Charles Grandison Finney Presidential Papers, 1814-1878, undated | Oberlin College Archives

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series I. Correspondence (calendared and microfilmed), 1817-1875

The bulk of the Finney Papers consists of Finney's incoming correspondence (Boxes 1-6). Calendared in two volumes with an index prepared in 1939 by LeRoy P. Graf, the 2,246 letters are divided as follows: volume 1, letters 1817-33; volume 2, letters 1834-75. These letters are written mainly by converts and friends of Finney, particularly from New York state, the scene of Finney's revivals. Also included are letters from Finney's English friends, written during and after his evangelistic visits to England in 1850 and 1859. The bulk of the later correspondence (1868-1875) relates to anti-masonry.

Series II. Correspondence (uncalendared), 1828-1875

This correspondence was acquired after the calendared correspondence; it includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence. Letters by Finney include two written in defense of his account of the 1825 revival at Gouverneur, New York (1873) and one letter (1871) to Mrs. Sarah Spees, opposing Freemasonry and secret societies. Additional letters are addressed to Jacob Helfenstein, a preacher in Germantown, Pennsylvania (1828, 1832); E.P. Marvin (1868-1874); Mr. and Mrs. James Barlow, Finney's English friends, (1860-1875); and Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Lamson of Boston, Massachusetts (1860-1870). Incoming correspondence is filed before outgoing correspondence.

Series III. Miscellaneous Manuscripts (indexed; microfilmed), 1835-1860, undated

This series, containing a variety of printed and manuscript materials relating mainly to Finney's revivals, includes two manuscripts by Finney: "Revival Memories," (undated) and "Innocent Amusements," (undated). The original order of these files has been maintained and follows the listing on pp. 271-72 of the index to the Calendar of the Finney papers. Accordingly, receipts, bills, and orders (1832-60) have been retained here rather than joined with those receipts housed in Series VII, Business Papers.

Series IV. Diaries and Commonplace Book, 1814-1870, undated

Includes four diaries (1814-1819; 1829-1841; 1857; 1860-1870) containing weather observations, financial accounts, and scripture passages  [Note: Although these volumes are called diaries, they do not contain the typical diary entries.] The commonplace book (527 pp., undated) seems to be a small concordance to Scripture, with passages copied in and cross-referenced. Also housed here is an address book, purchased and used in England (1859) and a pocket-sized pamphlet, The Names, Titles and Characters of Jesus Christ, London, undated. The diary (1857), pamphlet, and address book are included in the Index to the Finney papers. Volumes are filed chronologically.

Series V. Lectures, 1868-1875, undated

Includes both bound and unbound lectures given by Finney, in outline and in essay form, covering such topics as baptism, church government, pastoral theology, and Asa Mahan's religious philosophy. The unbound lectures have been calendared and indexed. Bound lectures precede unbound lectures.       

Series VI. Sermon Outlines, 1853-1878, n.d.

Finney's sermon outlines, which were arranged by Roy Alan Cheesebro in 1947, are individually numbered (1-685) and are housed in envelopes labeled by year of creation. Within years, outlines are arranged according to Scripture order. Filed with the sermon outlines are various lecture outlines (48 pieces), miscellaneous outlines (19 pieces), "Remarks of President Finney," made in 1874 at the dedication of Council Hall, and the original manuscript account (with copy) of notes taken by a student hearing Finney preach on August 1, 1826; this is Finney's earliest reported sermon.

Series VII. Business Papers of Finney, 1823-1875, undated

Consists of family business papers such as receipts (1840-1875); expense accounts (1844-1847); agreements to have land cleared and barns built (1837-1847); deeds of land; copyright agreements; insurance papers; bank books (1863-1871); and an appraisal of William C. Cochran's estate (1847). It is possible that the Lorain County marriage licenses (1839-1875) were issued to couples married by Finney. Materials are arranged alphabetically by type.

Series VIII. Writings of Finney (ms.), 1867-1868

Includes the original manuscript of Finney's Memoirs with annotations by its first editor, James Harris Fairchild (1817-1902). The manuscript is arranged in page order.

Series IX. Writings of Finney (Printed), 1824-1871

Finney's printed writings include: a series of pocket-size tracts published by the Williard Tract Repository, Boston; several issues of the Oberlin Evangelist (1852-1861) containing Finney's addresses; an 1858 pamphlet; two 1942 reprints of Finney devotional works; a Chinese translation of "A Spiritual Awakening," (1920); and clippings relating to revivals conducted by Finney (1839-1871). Also included are two books by Finney, Lectures on Systematic Theology (1847) and Skeletons of a Course of Theological Lectures (1840).

Series X. Late Accretions, 1835, 1855, 1862, 1938-1983

Additional materials added to the Finney Papers after 1982 fall into this series. This includes a certificate made out to Charles Grandison Finney by the American Missionary Association in 1862, Finney letters to Rev. S.P. Hilduth, and Oberlin College Library records concerning the Finney Papers, including a typescript for the bound volumes containing the chornology, calendar, and index published in 1939.

