Quaker Resources
Books on Quaker History and Practice
The sections of this website on Quaker history and spirituality are informed by the collective ministry of the Louisville Friends Meeting and our readings. Texts that were particularly helpful include.
Faith & Practice, Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting
Louisville Friends is a member of OVYM and this book provides an excellent roadmap to our faith and how we administer our meeting. Additionally, it contains a short history of Quakers from the 17th Century to today.
The Quakers in America (2003), Thomas Hamm
Hamm, a history professor & archivist at Earlham College, and a practicing Quaker, traces the Quaker movement from its origins in England through all of its various splits and conflicts in the United States. .
Beyond Majority Rule: Voteless Decisions in the Religious Society of Friends (1983), Michael J. Sheeran
This book- despite its rather unexciting title- provides an insightful analysis of the potentially profound importance of the Quaker decision making process. Sheeran, a Jesuit priest, spent two years conducting interviews, reading, and observing the actual decision-making of the Quakers. Sheeran was convinced that the Quakers “have something of first importance to share in their technique of reaching a viable resolution of their own problems.” The book also contains several chapters on Quaker history.
Quakers In Their Own Words
Quaker writings through the centuries were also invaluable and continue to provide profound inspiration and insight. Friends such as George Fox, Margaret Fell, John Woolman, Caroline Stephen, Thomas Kelly, and others speak in their own words in:
Quaker Spirituality, Moody, Rick (foreword); Griffin, Emilie (editor); Steere, Douglas V. (editor)
Hidden in Plain Sight: Quaker Women’s Writings, 1650–1700 (1996), Mary Garman, Judith Applegate, Margaret Benefiel, and Dortha Meredith
Quaker Writings: An Anthology, 1650–1920 (2011), Thomas Hamm
Web Resources
Finally, many valuable websites were consulted including Quaker organizations and the websites of other Friends Meetings:
Our Yearly Meeting. Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting is a spiritual community of 17 Monthly Meetings in Indiana, Kentucky, and southwestern Ohio.
A Yearly Meeting is the central organizing unit of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) with no larger body exercising authority over it.
Quaker.org basic information about the Religious Society of Friends. By the publisher of Friends Journal .
Documentary film about Quaker History and activism.
Quakers in Britain have largely avoided the schisms that have divided Quakerism in America. The yearly meeting covers website linked above provides history and information about our Friends across the pond.