The Role of Religion and Spirituality At The Gunnery
By Gunn Scholar, Claire Lee
Vol. XVII
2017
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The Role of Religion and Spirituality at 7KH Gunnery
Claire Lee
Gunn Scholar Mrs. Paula Krimsky and Dr. Jennifer Wojcik May 2017
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2016 – 2017 Gunn Scholar
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want to dive deeper into religion to do so (Becker).
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Lee Works Cited Abzug, Robert. “Abolition and Religion. “ The Journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute. 1994. Retrieved from https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/slavery-and-antislavery/essays/abolition-and-religion “After Chapel.” The Gunnery Stray Shot, 1923. The Gunnery Archives. Baltzell, Digby E. The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America (Aristocracy & Caste in America). Yale University Press, 1987. Becker, Peter (Head of School, The Gunnery) in discussion with the author, November 15th, 2016. Brohl, Karen. “The 1950s: Pursuing The American Dream.” The News Magazine. November 12th, 2001. Retrieved March 5th, 2017 from http://www.achrnews.com/articles/87033-the1950s-pursuing-the-american-dream “Chapel Dedication.” The Gunnery Archives. November 21st, 1958. “Chapel Reform.” The Gunnery News, June 9th, 1961. “Christmas Vesper Services.” The Gunnery News. January 12th, 1960. “Dr. Napier Addresses Annual Gunnery Religious Conference.” The Gunnery News, April 25th, 1959. Eanes, Michael, in discussion with the author. Washington, CT. January 2017. Elgin, Russ, email message to author. Washington, CT. March 2017. Eskridge, Larry. Fundamentalism. Wheaton College. 2012. Retrieved March 20th, 2017 from http://www.wheaton.edu/ISAE/Defining-Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Gibson, William Hamilton. Master of the Gunnery. The Gunn Memorial Association, New York, 1887. God, Country, and the American Dream. The Twelve Tribes. 2016. Retrieved March 13th, 2017 from http://twelvetribes.org/articles/american-dream Graham, Susan, email message to author. Washington, CT. February 2017. “Gunn Association Assumes Task of Conducting Chapel Services.” The Gunnery News, November 5th, 1955. “Gunn Association Plans a Religious Conference.” The Gunnery News, March 28th, 1956.
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Gunn, F.W. to Abigail Brinsmade, letter A6651, The Gunnery Archives. 1847. (A6651). Gunn, F.W. to Abigail Brinsmade, letter A3029, The Gunnery Archives. February 27th, 1848. 19th century correspondence collection, (A3029). Gunn, F.W. to Abigail Brinsmade, letter A3108, The Gunnery Archives. March 2nd, 1848. (A3108). Gunnery Catalogues 1920-1979. The Gunnery Archives. “Gunnery Sends Six Representatives To Attend Northfield Religious Conference.” The Gunnert News, November 27th, 1957. Handy, Robert T. “The American Religious Depression, 1925-1935.”Church History 29, no. 1 (1960): 3-16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3161613 Harvey, Paul. “Religion and Civil Rights Movements in America.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Retrieved 14 Mar. 2017 from http://religion.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore9780199340378-e-492 Hyman, Paula E. Eastern European Immigrants in the United States. Jewish Women’s Archive, 1999. Retrieved March 27th, 2017 from https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/easterneuropean-immigrants-in-united-states “John Moore’s Comments on Daily Chapel.” The Gunnery Archives May 23rd, 1960. Korpalski, Adam. The Gunnery 1850-1975:A Documentary History of Private Education in America. Washington, CT: Adam Korpalski, 1977. Lipka, Michael. Five Facts About Prayer. Pew Research Center. May 4th, 2016. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/04/5-facts-about-prayer/ Moore, John. “Religion at the Gunnery.” The Gunnery Archives, 1960. Moore, John. “Letter to Mr. Miller.” The Gunnery Archives, April 27th, 1962. “Mr. Moore Returns As Chaplain; Begins Sixth Year at Gunnery.” The Gunnery News, November 26th, 1955. Mullin, Miles. American Religion in the 1950s. Patheos. March 25th, 2015. Retrieved March 14th, 2017 from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2015/03/american-religion-inthe-1950s/ “New Headmaster Tertius van Dyke.” The Gunnery News, October 16th, 1937. The Gunnery Archives.
