Jonathan Edwards collection GEN MSS 151 Series I, Writings of Jonathan Edwards (ca. 1720-1784), the largest series in the collection, is organized into three subseries: Sermons, Notebooks and Memoranda, and Personal Writings. There are over one thousand sermons, enabling the reader to track Edwards's homiletic activities over his entire career. The sermons are arranged in the order of the books of the Bible. A page number in parentheses refers to the page on which the doctrine or subject is found. Edwards often wrote on odd pieces of paper that had been sewn together, and there is ample evidence of this habit in the Writings. These scraps may be anything from blank space on a letter he received, blank areas of printed items such as broadsides and newspapers, prayer requests from his congregation, and scraps from his daughters' painted paper fans (as described in Jane Greenfield's "Notable Bindings VIII,"  Yale University Gazette 68 [October 1993] 70-73). The sermons are an average 4" x 4", and the oversize sermons, housed in boxes 13 and 14 and also arranged in canonical order, are approximately 6" x 4". The sewing of these booklets indicates the order of construction, often giving clues to later revisions and additions. Generally speaking, sermons written before 1742 are fully written out, but after that date they appear in outline form and are increasingly dicult to read. Edwards began to date his sermons in 1733, and it may be assumed that undated sermons which have the scripture text or the first page present were likely written before that date. It should be noted that until 1752 the Julian calendar was used, and dates on the sermons and correspondence in this collection reflect dating practices common at that time. Edwards had a practice of "reusing" his sermons, in some cases tipping in new parts of a sermon, in others simply bracketing parts of the sermon he wished to use. Those he altered carry multiple dates. Notes by The Works of Jonathan Edwards sta, used to identify and date many of the sermons, have been photocopied onto acid-free paper and are included with them. Three sermon notebooks accompany the sermons, one of them containing a note for the Farewell Sermon Edwards gave at Northampton (box 14, folder 1154). There are also thirty-four folders of fragments, some with notes from others on the verso. The sermons are supplemented by Edwards's private theological and philosophical notebooks and memoranda. These notebooks range from nearly finished versions of treatises to rough jottings. They are in a larger format than the sermons (mostly folio), and some are written in the margins of printed newspapers, broadsides, and books. A number of notebooks are dedicated to single themes, some of which are notes toward published materials. Included among the 41 notebooks are the nine volumes of "Miscellanies," eight volumes of theological notes composed of 1,360 entries of varying length, with an index created by Edwards; and four volumes of "Notes on the Scripture." There is also an interleaved Bible Edwards acquired from his brother-in-law, which is a disbound copy of the King James version of the Bible, interleaved with blank folio paper (box 17, folder 1216). There are detailed notes on every interleaved page relating to the text of the Bible opposite the page. The Personal Writings section contains only five items, including a diary and memorandum book kept from 1733-1757 (box 21, folder 1267), and a copy of Edwards's will, dated March 1753, written in an unidentified hand (box 21, folder 1270). The original is in the Hampshire County Court House, Northampton, Massachusetts. Series II, Jonathan Edwards Correspondence (ca. 1735-1757), highlights Edwards's activities as a parent, pastor, and entrepreneur, his contacts with English and Scottish divines, and his eorts to publish such works as the  Humble Inquiry and  Freedom of the Will. The series is housed in one box and is organized into Outgoing Letters, Incoming Letters, and Third Party Correspondence. Principal correspondents include Joseph Bellamy and Thomas Foxcroft. Third Party Correspondence contains three letters written by others but concerning Jonathan Edwards. Series III, Church Papers (1735-1751), is arranged chronologically and is housed in one box. It consists mostly of reports of meetings of the First Parish at Northampton. Included is the report of the council which voted the dismissal of Edwards in June 1750 (box 23, folder 1350). The rest of the collection relates primarily to Jonathan Edwards's family and descendants, and to the history of the Jonathan Edwards papers prior to their arrival at Yale in 1900. Among these family members most frequently represented are Jonathan Edwards's father, Timothy Edwards (1669-1758), minister of East Page 6 of 125