Guide to the Thomas Fraser Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

Thomas Fraser Papers

Inclusive Dates

1859-1967

Bulk Dates

1859-1902

Call Number

RG 299

Creator(s)

Fraser, Thomas, 1820-1902.

Quantity

0.50 cubic feet (20 folders)

Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research.

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

Thomas Fraser was born in Dalkeith, Scotland; his family moved to New York when he was five. He attended Union College and Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating in 1845. He became one of the first home missionaries to Wisconsin that year. In 1852 he moved to Newbern, NC as a supply pastor, and a year later he accepted a call to Little Rock. He returned to the Board of Home Missions in 1859; this time he was sent to southern California, where he divided his efforts among Santa Rosa, Bodega, Tomales, Bloomfield and Two Rock.

In 1867 Fraser accepted a call to the First Church of Portland, OR. He remained there for one year, leaving to begin a sojourn as a Pacific Synod missionary. In 1886 he became a professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary. He retired from the seminary in 1892. Thomas Fraser died on October 25, 1903 in Oakland, California.

Collection Overview

Record Group 299 is made up of Fraser's incoming and outgoing correspondence. It includes personal letters to his wife and daughter as well as official correspondence relating to his various churches and his missionary and seminary positions. In addition to the correspondence, the collection includes a paper written on Fraser's life and work.

Notable in the collection are the contents of Folder 15; letters written by some prominent men dealing with a case of Arkansas property which Fraser lost during the Civil War. It includes one letter requesting permission for Fraser to visit the front.

Organization and Arrangement

SERIES I: OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1859-1897

SERIES II: INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE, 1860-1902

SERIES III: OTHER PAPERS, 1860-1889, 1967

Administrative Information

Processing Information

Collection processed and finding aid prepared: August 1992
Stephanie Muntone, Processing Archivist

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Personal Name Subject

Fraser, Thomas, 1820-1902.

Corporate Subject

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Presbytery of Wisconsin.

San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Topical Subject

Missionaries--California, Southern.

Missionaries--Wisconsin.

Home missions--California, Southern.

Home missions--Wisconsin.

Presbyterian Church--Missions--United States.

Geographic Subject

Arkansas--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Claims.

Genre-form

Correspondence. aat

Personal Added Name

Fraser, Julia.

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

1	1	Finding Aid to Record Group 299

		SERIES I: OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1859-1897

1	2	To Mrs. Fraser, 1859-1863
1	3	To Mrs. Fraser, 1867-1868
1	4	To Mrs. Fraser, 1871-1897
1	5	To Julia Fraser, 1882-1884
1	6	To W.S. Ladd, 1887

		SERIES II: INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE, 1860-1902

1	7	1860-1865
1	8	1866-1868
1	9	1869-1871
1	10	1873
1	11	1874-1877
1	12	1882-1886
1	13	1887-1902
1	14	Incoming Correspondence to Mrs. Fraser, 1864

		SERIES III: OTHER PAPERS, 1860-1889, 1967

1	15	Papers re Arkansas Property, 1863-1864
1	16	Board of Domestic Missions--Certifications, Commissions, 1860-1876
1	17	San Francisco Seminary Records, 1887-1889, undated
1	18	Wisconsin Presbytery--History/Chronology
1	19	Miscellaneous Items:
1	19	1st Church, Portland--Annual Report, 1874
1	19	Installation of A.L. Lindsley, 1869
1	19	Pacific Synod--Account listing synod ministers, 1876
1	20	"The Wisconsin Days" by H.B. Smith, 1967

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Guide to the Thomas Fraser Papers

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