William E. Barton Collection of Samaritan Materials
WILLIAM ELEAZAR BARTON. Clergyman,
Samaritan scholar. Born June 28, 1861, in Sublette,
IL; died Dec. 7, 1930 in Foxboro, MA. Attended Berea College,
BS 1885, MS 1888, AM 1890, and Oberlin Theological Seminary,
BD 1890. Congregational minister (1885-) serving primarily
in Oak Park, IL ( 1899-1924). Associate editor of Bibliotheca
Sacra, editor of The Advance. Maintained a lively interest
in and correspondence with the Samaritans of Nablus from 1903
until 1926. During this period, Barton published several
articles on the Samaritans in popular and scholarly American
journals, and also edited and published a number of essays
concerning the sect written by the Samaritan High Priest Jacob
(1841-1916). Concern for the financial state of the Samaritan
community led Barton to become involved in a humanitarian
project for their benefit—an ambitious but ill-fated venture
known as the American Samaritan Committee—in part funded by
E.K. Warren, an millionaire from Three Oaks, MI.
Scope and Content. The
Barton Collection contains materials accumulated during a
quarter century (1903-1926) of personal contact with the Samaritans,
including correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and scrolls.
Primary material consists of nineteen scrolls, including two
Pentateuchal scrolls of early twentieth century vintage, the
original and unpublished Arabic texts of Priest Jacob on the
history and thought of the sect, five small modern codices
of parts of the Samaritan Pentateuch, two Samaritan prayer
books, an Arabic treatise by Priest Isaac on Jacob’s Well,
and untranslated autobiography of Jacob in Arabic, two copies
of the Samaritan Book of Joshua in Arabic, one of which has
a commentary in Samaritan Hebrew, and a copy of Abu’l Fath.
The photographs include forty-three prints of the Abisa scroll
from a 1919 filming, discredited at the time, but verified
as authentic after re-photographing by Perez Castro in the
1950s, and other photographs or glass slides of the Samaritans.
Personal letters reveal his contacts with the Samaritans and
dealers through whom he obtained the scrolls and other materials.
Also contains about 150 letters by or about the American Samaritan
Committee.
Extent: 7 cu. ft.
Access: No access restrictions.
Limitations: No limitations.
Provenance: Gift, 1953;
transferred to Theology Library, March 2000.
Cite as: Barton Samaritan
Collection, Boston University School of Theology Library.
Processing: Stephen P. Pentek,
July 2000.
Arrangement: Arranged
by format in five series: I. Manuscripts, including scrolls
and other texts; II. Correspondence of WEB and the American
Samaritan Committee; III. Printed materials by Jacob, Son
of Aaron, Barton, and others; IV. Photographs and slides;
and V. Miscellaneous items.
Series I. Manuscripts
Series II. Correspondence
Series III. Printed Material
Series IV. Photographs
Series V. Other items
See also the James D. Purvis Collection
of Samaritana
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