This collection contains the papers of Irish-American author, lecturer, and Congregationalist minister Alexander Irvine (1863-1941), and consists mostly of Irvine’s manuscripts, chiefly dating from 1906-1941.

Author, lecturer, and Congregationalist minister Alexander Irvine (1863-1941) was born in Antrim, Ireland, in 1863, the son of Anna (née Gilmore) and Jamie Irvine, she a Roman Catholic and he an illiterate Protestant shoemaker. He grew up working in his father’s cobbling business which Jamie Irvine ran out of his small home. The ninth out of twelve children, Irvine’s mother gave him little formal education as he had to supplement his father’s income by selling newspapers instead of attending school. The young Irvine had a religious awakening while working as a scarecrow in a potato field, where he became overawed by the beauty of a sunset and became convinced of a personal connection with a higher power.

290 items in 4 boxes and 4 oversize folders

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