Archives West Finding Aid

Since this record group is a reprocessing of an earlier group with the addition of many other items, a series order was imposed during processing.

The first series contains the 1979 inventory for the original record group which included the correspondence, genealogical records, military memorabilia and financial records.

The correspondence consists of typed copies of outgoing letters written to family members dating from 1910 to 1920 and incoming letters from 1933 to 1966. The outgoing letters are in chronological order and describe Church's travels in Germany and Switzerland, including a visit to the Oberammergau Passion Play, his daily routine and people he met while studying in Zurich, and his trips to Italy and Paris. The cover of the 200 page volume of carbon typescript letters written between 1918 and 1920 states that the originals were loaned to the Pennsylvania War History Commission by Mrs. William F. Church. These letters describe in detail the important work of the Y.M.C.A with soldiers in Italy during this period. Of interest is his frequent reference to the identity problems of the Y. On page 26 (letter 6), he writes, "For instance, Y.M.C.A. is not easy to explain in Italy, where there is liable to be no distinction between 'Christian' and 'Catholic'. The triangle again makes trouble, for it has to be dissociated from Masonry, which is also regarded with disfavor in Italy." The only original letters of Frederic Church in this series are a group of 20 letters written between 1910 and 1912. In the eight which have no typescript copy he tells his family about his appendectomy. The incoming letters are arranged alphabetically with the exception of those of his nephew Carl Engler which are arranged chronologically.

The third series contains many of Church's research notes including genealogical and chronological tables of European and Oriental history, transcriptions of Italian manuscripts, drafts of his book The Italian Reformers, and typed copies of several articles. The Obiter Dicta volume contains speeches, short articles and book reviews. The other items are Church's daily diaries in which he recorded his activities, books read, movies seen, and money spent.

The financial records include Frederic Church's accounts as well as account books belonging to family members.

The fifth series contains family genealogical records, list of books acquired from 1903 to 1958, memorabilia including certificates, medals, Italian money, from his service in Italy during World War I, and financial reports of the 4th army in Belluno. Other items in this series include grades from Cornell and a newspaper clipping about a book Church was writing.

The final series contains a large number of photographs, some of the Corss family, a collection of photographs belonging to Mary Church, pictures of Frederic Church dating from about 1900 to 1955, photos of several of Church's students, scenes of Moscow and the University of Idaho Campus, and a large collection of blue prints of landscape views. Also in the landscape views collection are safety film negatives and one glass negative.