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Phillips, Richard L. & Wright, Donald G. Hendrick’s Chapel: Seventy-five Years of Service to Syracuse University. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005. Rorabaugh, W.J. “Hippies Won the Culture War.” History News Network. September 27th, 2015. Retrieved March 14th, 2017 from http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160407 Taylor, Clarence. “African American Religious Leadership and the Civil Rights Movement.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 2007. Retrieved March 14th, 2017 from https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-rights-movement/essays/africanamerican-religious-leadership-and-civil-rights-m
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“1878-1899: Religion: Overview.” American Eras. .Retrieved March 26, 2017 from http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/1878-1899religion-overview This source gives a good overview of the religious culture in the United States in the late 19 century. It touches on a variety of religions from the time. It also gives very good specifics and at the same time compares the situation of religion in the United States during this time the situation in Europe. th
Abzug, Robert. “Abolition and Religion. “ The Journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute. 1994. Retrieved from https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/slavery-and-antislavery/essays/abolition-and-religion This source explains how before the Civil War most white Christians and Jews believed that because slavery had been around for so long it was natural and God did not have a problem with it as long as the slaves were treated kindly. It really shows their reasoning for being against the abolition movement. “After Chapel.” The Gunnery Stray Shot, 1923. The Gunnery Archives. This source written by a student in 1923 gives a great overview of what occurred in a typical chapel talk that were held every morning. Baltzell, Digby E. The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America (Aristocracy & Caste in America). Yale University Press, 1987. This is very long and informative source, which gives very good context of how powerful religion, was during the 100-year period from about 1860-1960. This book focuses specifically on the Protestant religion; although the Church in Washington has always been an Episcopal Church the two religions are extremely similar. The book gives the churches beliefs throughout this time period and gives detailed reasons as to why Mr. Gunn would have left the Church in Washington as he did. Becker, Peter (Head of School, The Gunnery) in discussion with the author, November 15th, 2016. Mr. Becker and I discussed his faith as well as the role religion currently plays in the decision making at Gunnery. We also discussed any changed in the religious nature of Gunnery he would like to see made in the future.
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Brohl, Karen. “The 1950s: Pursuing The American Dream.” The News Magazine. November 12th, 2001. Retrieved March 5th, 2017 from http://www.achrnews.com/articles/87033-the1950s-pursuing-the-american-dream This source gives the specifics of the housing revolution that occurred during the 1950s in the United States. It also gives some good statistics about baby boomers. “Chapel Dedication.” The Gunnery Archives. November 21st, 1958. This is program for the chapel dedication given in Bourne hall in 1958 during the time of Ogden Miller. “Chapel Reform.” The Gunnery News, June 9th, 1961. In this article written by a student directed to the faculty, the student lays out the changes he believes should be made to the chapel program at Gunnery. “Christmas Vesper Services.” The Gunnery News. January 12th, 1960. This article discusses a Christmas Vespers Service run by Gunn Association one Christmas. “Dr. Napier Addresses Annual Gunnery Religious Conference.” The Gunnery News, April 25th, 1959. In this article written after the 1959 Gunnery conference, a summary of the conference is given. Eanes, Michael, in discussion with the author. Washington, CT. January 2017. I discussed the role religion played at the Gunnery during Mr. Eanes time as head of school as well as his time as a faculty member. We also discussed how students treated religion during his time as Head of School. Elgin, Russ, email message to author. Washington, CT. March 2017. Mr. Elgin told me about how the role of religion changed throughout several different head masters during his time as a faculty member at Gunnery. Eskridge, Larry. Fundamentalism. Wheaton College. 2012. Retrieved March 20th, 2017 from http://www.wheaton.edu/ISAE/Defining-Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism This source looks at the rise of the fundamentalists versus modernists in religion during the early 19th century. It specifically discusses the protestant religion schism, the temperance movement, and the argument of Darwin’s theory of evolution being taught in schools.
