Jonathan Edwards collection GEN MSS 151 b. box f. folder Administrative Information Immediate Source of Acquisition The bulk of the Jonathan Edwards Collection came to Yale as a gift of the heirs of Jonathan Edwards in 1900. Additional individual pieces, small groups of his papers, and especially, other family papers, have been added over the years through gift and purchase, chiefly from other Edwards descendants. For further acquisitions information, please consult the appropriate curator. Conditions Governing Access The materials are open for research. Conditions Governing Use The Jonathan Edwards Collection is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator. Preferred Citation Jonathan Edwards Collection. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Associated Materials The Andover Newton Theological Seminary Collection of Jonathan Edwards (GEN MSS 1542), Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, is a small yet significant collection of Edwards manuscripts, including a large number of family letters, several of Edwards's early "scientific" essays, and Book 6 of the "Miscellanies," containing entries 1067 and 1068, relating to the prophecies of the Messiah. Though the bulk of Edwards's manuscripts are at Yale, other institutions do possess important pieces. For example, the manuscript of the "Spider Letter" is at the New-York Historical Society. Certain manuscripts, however, are not known to have survived. Among Edwards's autobiographical writings, for example, neither the "Diary" nor the "Personal Narrative" are thought to be extant. Though an index for the notes on "The Mind" has survived, the main text itself has not. For these writings, readers should consult printed editions of Edwards' works. JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758) Jonathan Edwards, among the foremost theologians and philosophers of his time, was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, on October 5, 1703. He attended Yale College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1720. He returned in 1723 to receive his Master of Arts degree, and served as a tutor from 1724 to 1726. Upon leaving Yale, he succeeded his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, as minister of the Congregationalist Church at Northampton, Massachusetts from 1726 to 1750. There he became known as an evangelical preacher and stern Calvinist, helping inspire the "Great Awakening" of the 1740s. His writings, which were widely circulated, included A Faithful Narrative,  Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,  Distinguishing Page 4 of 125