Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Names
Other Finding Aids
Separated Material
Descriptive Summary
Title: Mildred R. and James L. Gillingham New Religious Movement collection
Dates: 1925-1970
Collection number: GTU 2008-6-02
Collector:
Gillingham, Mildred R.
Collector:
Gillingham, James L.
Collection Size:
11 boxes, 1 folio (10 linear feet)
Repository: The Graduate Theological Union. Library.
Abstract: The collection contains ephemera, printed materials and correspondence on Hindu, Buddhism, Theosophy, new age, religious science,
UFOs, Society of Friends, new thought Christian writers and related materials. Within these materials are correspondence and
writings from some well known 20th century figures from related fields.
Physical location: 7/J/1-5
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
Mildred R. and James L. Gillingham New Religious Movement collection, GTU 2008-6-02. Graduate Theological Union Archives,
Berkeley, CA.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Maya Gillingham Chung in June 2008.
Biography / Administrative History
The collection includes materials and correspondence collected by Mildred Newell Rider Gillingham (1893-1984) and James Love
Gillingham (1893-1970), who lived in Oakland, Alameda and Los Altos. Materials also include writings and mentions of their
son, Peter Newell Gillingham, who had similar interests in alternative religious and scientific fields.
This collection supplements the GTU's other New Religious Movement collections.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains ephemera, printed materials and correspondence on Hindu, Buddhism, Theosophy, new age, religious science,
UFOs, Society of Friends,
new thought Christian writers and related materials. Within the collection are correspondence and writings from some well
known 20th century figures: Margaret Taylor Fisk (sacred dance pioneer), Cedric Wright (violinist and wilderness photographer),
Ida Hagen Marshall (author), Ruth Fuller Sasaki (Zen translator) and Howard Thurman (co-minister of Church for the Fellowship
of All Peoples, San Francisco). Four boxes of other correspondence (friends, acquaintances and business) have not been processed
but are in the original alphabetical folder order.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged as follows: Series 1. Subjects/Organizations/People; Series 2, Serials; Series 3, Pamhlets. Series
4, Family Correspondence.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Divination.
LSD (Drug)
New Age movement.
Parapsychology.
Society of Friends.
Unidentified flying object cults.
Zen Buddhism.
Taylor, Margaret Fisk
Wright, Cedric
Marshall, Ida Hagen
Sasaki, Ruth Fuller, 1893-1967
Thurman, Howard, 1900-1891
Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples
Other Finding Aids
See other New Religious Movements collections.
Separated Material
The original donation included around 700 books and four boxes of serials and pamphlets. Half of the books will be incorporated
into the circulating collection. The other half, duplicates of the GTU collection, were sold at the annual book sale. Publications
that supplemented existing serials were added to the periodical collection.