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John B. Perry Papers

 Collection
Identifier: mss-777

Scope and Content Note

The John Bulkley Perry Papers contain correspondence, notebooks, diaries, newspaper clippings, lectures and essays on religion, geology, and other academic subjects, and copies of selected sermons. Most noteable is a small group of Hemenway letters (1862-1963). The collection is arranged chronologically with a large group of undated lectures and essays grouped by subject.

Dates

  • 1785-1892

Creator

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.

Biographical Note

John Bulkley Perry, geologist, historian, and Congregational minister, was born in Richmond, Massachusetts on December 12, 1825. He received his A.M. from the University of Vermont in 1847, taught in Garlandsville, Mississippi until 1849, and then attended Andover Theological Seminary where he graduated in 1853. Ordained in 1855, Perry became pastor of the Swanton Congregational Church after filling two assistant pastorates at Sand Lake, New York (1854) and Hinesburg, Vermont (1854-1855). In 1865, while serving as Chaplain for the 10th Vermont Volunteers, Perry was elected delegate to the U.S. Christian Commission in Virginia. After the war, he accepted a pastorate in Wilmington, Vermont and remained there for two years. From 1868 to 1972 he was a lecturer in geology at Harvard University. During these years he also held posts at the University of Vermont (1869) and Oberlin College. Notable among his publications were eight discourses on the natural history of northwestern Vermont which appeared in A. M. Hemenway's Vermont Historical Gazetteer. Perry died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 3, 1872.

Extent

1.3 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Collection contains correspondence; diaries; and notes, lectures, sermons, and essays on the subjects of Geology, History, Science, Philosophy, and Religion documenting the career and thought of UVM Geology professor and Congregational minister in Vermont, John B. Perry, who was a major figure in the field of Geology at the time.

Arrangement note

The collection is arranged chronologically with a large group of undated lectures and essays grouped by subject.

Location

Library Research Annex; contact uvmsc@uvm.edu for access.

Title
Guide to the John B. Perry Papers
Status
Completed
Author
C. Gallagher
Date
1971 September 10
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Vermont Libraries, Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Silver Special Collections Library
48 University Place, Room B201
Burlington Vermont 05405 U.S.A. US
(802) 656-2138
(802) 656-4038 (Fax)