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Inventory of the Robert W. Whitaker Collection
GTU 2003-11-01  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
Robert Whitaker was a Baptist minister who served churches in Seattle; Salem, Oregon; Oakland and Los Gatos, California. He was politically active throughout his ministry. participating in socialism, communism, pacifism, the labor movement, and the American Civil Liberties Union. He authored many articles and poem published in liberal religious and labor journals. He was once arrested under the Criminal Syndicalism Act for participating in a pacifist assembly, and later worked to free labor activist Tom Mooney from prison. Whitaker counted among his friends and collegues Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Fanny Bixby Spencer, John Haynes Holmes, and Anna Louise Strong.
Background
Robert Whitaker was born in Padiham, Lancashire, England in 1863, and moved with his family to the United States in 1869. After working at a watch factory in Waltham, Massachusetts, Whitaker attended first Lawrence Academy in Croton, Massachusetts, and then Andover-Newton Theological School. He began his pastoral work in Aguas Calientes, Mexico, where he worked as a missionary from 1887-1888. Thereafter he held Baptist pastorates in Seattle, Washington; Salem, Oregon; and Oakland and Los Gatos, California. His first wife, Ellen ("Ellie") died in 1901. In 1907 he married Claire Wall, who outlived him.
Extent
7 record boxes (7 linear feet) 1 image
Restrictions
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.
Availability
Collection is open for research.