ANN ARBOR (WWJ) The University of Michigan’s (U-M) William L. Clements Library has acquired a never-before-seen gem of Revolutionary War history.
According to library officials, the library in Ann Arbor is now home to 192 original sermons handwritten by chaplain Reverend Joseph Bowman between the years of 1765 and 1780. The 2,000 pages had previously been a part of a private collection, unknown to the public.
He delivered many of the sermons to Continental soldiers during the siege of Boston—and to the army in July 1775 and February 1776, during the early stages of the War for Independence.
The collection also contains a 1777 address to men departing “into ye service of ye Country.”
"The Joseph Bowman sermons provide an unpublished wealth of information about the spiritual and temporal guidance given by a small town Massachusetts minister over the course of multiple decades in the 18th century," said Cheney Schopieray, curator of manuscripts at the Clements Library.
Bowman, born in 1734, served as a military chaplain in the Patriot cause from his hometown of Oxford, Massachusetts. The Harvard-trained Congregationalist remained minister at the First Congregational Church throughout the Revolutionary War.
Paul Erickson, the Director of the Clements Library, said they “jumped at the chance” to acquire the collection as soon as it became available, even though they had not yet raised the money for it.
The Clements Library is embarking on a crowdfunding campaign to raise $40,000 to seal the deal and make the acquisition permanent.
"The opportunity to see how one minister connected the war effort to questions of faith in the earliest months of the fighting is absolutely remarkable," Erickson said in a press release.
The Library said the acquisition of Bowman’s sermons will help researchers examine the relationship between “religion and revolution in what would become the United States.”
Library officials said the sermons will help researchers examine the relationship between “religion and revolution in what would become the United States.”
Library officials said the sermons will help researchers examine the relationship between “religion and revolution in what would become the United States.”