Charles Grandison Finney, flamboyant evangelist of the Second Great Awakening, served as the second President of Oberlin College (1851-65).  He was born in Warren, Connecticut on August 29, 1792 to Sylvester (1727?-1842) and Rebecca (Rice) Finney (1759-1836).  When Finney was two years old, his family joined the westward migration and settled in the frontier town of Hanover in Oneida County, New York.  Finney is believed to have attended Oneida Academy in Clinton, where he developed his gifts for music and for sports.  From 1808 to 1812, Finney taught in the district school at Henderson.  For two years, he studied independently while living in Warren, Connecticut, preparing to enter Yale College.  In 1814, he moved to New Jersey where, on his schoolmaster's advice, he began working through Yale's college curriculum.  After two years, he entered the law office of Judge Benjamin Wright in Adams, New York.  He was admitted to the bar in 1818.

On October 10, 1821 in Adams, Finney underwent a dramatic religious conversion, which altered the course of his life.  Abandoning the practice of law, he transferred his oratorical skills, powers of reason, and belief in human accountability to the preaching of the Christian gospel.  In 1823, Finney put himself under the care of the St. Lawrence Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry; he was ordained in July 1824.  He left the Presbytery in 1836 and from then on identified himself as a Congregationalist.

For nearly a decade, from 1824 to 1833, Finney conducted unusual revivals in the Middle and Eastern states, but especially in the towns of New York:  Rome, Rochester, Utica, Clinton, Antwerp, Evans' Mills, Western, and Gouverneur.  In 1832, he became pastor of the Second Free Presbyterian Church, New York City.  In 1835, the wealthy silk merchant and benefactor Arthur Tappan (1786-1865) offered financial backing to the newly founded Oberlin Collegiate Institute (as Oberlin was known before 1850), and he invited Finney, on the recommendation of abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld (1803-95), to establish its theological department.  After much wrangling, Finney accepted, on the conditions that he be allowed to continue to preach in New York, that the school admit blacks, and that free speech be guaranteed at Oberlin.

At Oberlin Theological Seminary, Finney held the posts of Professor of Systematic Theology (1835-58) and Professor of Pastoral Theology (1835-75), teaching courses in Didactic and Polemic Theology, Pastoral Theology, and Mental and Moral Philosophy.  He served simultaneously as pastor of Oberlin's First Congregational Church (1837-72) and was a member of the Oberlin College Board of Trustees from 1846 until 1851 when he was elected president.  For much of the academic year, he carried on his immensely successful evangelistic work, visiting Great Britain in 1849-50 and again in 1859-60.  Through  the Oberlin Evangelist, established in 1839, he expressed his views on doctrinal and practical matters, collectively referred to as "Oberlin Theology" or "Oberlin Perfectionism."  Finney taught that the individual has a limitless capacity for repentance.

He also taught that an exalted state of spirituality was attainable by leading a Christian life.  These New School Calvinist views, opposed by conservative Calvinists, included prohibitions against tobacco, tea, coffee, and most popular amusements.  Finney's brand of theological perfectionism placed Oberlin on the theological map for more than a century.

In 1869, Finney published The Character, Claims, and Practical Workings of Freemasonry, attacking the order of which he had once been a member.  His Lectures on Systematic Theology were published in 1846 and 1847.  Among his other works are:  Sermons on Important Subjects (3rd ed., 1836); Lectures to Professing Christians (1837); and Skeletons of a Course of Theological Lectures (1840).  In 1867, Finney began writing Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney.  Edited by James Harris Fairchild and published in 1876, the memoirs deal chiefly with his evangelistic activities; they do not constitute an autobiography.  Finney taught up until his eighty-third year, submitting his resignation from the presidency in 1865.  He died in Oberlin in August 1875 following a heart ailment.

During his life, Finney had three wives.  In 1824, he married Lydia Root Andrews (1804-47).  They had six children: Helen C. Finney (b. 1828); Charles Grandison Finney (b. 1830); Frederick Norton Finney (b. 1832); Julia R. Finney (b. 1837); Sarah Sage Finney (1841-43), and Delia Andrews Finney (1844-52).  Finney's second wife was Elizabeth Ford Atkinson (1799-1863, m. 1848) and his third wife Rebecca Allen Rayl (1824-1907, m.1865).  All three women shared in Finney's revival work, accompanying him on his travels and even developing parallel ministries, as Elizabeth Ford Atkinson did during the two evangelistic trips in England.  In Oberlin, they were active in various women's organizations, including the Maternal Association, the Infant School, and the Oberlin Female Moral Reform Society.  Rebecca Rayl served as Assistant Principal of the Ladies Department at Oberlin College between 1856 and 1865, prior to her marriage.