Joseph Wood Archive
Contains records with digital mediaDetails
Type of record: Archive
Title: Joseph Wood Archive
Classmark: MS 1936
Creator(s): Wood, Joseph (1750-1821)(); Ashbridge, Elizabeth (1713-1755)()
Date(s): 23 Mar 1661-1840
Language: English
Size and medium: manuscript papers, notebooks; 15 boxes
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/164804
Collection group(s): Quaker Collection | Joseph Wood Collections
Description
The collection includes 100 notebooks written by Wood from 1767-1821. There are 63 large notebooks and 37 small ones. In his notebooks Wood recorded his ministry and copied his letters. A prolific correspondent, Wood kept over 600 letters from fellow Quakers and acquaintances.
Wood committed his life to the spread and practice of Quakerism in England and America, gathering papers which include dying expressions of Friends, testimonies written after their deaths and records of meetings.
Wood also collected poems with religious themes and typescript political and religious pamphlets. He was passionately committed to education and some of the papers refer to Ackworth School and to the formation of lending libraries.
The papers reveal much about Quakerism in Yorkshire and England and the interconnectivity among Quaker families. The small notebooks record Wood's journeys to Quaker meetings in various parts of England and are of general social interest.
Many of the notebooks are bound in contemporary wallpaper, all handmade using pre-1830s methodologies and probably of local origin.
The notebooks have been transcribed by Pamela Cooksey. They are available online on the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre website https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/pages/the-joseph-wood-archive.html
Biography or history
Joseph Wood was a Quietist Quaker born in Newhouse, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire in 1750. His parents were Samuel and Susannah Wood who were members of a Quaker community. Wood belonged to the High Flatts Meeting at Birdsedge near Huddersfield. He was recognised as having the gift of ministry and served for 42 years as a Minister of the Gospel. During his ministry Joseph travelled widely preaching at numerous Quaker meetings. Joseph was also a farmer with land at Newhouses and a businessman who dealt in cloth. A prolific writer, he kept a quantity of notebooks in which he recorded his thoughts, itineraries, letters and poems. He died in 1821.
Provenance
The collection was passed down six generations from Wood's brother, Samuel, (1752-1842). Pamela Cooksey facilitated its donation from James Wood to Leeds' Special Collections.
Access and usage
Access
This collection is fully accessible and not subject to protection under the Data Protection Act
On our website
Collection guide: Quaker Collections
The University of Leeds Special Collections is the main repository for Yorkshire Quaker Archives. Collections include the official records of meeting houses and those of prominent Quaker families.