Isaac Backus papers (Ms.Backus)

Ranging from 1717 to 1835, this is a remarkable collection of papers relating to a single New England family.

At the heart of the collection are the papers of Baptist preacher and historian Isaac Backus (1724-1806). These include many family letters to and from Isaac Backus during the years between 1750 and his death in 1806, along with seven of his travel journals, a list of his library, two unpublished tracts, a genealogy of his family, minutes of his Separate Church from 1750 to 1753, drafts of some of the chapters for his abridged history, and a list of all the texts he preached from between 1777 and 1806.

Of great importance historically are the manuscripts in this collection that Backus collected while writing his well-regarded A history of New England, with particular reference to the denomination of Christians called Baptists. That work documents the beginnings of a number of Protestant denominations in New England, and accordingly the manuscripts that Backus collected date from as early as 1668. Among them are papers relating to Thomas Gould (founder of the First Baptist Church in Boston), Obadiah Holmes (founder of the First Baptist Church in Rehoboth), and of Nicolas Eyres, pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Newport. One of the most important of these documents is an unpublished account of the persecution of the Baptists in Ashfield, Massachusetts, during the 1760s, as written by Chileab Smith, a founder of the First Baptist Church there.

The collection supplements the small but important group of Isaac Backus manuscripts in the Sidney S. Rider collection.

In addition to papers of Isaac Backus, this collection includes smaller holdings of manuscripts pertaining to Backus' immediate family, including his mother (Elizabeth Tracy Backus), his uncles (Joseph and Ebenezer Backus), his wife (Susannah Mason Backus), his brothers (Samuel, Elijah, Simon and Andrew), and his children (sons Isaac and Simon, daughters Eunice Backus Dean and Lois Backus Allen). A particularly strong component of the collection are the letters of Backus' son Simon (1766-1833), and of Simon's son Andrew (1790-1880), an early settler of Columbus, Ohio.

Also included are notes and genealogical charts compiled by Isaac Stevens, with additional notes by Professor William G. McLoughlin, a respected scholar of religion in early America for whom Isaac Backus was a primary focus of study.