in Jamaica and Kenya during his career. Logan W. Smith was born near Mt. Summit in Henry County, Indiana, April 23, 1917, the son of Omer F. and Myrtle L. (Wilkinson) Smith. As a boy, he moved with his family to a farm near Hagerstown High School in 1934 and from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, in 1939. He also studied at Earlham College. On August 11, 1936, he married Opal Perry of Dublin, Indiana. Before graduating from Taylor, Logan Smith began his pastoral career at Clear Spring Friends near Greensboro, Indiana. His first full-time pastorate was at Antioch Chapel Friends in Van Wert County, Ohio, serving from 1939 to 1944. He was then pastor at Fountain City, Indiana, 1944-1946, and at Amboy, Indiana, 1947-1951. In 1946-1947, he served as superintendent of Indiana Yearly Meeting. In 1951, he and his family went to Jamaica as Friends missionaries for four years. From 1955 to 1959, he served Center Friends near West Milton, Ohio, Beginning in 1959, he spent two years with his family as Friends missionaries in Kenya. He returned to the United States in 1961 to become pastor at Fairport Avenue Friends in Dayton, Ohio. From there he went to Xenia, Ohio, in 1964, serving there until 1970, when he became pastor of Goldsboro Friends meeting, North Carolina. In these years he was also active in other Quaker concerns, serving on Yearly Meeting and Five Years Meeting (later Friends United Meeting) boards and committees and writing for Quaker periodicals. He died at Goldsboro, February 3, 1976, and was buried in the Nettle Creek Friends Cemetery near Hagerstown, Indiana.

Note written by

Extent

2.00 Boxes

Language of Materials

English

Method of Acquisition

Donation, by Logan W. Smith's daughter Betty Brumbaugh of West Milton, Ohio, on behalf of the family.

Accruals and Additions

A further gift of letters to his brother, Horace N. Smith, is anticipated.

Title
Archon Finding Aid Title
Description rules
Other Unmapped
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
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Language of description note
und

Repository Details

Part of the Friends Collection and Earlham College Archives Repository

Contact:
US