Ford Lewis Battles Collection

Collection

Identifier: COLL-466

Scope and Contents

This collection details the personal and professional life of Ford Lewis Battles (1915-1979), renowned scholar of Christian church history and of John Calvin, and contains extensive personal and professional correspondence, with such individuals as John Walchenbach, John McNeill, P. T. Furhmann, Robert Benedetto, and Fred Klooster. Also details Battles’ research and scholarship, presents examples of his teaching syllabi, lecture notes, and papers written by his students. As the leading scholar of John Calvin during the twentieth century, the collection provides insight into the historiography of Reformed Christianity. The material is particularly rich in detailing his various translation projects beginning in 1950. There are some historical documents in this collection of unknown provenance including German administrative documents from 1727 and a diaries and letters from the late 19^th century which belonged to the family of Samuel Hanna.

Dates

created: 1925-1980
Other: Majority of material found in 1950-1979
Other: Date acquired: 00/00/2004

Creator

Battles, Ford Lewis (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection held in Heritage Hall; materials are not available for circulation

Biographical or Historical Information

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Battles graduated from West Virginia University (AB, 1936); Tufts University (MA, 1938; and Hartford Seminary Foundation (PhD, 1950). He was a Rhodes Scholar at Exeter College, Oxford University, 1938-1940; and he served in the United States Army, 1941-1945. Following WW II, Battles began his teaching career at his alma mater, West Virginia University. He resigned three years later, in 1948, to join the faculty of Hartford Seminary Foundation, ultimately becoming academic dean. In 1968 he went to the faculty of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, which he left in 1978 to join the Calvin Theological Seminary faculty. An accomplished teacher, Battles was also a prodigious and groundbreaking scholar. Among numerous books and articles is an annotated translation of John Calvin 1559 Institutes that became the standard for all Calvin studies, the Commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia, a translation of Calvin’s 1536 Institutes, as well as a computerized index to the Institutes. He was born 30 Jan 1915 in Erie, Pennsylvania, the son of Ford Lewis Battles and Lucy Clare Stewart. In 1945 Battles married Marion Davis, an accomplished pianist and student of law and diplomacy. They had two daughters, Nancy Marion (b. 1946) and Emily Stewart (b. 1951). Battles died 22 Nov 1979 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Note written by

Full Extent

42.50 Cubic Feet

Full Extent

90 Boxes other_unmapped

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Ford Lewis Battles collection houses the personal papers of Ford Lewis Battles. This collection, which contains materials dating from 1727-1980, consists of correspondence, writings, and materials from Battles’s time as a translator and educator.