J. Wilbur Chapman Papers

Collection

Identifier: CN 077

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Microfilm from the Presbyterian Historical Society of correspondence, sermons, sermon notes, photographs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and memorabilia documenting the life and ministry of J. Wilbur Chapman. Materials detail Chapman's life from his early education through his pastoral Ministry and full-time evangelistic work. Documents also relate to his interests in Bible conference centers in Winona Lake, IN, Montreat, NC, and Stony Brook, NY.

Dates

Created: 1880-1918

Creator

Chapman, J. Wilbur (John Wilbur), 1859-1918. (Person)

Conditions Governing Use

The microfilm in this collection may not be reproduced without written permission of the:

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Biographical or Historical Information

John Wilbur Chapman was born in Richmond, Indiana, on June 17, 1859. His parents Alexander H. and Lorinda Chapman prepared him for a life of Christian ministry. The young man felt he could never pinpoint a date for his conversion, but did make public his acknowledgement of Christ at age seventeen.

In 1876 Chapman joined the Richmond Presbyterian Church and later that year left to attend Oberlin College. After one year at Oberlin, Chapman transferred to Lake Forest University where he received his B.A. in 1879. His seminary years, 1879-1882, were spent at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, during which time he was ordained on April 13, 1881.

The young minister married Irene Steddon, in May 1882, prior to assuming his first pastorate. Chapman's first child, Bertha Irene, was born on April 1, 1886, which was followed a month later by his wife's death. The minister then married Agnes Pruyn Strain on November 4, 1888. She bore Chapman four children: Robert (who died in infancy), John Wilbur, Jr., Alexander Hamilton, and Agnes Pruyn. Chapman's second wife died June 25, 1907. He married his third and last wife Mabel Cornelia Moulton on August 30, 1910.

Chapman led several churches prior to his full time evangelistic efforts. The following churches came under Chapman's care from 1882 until 1902: College Corner Presbyterian Church (Ohio) and Liberty Presbyterian Church (Indiana), 1882; Dutch Reformed Church (Schuylerville, NY), 1883-1885; First Reformed Church (Albany, NY), 1885-1890; Bethany Presbyterian (Philadelphia, PA), 1890-1892, 1896-1899; Fourth Presbyterian Church (New York City, NY), 1899-1902.

Chapman began his evangelistic work full time in 1893, preaching with D. L. Moody at the World's Fair and conducting many meetings on his own. He hired William Ashley "Billy" Sunday as an advance man, thus giving him his start in evangelism. At this same time, the evangelist Sol C. Dickey set up a Bible Conference Center in Winona Lake, Indiana. This center held lifelong interest to Chapman along with the others he helped develop in Montreat, North Carolina, and Stony Brook, Long Island, New York.

After returning to the active pastorate for a short time, at the end of 1895, Chapman was appointed Corresponding Secretary of the Presbyterian General Assembly's Committee on Evangelism. He directed the activities of fifty-one evangelists in 470 cities and also found time to write one of his numerous books, Present Day Evangelism. In 1905, John H. Converse, a wealthy Presbyterian layman, offered to underwrite Chapman's expenses if he would return to full time evangelistic work. Converse also set up a trust fund to provide monies even after his own death.

From 1904-1909 Chapman began to develop and promote a new method of urban evangelism. His idea was to hold several meetings throughout a city simultaneously, thereby reaching more people and stirring more hearts to enter into Christian service. The first city to try Chapman's theory was Pittsburgh in 1904. The city was divided into nine districts with nine meeting places as the revival was conducted. Chapman took the central position and his assistants the rest. Another campaign was planned and executed in Syracuse, New York, in 1906; however, there were still unfinished details to be worked out for the method to be widely accepted.

Charles Mc Callon Alexander, world famous song leader, who had been traveling with R.A. Torrey, joined with Chapman in 1907. The two men became a team and formed the "Chapman-Alexander Simultaneous Campaign." Enjoying the benefits of both their influences, the men were able to build a large group of evangelists and song leaders to assist them in the large city-wide campaigns.

The first joint campaign was held in Philadelphia from March 12 to April 19, 1908. The city was divided into forty-two districts with twenty-one teams of evangelist-musicians. Three weeks were spent in each half of the city with estimates of eight thousand conversions. The following revival held in Boston from January 26 to February 17, 1909, is considered to be Chapman's most successful. The city was divided into twenty-seven districts and recorded seven thousand conversions.

