Skip to main content

Ward - Lewis Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS-1947.1

Scope and Contents

Thirty-one personal diaries of James Thomas Ward, Methodist Protesant minister and president of Western Maryland College, written during his term as College President. Diaries contain James Thomas Ward's personal comments and document his day to day life. Mostly he writes about his domestic life, wife, daughter and her husband Thomas H. Lewis, grandchildren, servants, and interaction with people from Westminster and Carroll County, Maryland. Written during his tenure as president of Western Maryland College, these diaries also focus on his worries and experiences in initiating and building the college. He also comments on local, regional, and national events and writes about the Maryland Annual Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, which he usually attended. Ward began writing about the events and people that surrounded his life in the 1830s. It was in 1847 that he took these writings, notes, and early remembrances and put them together in volumes. His daily writings begin in 1841 and continue throughout his life with his last diary entry on February 17, 1897 just two weeks before his death on March 4. Writtings and diaries written from 1840-1866, April 4, 1894-December 14, 1894, and October 3, 1895-1897 are in the Library of Congress Manuscript collection (Call Number 0452J). Diaries from June 23, 1890-April 2,1894 and December 15, 1894-October 2, 1895 are in the Ward Diaries 1890-1895 collection in the McDaniel College Archives. Diaries from September 19, 1862-September 25, 1864 have not been located.

Dates

  • 1866-1886
  • Other: Date acquired: 10/24/1946

Creator

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright: McDaniel College may hold copyright to sections of this material. McDaniel College makes no representation that it is the owner of any copyright or other literary property in the materials contained in its archives and special collections, (b) that in providing access to or permitting the reproduction of any such materials, McDaniel Archives does not assume any responsibility for obtaining or granting any permission to publish or use the same, and (c) that the responsibility 9i) for determining the nature of any rights, and the ownership or interest therein, and for obtaining the appropriate permissions to publish or use and (ii) for determining the nature of any liabilities (including liabilities for defamation and invasion of privacy or publicity) that may arise from any publication or use, rest entirely with the researcher.  Copying: Papers may be copied in accordance with the Archives' usual procedures.

Biographical or Historical Information

James Thomas Ward was born August 21, 1820 in Georgetown, D.C., the son of Ulysses Ward, prominent in the temperance movement in the United States, and Susan Beall Ward. In the late 1820s, when the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States split, J. T. Ward’s father converted to the Methodist Protestant religion. J. T. Ward followed his father and converted in 1833. J. T. Ward attended Columbian Academy in D.C. and Brookville Classical Academy in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he graduated in 1838 with the classical prize. He continued to read and study Greek, Latin, philosophy, and history. He was about 20 years old when he decided to become a minister. He studied with prominent Methodist Protestant ministers Augustus Webster and Andrew Lipscomb. For the next 26 years he would preach in churches and circuits from Philadelphia to Alexandria, Virginia including two stations in Westminster, MD. When he was in Cumberland, Maryland in 1845 he married Catherine Light (1823-1899) of Virginia. They had two daughters Clara (1849-1854) and Mary (1854-1934). For health and political reasons, Ward retired from active ministry and moved to Westminster in 1866. He met Fayette Buell and helped him found a small college dedicated to the equal education of men and women. In 1886 after twenty years as President of Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) Ward retired and switched positions with his son-in-law Thomas Hamilton Lewis and became president of Westminster Theological Seminary (Now Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.). He died in March 4, 1897. His diaries cover his life from 1840 to 1897 in 104 volumes. They are descriptive of his beliefs, his religion, his family, and the times he lived in.

Note written by Barbara O'Brien

Extent

31.00 diaries

31 Diaries other_unmapped

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Thirty-nine diaries of James Thomas Ward, Clipping file of James Thomas Ward, and family papers, photographs and scrapbooks.

Arrangement Note

Chronological, alphabetical, by accession number.

Custodial History

April - August 2009 seven of the diaries (Accession 2006.40) were at Quarto Conservation of Books & Paper for conservation treatment.  Diaries were unbound and each leaf was placed in a folder.  Bindings were saved.  Treatment was documented with photographs.

Source of Acquisition

Accession 1946 from Lewis Family- Accessions 2006.38, 2006.40, 2006.41, and 2013.51 from Dr. Edwin Lewis

Method of Acquisition

Gift

Accruals and Additions

Accessions: 2006.38; 2006.40; 2006.41; 2013.38

Related Materials

The Library of Congress contains another 58 volumes of James Thomas Ward's writings including 47 diaries.

Other Descriptive Information

In 2009, conservation treatment was provided through an American Heritage Preservation and Institute of Museum and Library Services(IMLS) conservation grant.

Subjects

Record Groups

Related Names

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Archon Finding Aid Title
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the McDaniel College Repository

Contact:

Staff Interface | Visit ArchivesSpace.org | v2.8.0 | Send Feedback or Report a Problem