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John C. Bundy papers

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

John C. Bundy was born February 16, 1841 in St. Charles, Illinois. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bundy enlisted as a private in the Kane County Independent Cavalry, with which he served in Missouri and Arkansas. In 1862, just less than one year after his enlistment, he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Arkansas Infantry.

Following the war, Bundy returned to Illinois and worked as editor and proprietor of the Religio-Philosophical Journal. The Religio-Philosophical Journal was a journal devoted to spiritual philosophy, which was started by Bundy's father-in-law, S.S. Jones and an association of dozens of the leading spiritualists of the day. Bundy was connected with the publication from 1877 until his death on August 6, 1892. After his death, his wife Mary Elizabeth Jones Bundy took over the running of the Religio-Philosophical Journal.

This collection consists of correspondence concerning spiritualism and more specifically the workings and content of the Religio-Philosophical Journal. The most significant groups of correspondence are letters from Horace Howard Furness during his chairmanship of the University of Pennsylvania's Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism; letters from author, editor, and spiritualist Epes Sargent; and copies of Bundy's letters to M.C.C. Church of Parkersburg, West Virginia, who wrote columns and reviews for the journal. Among the subjects of Bundy's letters to Church are Madame Blavatsky and Thomas Lake Harris. The collection also includes single letters to or from Harris, M. L. Holbrook, William James, and William Quan Judge.

A very small miscellaneous series includes a memorial pamphlet for Bundy and some articles by other authors concerning spiritualism. The miscellaneous series also includes a copy of an issue of the spiritualist newspaper The Two Worlds, pages uncut, stored in an oversize folder in a map drawer.

Gift of Rosalind B. Schmitt, 2005.

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Finding Aid Author
Clémence Scouten
Finding Aid Date
2015 May 7
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Collection Inventory

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Alcott, A.N., 1890.
Box 1 Folder 1
Bailey, Henry, 1886.
Box 1 Folder 2
Brown, E. Gerry, 1891.
Box 1 Folder 3
Church, M.C.C., 1888 June-September.
Box 1 Folder 4
Church, M.C.C., 1888 October.
Box 1 Folder 5
Church, M.C.C., 1888 November-December.
Box 1 Folder 6
Church, M.C.C., 1889 January-April.
Box 1 Folder 7
Church, M.C.C., 1889 May.
Box 1 Folder 8
Church, M.C.C., 1889 June.
Box 1 Folder 9
Church, M.C.C., 1889 July-August.
Box 1 Folder 10
Church, M.C.C., 1889 September.
Box 1 Folder 11
Church, M.C.C., 1889 October.
Box 1 Folder 12
Church, M.C.C., 1889-1890.
Box 1 Folder 13
Church, M.C.C., 1890 February-June.
Box 1 Folder 14
Church, M.C.C., 1890 July-November.
Box 1 Folder 15
Church, M.C.C., 1890.
Box 1 Folder 16
Church, M.C.C., 1891 January-June.
Box 1 Folder 17
Church, M.C.C., 1891 July-December.
Box 1 Folder 18
Church, M.C.C., 1892.
Box 1 Folder 19
Church, M.C.C., undated.
Box 1 Folder 20
Furness, Horace Howard, 1884-1886.
Box 1 Folder 21
Furness, Horace Howard, 1886-1887.
Box 1 Folder 22
Furness, Horace Howard, 1887 January-May.
Box 1 Folder 23
Furness, Horace Howard, 1887 June-August.
Box 1 Folder 24
Furness, Horace Howard, 1887-1889.
Box 1 Folder 25
Harris, Thomas Lake, 1891.
Box 2 Folder 26
Holbrook, M.L. (Martin Luther), 1891.
Box 2 Folder 27
James, William, 1889.
Box 2 Folder 28
Judge, William Quan, 1888.
Box 2 Folder 29
New York Association of the Alumni and Students of Phillips Academy, 1893.
Box 2 Folder 30
Correspondence "P", 1892.
Box 2 Folder 31
Sargent, Epes, 1877-1880.
Box 2 Folder 32
Smith, D.E., 1879.
Box 2 Folder 33
Turner, Jonathan Baldwin, 1889.
Box 2 Folder 34
Wright, J. Clegg, 1887.
Box 2 Folder 35

Memorial pamphlet for J.C. Bundy, 1892.
Box 2 Folder 36
Two Worlds, 1882 June 2.
Drawer 34
Typescript regarding labor, undated.
Box 2 Folder 37
Writings by others on spiritualism, 1854, 1882, undated.
Box 2 Folder 38

Print, Suggest