The first Chapman-Alexander worldwide campaign left Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 26, 1909, and returned November 26. Stops along the way included: Melbourne, Sydney, Ipswitch, Brisbane, Adelaide, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Townsville in Australia; Manila in the Philippines; Hong Kong, Kowloon, Canton, Shanghai, Hankow, Peking and Tientsin in China; Seoul, Korea; Kobe, Kyoto, Tokyo, and Yokohama in Japan.

Chapman continued his non-stop evangelistic efforts in both the United States and Europe in 1910, including a very successful Chicago meeting from October 16 to November 27. However, Chapman's technique of mass evangelism lost much of its popularity. A series of unsuccessful campaigns were conducted in Bangor and Portland, Maine, and Dayton and Columbus, Ohio. Chapman was not credited with the failures, and so from 1912 on all the revivals were mass meetings led by Chapman.

Many services were conducted by the evangelist in the next couple of year in Australia, Scotland, Ireland, India, New Zealand, and the United States, averaging three to five sermons a day in many places. His career as evangelist ended with the Chapman-Alexander campaign January 6 to February 13, 1918.

The Presbyterian General Assembly elected him Moderator in May 1918. The strenuous routine required for the position combined with all the energy expended during his campaigns created a collapse of Chapman's health. He was forced to undergo emergency surgery for gallstones on December 23 and died on December 25, 1918.

Extent

8 Reels of microfilm (of 7 boxes of Chapman's papers at the Presbyterian Historical Society)

1 other format (Photograph)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement of Material

[NOTE: In the Arrangement section, the notation "folder 2-5" means box 2, folder 5.]

Due to the arrangement and filming of the Chapman papers by the Presbyterian Historical Society, this guide attempts to describe each series of records as they appear in the collection. Various types of records are found in the collection, such as: correspondence, sermons, sermon notes, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and photographs. The Box List of this description is sorted by the original boxes and folders, but the description also identifies the microfilm reel on which to find a particular folder.

Microfilm Reel 1 (Box 1, Folders 1 to 8; Box 2, Folders 1 to 6(a):

Folder 1-1 contains a copy of Chapman's license to preach dated April 13, 1881, and a letter of recommendation from Mr. Theophilus Wilson dated March 20, 1880.
Folder 1-2 includes a genealogical review of Chapman's material and paternal ancestry. Other miscellaneous materials found in the folder include maps of Richmond, Indiana, where Chapman grew up and a letter dated February 12, 1919 from Timothy Nicholson, a Richmond resident, who wrote about Chapman's early years.
Folder 1-3 contains correspondence, resolutions and minutes from various churches Chapman served as pastor. Some of the records included are from College Corner, Ohio, March 11, 1882; Liberty, Indiana, March 12, 1882; North Reformed Church of West Troy, April 1, 1885; Dutch Reformed Church at Schuylerville, New York, April 17, 1883; and First Reformed Church of Albany, New York, November 18, 1889.
Folder 1-4 contains correspondence between Chapman and John W. Converse regarding the Trust Fund Converse set up to underwrite Chapman's expenses. Materials in the folder include the actual deed of trust dated February 1, 1905; terms of the trust; letter stating Charles Alexander had been hired as Music Director; official memo stating name of the campaigns as "The Chapman-Alexander Simultaneous Evangelistic Meetings;" memo as to hiring of various assistants; approvals of Chapman itinerary.
Folder 1-5 is the first of several folders containing scrapbooks of various Chapman campaigns. Each scrapbook contains newspaper accounts of the meetings including advance preparations, sermons preached, biographical sketches of associates, attendance during services, and reactions in the community. Not all the clippings give the paper they are from and the date, but material in the articles could be quite useful. For details on actual locations covered by scrapbooks, please consult the Box List. Folder numbers with scrapbooks are as follows: 1-6,7,8, 2-1,2,3,4,5,6, 3-1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7-1,2.