Lee Gibson, Hamilton. Master of the Gunnery. The Gunn Memorial Association, New York. 1887. This source was written by Mr. Gibson who knew Mr. Gunn very well when he was alive since he attended his school and he remained good friends with Mr. Gunn throughout his lifetime seeing as he later became a headmaster of the school. This book talks a lot about not only Mr. Gunn’s religious side but also the religious aspects of the town of Washington at the time, which puts it into perspective that Mr. Gunn was different from the norm. There are also a lot of primary sources from Mr. Gunn included in the book. Many of the primary sources talk entirely about religion or at least somewhat from Mr. Gunn’s perspective. God, Country, and the American Dream. The Twelve Tribes. 2016. Retrieved March 13th, 2017 from http://twelvetribes.org/articles/american-dream This source provides specifics about how religion was a part of most public sectors during the 1950s. Including education, government, and the treasury. It also provides good information about participation in religion during the 1950s into the 1960s. Graham, Susan, email message to author. Washington, CT. February 2017. Mrs. Graham told me about the role religion played during her time as head of school as well as the goals her and her board tried to achieve with regard to religion. “Gunn Association Assumes Task of Conducting Chapel Services.” The Gunnery News, November 5th, 1955. This article explains Gunn Associations role in helping run daily chapel services. “Gunn Association Plans a Religious Conference.” The Gunnery News, March 28th, 1956. In this article, the Gunn Association described their plan for hosting the first Gunnery religious conference. Gunn, F.W. to Abigail Brinsmade, letter A6651, The Gunnery Archives. 1847. (A6651). In this letter Gunn talks extensively about the problems that he has with organized religion and how he thinks some priests take advantage of people. Gunn, F.W. to Abigail Brinsmade, letter A3029, The Gunnery Archives. February 27th, 1848. 19th century correspondence collection, (A3029). In this letter Gunn recalls attending several different denominations religious gatherings in the recent days and recounts his experience at them all. Gunn, F.W. to Abigail Brinsmade, letter A3108, The Gunnery Archives. March 2nd, 1848.
Lee (A3108). In this letter, Gunn talks about how he knows Gunn has a particular path for him and that he believes that he and Abigail have become priests for each other. Gunnery Catalogues 1920-1979. The Gunnery Archives. The catalogues give a very brief overview of the year ahead for the gunnery students. They often include a course list as well as a typical daily schedule. “Gunnery Sends Six Representatives To Attend Northfield Religious Conference.” The Gunnert News, November 27th, 1957. This article gives information on the Northfield Religious Conference attended by Mr. Moore and six students. Handy, Robert T. “The American Religious Depression, 1925-1935.”Church History 29, no. 1 (1960): 3-16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3161613 This source looks at why religion declined during the mid 1920s to the mid 1930s. It gives several reasons for the declines and gives detailed statistics. It mostly blames the changing culture that America experienced after the end of World War 1 as well as the great depression that ravaged the United States. Harvey, Paul. “Religion and Civil Rights Movements in America.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Retrieved 14 Mar. 2017 from http://religion.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore9780199340378-e-492 This source looks at why religion was so important to the success of the civil rights movement. It also provides examples of civil rights leaders discussing how religion influenced them and the way that they fought for equality. Hyman, Paula E. Eastern European Immigrants in the United States. Jewish Women’s Archive, 1999. Retrieved March 27th, 2017 from https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/easterneuropean-immigrants-in-united-states This source gives a very detailed look at the mass immigration of Eastern European Jews that occurred and changed American cities cultures. It gives statistics and looks at the roles Jewish students played in schools. “John Moore’s Comments on Daily Chapel.” The Gunnery Archives May 23rd, 1960. Chaplain Moore discusses his thoughts on the chapel program that was in place at Gunnery in the 1960s.
