Recent Acquisition
Greensbury W. Offley Papers
Rev. Greensbury Washington Offley
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The Reverend Greensbury Washington Offley was born in Maryland in 1808 to
a
former slave who had been freed in her master's will. Offley began his
schooling at the age of nineteen; in 1835 he moved to Hartford to study
for the ministry. In 1847 Offley began working as an agent for the
newly formed African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Worcester,
raising funds for a church and a pastor. At the close of the Civil
War, Offley became involved in fundraising for missionary efforts among
the freedmen in the South. In 1867 he moved to New Bedford, where he
died in 1896.
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These four manuscript volumes were given to AAS by Walter Jones in
April, 2005. They came down to Mr. Jones through his family. AAS
member Thomas Doughton was responsible for bringing Mr. Jones in
contact with the Society.
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Accounts for Offley's expenses while traveling to raise funds for the
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Worcester, 1847-49.
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Lists of subscribers for the A.M.E. Zion Church, 1847. The first two
entries are pledges from Worcester industrialist Ichabod Washburn ($50)
and "subscriptions among the colored people" ($75).
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Religious notes, 1860, mostly on the Bible and slavery.
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Lists of subscribers for missionary work among the freedmen, 1866.
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Two pamphlets written by Offley and already in the AAS collections.
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"One day I am visited by a collector of ordination sermons; the next, by
a collector of 4th of July orations; then comes a collector of geography;
another wants religious newspapers; another wants every book printed in
New York before 1700. I accommodate myself to all; for I want every thing
and collect every thing, and I have more zeal than the whole of them: and
in this way I am kept very busy."
~Christopher Columbus Baldwin
3rd Librarian of AAS
For almost two hundred years the librarians at the Antiquarian Society
have worked to build collections by purchase and by donation. This page
displays a recent product of our zeal.
~Nancy Burkett
The Marcus A. McCorison Librarian of AAS
(and 13th in the line of AAS librarians)
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Recent Acquisitions Index
Recent acquisitions in the Newspaper
Department
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