This collection documents the life and work of Hamilton T. Boswell, minister of Jones Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco and founding minister of Bowen Memorial Methodist Church in Los Angeles. The collection includes correpsondence and working documents related to Boswell's work with his congregations and within the United Methodist Church; San Francisco civic and public institutions such as the Juvenile Justice Commission and Housing Authority; the Civil Rights movement; his activities as a San Francisco police chaplain and chaplain of the California Assembly; and his personal life. Also included are his writings, from early classwork to sermons, speeches, and articles for his column, 'The Pulpit Voice', as well as photographs spanning his life and career. Audio recordings of sermons and family films are also present. Included are correspondence and photographs from Boswell's interactions with figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Willie Brown, Jr. and various other San Francisco mayors, California governors, and other city and state officials.

Rev. Hamilton T. Boswell was born in Dallas, Texas in 1914. In 1920, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he attended grade school and high school. He attended Wiley College in Marshall, Texas and then earned his master's degree and PhD in 1943 from the University of Southern California. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African-American, intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity, and continued his involvement for 72 years. He met and married Eleanor Gragg in 1939, after a courtship of three days; they would remain married until their deaths in 2007. The couple had two daughters, Eleanor and Jeri Lynn.

8.2 linear feet (6 cartons; 1 box; 2 oversize folders; 1 portfolio)

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Collection is open for research.