Lee Korpalski, Adam. The Gunnery 1850-1975:A Documentary History of Private Education in America. Washington, CT: Adam Korpalski, 1977. This source is filled with primary sources, which gives a lot of information about all the headmasters up to David Paul Kern. This is a very helpful source because many of the books are focused on Mr. Gunn. I used documents mainly from the periods of Tertius van Dyke, Hamilton Gibson and Burgess Ayres. McClellan, Edward B. Schools and the Shaping of Character: Moral Education in America. 1607-Present. ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies, 1992. This source is a very complete history of religious education in schools since the time of the colonies to the present (which in this case is 1992). Although this book is not strictly focused on independent schools it does mention them and it gives a very good look at the changes that occurred throughout the history of using religion in schools. It also gives a good look into how the role of religion in society has changed and declined recently. Moore, John. “Letter to Mr. Miller.” The Gunnery Archives, April 27th, 1962. In this letter, Mr. Moore expresses his desire to teach a class on the Bible. Moore, John. “Religion at the Gunnery.” The Gunnery Archives, 1960. This is a document written by Chaplain Moore about the overview of religion at the Gunnery for the past few years leading up to 1960. “Mr. Moore Returns As Chaplain; Begins Sixth Year at Gunnery.” The Gunnery News, November 26th, 1955. This article discusses the role the Mr. Moore played around campus as chaplain. Mullin, Miles. American Religion in the 1950s. Patheos. March 25th, 2015. Retrieved March 14th, 2017 from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2015/03/american-religion-inthe-1950s/ This source provides an overall look at how many people were involved in religion during the 1950s. It provides specific statistics for the amount of people involved in religion. It also talks about the role religion had in bringing about the mass cultural changes that occurred in the 1960s in the United States. “New Headmaster Tertius van Dyke.” The Gunnery News, October 16th, 1937. The Gunnery Archives. In this source a students gives an overview of Tertius van Dyke’s history before becoming headmaster at the Gunnery.
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Queen II, Edward L. “The Formation and Reformation of Religious Identity.” Indiana University-Purdue University Religious Education 91, no. 4 (1996) 489-495. This source focuses on the changing relevance of religion in society and how it is a different component of life then it was in previous generations. It is important to take note of how different of place religion had in society when Mr. Gunn founded the school to the society that we live in now. Rorabaugh, W.J. “Hippies Won the Culture War.” History News Network. September 27th, 2015. Retrieved March 14th, 2017 from http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160407 This article explains the hippie movement and the part that they played in the anti Vietnam War movement. It discusses the similarities and differences between this generation and their parents. It also discusses hippies’ goals and reasoning behind their actions. Taylor, Clarence. “African American Religious Leadership and the Civil Rights Movement.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 2007. Retrieved March 14th, 2017 from https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-rights-movement/essays/africanamerican-religious-leadership-and-civil-rights-m This source provides examples of how religion was such an important part of the civil rights movement because so many of the leaders of the movement were reverends. It provides specific examples of these people. It also discusses how important religion was to African American culture before and throughout the civil rights movement. The 1950s. (History.com: A+E networks), 2010. Retrieved March 13th, 2017 from http://www.history.com/topics/1950s# This source provides a good overview of the culture of the 1950’s, specifically with regard to the American dream and the subsequent baby boom and housing revolution. It also gives specific statistics about the baby boom.
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My Evaluations of the Project Progress and Grading Period Fall Midterm From the time I began researching my project over the summer, I knew that although this project would be very time consuming that it would be worth it. Every day that I find new information and discover more about the history of The Gunnery I reaffirm my earlier suspicions. For this first half of the fall term I have been focused on researching and reading about all the headmasters of The Gunnery and how they chose to incorporate religion in a unique way at the school. I have been mainly focused on Mr. Gunn and Mr. Miller up to this point but am continuing to see what I can discover about the other headmasters. I have also been doing contextual reading regarding the role of religion in society from the time Mr. Gunn founded The Gunnery up to the present. I have specifically done reading about how religion has been treated and taught in schools including public, day, parochial, and boarding schools. I hope to infuse this into my finished project and bring the conversation into the present and discuss how this part of human culture has changed significantly since the founding of The Gunnery in 1850. So far I am greatly enjoying this project and it has become one of my favorite parts of the school day. I can’t wait to continue researching and start writing! Fall Final The second half of the fall term has been a bit more challenging with my research than the first half. As I have progressed into time periods where information is not as easy to find or in some cases religion is very rarely explicitly talked about. With a little bit more effort and some creative thinking I was however able to find some information most of the time. I have a little