Microfilm Reel 2 (Box 2, Folder 6(b), Box 3, Folders 1 to 7):

Folder 3-7 is the first of several folders containing a collection of J. Wilbur Chapman sermons. Volume 4 appears in this folder and contains fourteen sermons. Each consists of a table of contents, title of sermon, name of city, and date followed by the sermon text. The Box List contains the sermon titles and date used when available. Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of the Chapman sermons follow the collection of unidentified loose photographs on microfilm reel 7. The beginning of reel 8 contains a duplicate of the last five sermons in volume 3 found at the end of reel 7.

Microfilm Reel 3 (Box 4, Folders 1,2,3,4):

Folder 4-1 contains the remembrance book from the 129th Presbyterian General Assembly (1917) and includes congratulatory messages for Chapman on his election as moderator; newspaper clippings covering the event held in Dallas, Texas May 17-25; and prams. Remembrance books were often presented to visiting evangelists by the local pastors as a memento expressing the group's appreciation for the evangelist and his services. Telegrams were received from numerous people. Among the correspondents were: F.E. Du Bois, Marcus A. Brownson, Helen Cadbury Alexander, John Wannamaker, Edgar W. Work, James D. Husted, Bob Jones, Henry W. Stough, James Sprunt, Evangeline Booth, Billy Sunday, John Willis Baer, William Asher, Frank Granstaff, William H. Phelps, Josephus Daniels, and President Woodrow Wilson.
Folder 4-2 is a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the illness and death of Chapman's wife on June 25, 1907, and telegrams the family received during her illness and at her death. Correspondents included: Marcus A. Brownson, Henry Ostrom, Billy Sunday, Daniel S. Toy, Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Stough, W.E. Biederwolf, Walter M. Smith, Harry Monroe, John H. Converse, Mr. and Mrs. J.O. Buswell, and John H. Elliott.
Folder 4-3 contains a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the Bible Conference Center established at Winona Lake, Indiana. Chapman was named Director of the Conference with Thomas Kane serving as President. The material describes how the Conference Center was formed and developed.
Folder 4-4 contains the special edition issues of The Australian Christian World, which chronicles the events of the Chapman-Alexander meetings in Sydney, Australia. The newspapers are in addition to a Book of Remembrances presented to Chapman and Alexander in appreciation of the work they did in Sydney. Chapman's addresses, sketches of personnel, articles regarding the goals, purposes, and results are all included in the Remembrance Book, second edition published in 1909.

Microfilm Reel 4 (Box 5, Folders 1 to 101):

Folders 5-1 through 5-97 contain individual Chapman sermons. Each sermon includes title, date of use, and place of use. The Box List enumerates each sermon title and date when available. Folders 5-98 through 5-112 contain handwritten sermon notes and illustrations. The notes are largely untitled and undated. Each folder represents a different notebook of materials. Folder 6-3 is a collection of sermon outlines dated 1909. Folders 6-4,5 are collections of clippings Chapman saved as sermon resource materials. Various subjects are covered such as faith, motherhood, friendship, life worry, sorrow, home life, and sin, dating from 1913-1916. The material is mostly in the form of poems, hymns, and letters. Folders 6-7,13.1, and 6-13.2 are compilations of miscellaneous sermon and lecture notes, undated.
Chapman devised a rather elaborate indexing method for his sermons. Folder 6-12 contains an engagement book dating October 2, 1913, to March 26, 1917. The first section of the book is an alphabetical index of sermon titles and text. Section two is a listing of cities in which he spoke followed by sermon title, text, and date.

Microfilm Reel 5 (Box 5, Folders 102 to 112; Box 6, Folders 1,2,3,4):

Folder 6-1 contains the eulogy on Chapman delivered by Edgar Whittaker Work before the New York Presbytery on January 13, 1919. Work detailed Chapman's work in the denomination and praised the evangelist's career as pastor and revivalist.
Folder 6-2 contains a series of commendation letters from New Zealand, May 1913. The letters were written to Chapman from various ministers in the area thanking him for his service in Australia.

Microfilm Reel 6 (Box 6, Folders 5 to 13:2a:

Folders 6-8 through 6-11 contain clippings of the Good News Pulpit from January 4, 1900, until January 15, 1903. These are articles Chapman wrote for the newspaper each containing a scriptural text followed by a short devotional thought.