Lee bit more information to gather for a few headmasters but most of my research has been completed at this point. I am now more focused on what the normal role of religion has been in the different time periods from 1850 to the present. This is involving a lot of supplemental reading. I have gotten to about the 1980s reading so I have a little more to read about until I tackle the present. I am also beginning to create my outline for my project. At this point I am planning on organizing my information chronologically. Although I think this half of the term was a bit more challenging than the first I still think it was highly rewarding and worthwhile. I can’t wait to start organizing my thoughts and creating the story that I want to tell! Winter Midterm Starting this term I still had some research to fill in and a few people that I needed to still interview. As of this point I have completed all the research that I think I will need to write my paper. I’m sure there will be some places that I will have to fill in but I definitely have most of it. Right before winter break I completed a general outline for my paper and this really helped my think about where I wanted to focus my ideas and also helped me see where I needed a little more information. I also decided that I want to organize my paper chronologically. I also decided that I would split the historical part of the paper into periods of time but they would not directly correspond to the dates that certain headmasters were head of the school. When I returned from winter break I began writing my paper. I wrote down a few paragraphs to keep myself on track with the points that I am aiming to get across in my paper. I am not that far in my writing but I have begun writing from Mr. Gunn’s time period as well as working on my annotated bibliography. The writing process is going well I think, it is not the fastest thing in the world but I am doing well I think. I definitely think that the hardest point with the writing is going to be getting the topic sentences and writing with clarity since there is just so much
Lee information. Winter Final I spent this term finalizing all my research as I began to write my paper. Before I started writing I made the final decisions on how to split up my paper and select the ranges of times I wanted to cover. I began writing with Mr. Gunn and the time period in society that went along with him. I have completely finished this time period. However most of the other heads I have only began to write and have organized my research for. There were a few major holes in my research I noticed so I had to go back and fill in those holes as much as possible. Going into spring break I am in the midst of writing my rough draft. Spring Midterm
Lee My Original Proposal, May 2016 1. Why do you want to be the Gunn scholar? I would like to have the honor of being the Gunn scholar for the 2016-17 school year at Gunnery because I have been fascinated by the local history of Litchfield County since I was in middle school and history became my favorite subject. When I was looking at schools in the fall of my 8th grade year I was really intrigued when I heard about the Gunn scholar program and thought it was a very unique part of the school seeing as it was a program that can really not be found at any other high school in the area. Once I decided to attend the school at the Gunnery and had completed most of my freshman year I was once again reminded of the Gunn scholar program when I heard that the Gunn scholar for that year Olivia Judd was going to be giving her presentation soon and I immediately decided that being Gunn scholar my senior year was definitely something that I wanted to pursue. In my past three years at the Gunnery I and reminded of the history I am living amongst every morning when I drive by Gunn Hill and Brinsmade Road on my way to school, Freddy Gunn’s fondness for camping when I saw an exhibit about him being the father of camping in seven hearths museum in Kent this summer, as well as all the history on the Gunnery campus as I look at all the paintings of the previous heads in the bottom of Bourne and live the school traditions every day that I am at school. For all these reasons I would love to be really be a part of unearthing The Gunnery’s history even further and exploring a part of Gunnery history that I am personally very fascinated by if I get the honoring of being selected as the gunnery scholar. 2. What are your ideas for the Gunn Scholar program? When I first starting thinking about ideas for the Gunn Scholar Program I was very worried that all the topics had already
Lee been researched but after about ten minutes of research I realized how absurd this thought was because of how deep the Gunnery history really is. One of the aspects of Gunnery that I have always been curious and intrigued about is the decision of the Gunnery choose not to affiliate with any religion and not require an religious classes or chapel for graduation. After some research I learned the Mr. Gunn choose to establish his school as separate from the church even though he himself was a religious man. As you can imagine this was very unusual at the time and I am very curious to research what led to this choice by Mr. Gunn and how this affected the creation of his school. I would love to continue my research into later years and look into religion's role at the gunnery through every head and every graduating class at the gunnery since its founding in 1850. I think that this research could be brought right into the modern day seeing as the gunnery choose to hire Mr. Becker who studied theology in college as the new head of school just 4 years ago as well as the shift just this year to have school meeting held in the church once a week. I really do think this a topic that would be fascinating to learn about throughout the entire history of the Gunnery. 3. What would your biggest challenges be? I think that one of the biggest challenges for me would be the task of creating an interesting and informative way to present my findings to the community. It may also be a challenge to create an effective presentation that people understand, learn from and enjoy. I think that there will definitely be a plethora of information that I will be able to uncover but being able to decide what of this information is relevant and interesting in a presentation will be more of a challenge I think but one that I am willing and ready to accept and conquer.
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This is the Congregational Church on the Washington Green during the time that Mr. Gunn was alive
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