Microfilm Reel 7 (Box 6, Folder 13:2b; Box 7, Folders 1 to 4(a), through volume 2, "The Great Register"):

Folder 7-3 contains a photograph album of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, presented to Dr. Chapman as a gift on February 6, 1915, as a remembrance of his visit. All the photographs are captioned and consist largely of miscellaneous views of the city. There are twenty-nine photographs in the album.
Following the photo album is a collection of 217 photographs collected during Chapman's various campaigns and world tours. Some of the photographs were captioned while others were identified by the archivist when possible and by using external evidence and other resource materials. Many photographs are unidentified. For a listing of the photographs, please consult the Box List. The final fifty-six photographs follow a target which reads, "These photograph albums believed to have been taken on Chapman's Australian Evangelistic Campaign 1913." Many of these pictures are duplicates. Because none of the pictures were captioned and few were at all identifiable, they have been grouped together and left undescribed in this guide.

Microfilm Reel 8 (Box 7, Folder 4b -- continuing through volume 3:

Souvenir of Dunedin, New Zealand Evangelistic Campaign, April 14, 1912
Certificate of Appreciation from the ministers of Springfield, Massachusetts to Dr. Chapman
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1899-1918
Letter to Henry Barraclough, November 29, 1918
Correspondence between Chapman and Sheldon Jackson, July 6 and 27, 1897, concerning agricultural possibilities of the Yukon Valley
Letter to Chapman from President Woodrow Wilson, December 19, 1917
J. Wilbur Chapman Study and Appraisal)

Following the photographs were several groups of materials with what appear to be catalog or reference numbers but with no box and folder designations, all located on microfilm reel 8. (Please see the Microfilm Location Record.) Among this material are several items given to Chapman in recognition of his evangelistic efforts. These include a Remembrance Book from Sydney, New South Wales on August 10, 1909, signed by members of the executive committee and participating clergy; souvenir of Dunedin, New Zealand, Evangelistic Campaign on April 14, 1912 signed by members of the executive committee; and a certificate of appreciation from the ministers of Springfield, Massachusetts.

The folder entitled "MS C 366 Miscellaneous J. Wilbur Chapman Correspondence 1899-1918," includes notices and memorandums written while Chapman served as Corresponding Secretary of the Presbyterian General Assembly's Committee on Evangelistic Work, acceptances to invitation, and other memoranda. The folder entitled "MSC 366.16" is a letter written to Harry Barraclough on November 29, 1918. Folder "MS Photostats J 138" contains correspondence between Chapman and Sheldon Jackson on July 6 and 27, 1897, regarding Yukon Valley agricultural possibilities. "Rare Doc W 6991c" contains a letter to Chapman from President Woodrow Wilson dated December 19, 1917.

The last folder, "MS C 366.1," provides a copy of Alvin Duane Smith's "Study and Appraisal of Chapman." Included in the materials are an introduction consisting largely of a biographical sketch, an outline for the study, and a bibliography on Chapman.

The collection includes two photographs of Chapman with groups of individuals taken in Ontario, Canada about 1910.

Miscellaneous Items not following normal box/folder arrangement:

Souvenir of Dunedin, New Zealand Evangelistic Campaign, April 14, 1912
Certificate of Appreciation from the ministers of Springfield, Massachusetts
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1899-1918
Letter to Henry Barraclough, November 29, 1918
Correspondence between Chapman and Sheldon Jackson, July 6 and 27, 1897, concerning agricultural possibilities of the Yukon Valley
Letter to Chapman from President Woodrow Wilson, December 19, 1917J. Wilbur Chapman Study and Appraisal

Accruals and Additions

The microfilm in this collection were received by the Billy Graham Center Archives in April and May 1979 from the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The artifact was received in June 1987 from the Wheaton College Archives at the Wheaton College Library.

Accessions 79-44, 79-53, 87-56

October 11, 1979

Mary Ann Buffington

G. Gallup

Updated February 19, 2003

Wayne D. Weber

Related Materials

The following items have been given to the Billy Graham Museum:

Ticket, probably for a meeting held either in Springfield or Boston, MA, in 1909. The ticket is orange, 1-1/4" x 4-1/4", with a heavy crease near its left end. The ticket reads: "MEN ONLY DR CHAPMAN'S SUBJECT "The Swelling of the River" MECHANICS BUILDING Sunday, February 21, 3 p.m. CHAS. M. ALEXANDER, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC"