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The Amity House Papers of Ruth Adlard MacLennan Uphaus, 1938-1987

 

Summary

Creator:
Uphaus, Ruth Adlard MacLennan (1911-2010)
Uphaus, Willard (1890-1975)
MacLennan, Rev. Charles "Mac" (1890-1973)
Abstract:
Collection of materials about Amity House and the activities of its founders Ruth Adlard MacLennan Uphaus, Charles MacLennan, and Willard Uphaus.
Extent:
33 boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Amity House Papers of Ruth Adlard MacLennan Uphaus, Nelson Poynter Memorial Library Special Collections and University Archives, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection includes series of biographical files of Ruth Adlard MacLennan Uphaus, Charles MacLennan, and Willard Uphaus. It also includes records and other materials about the Amity Houses, as well as subject files on various social causes, other organizations, correspondence, and photographs.

Biographical / historical:

Ruth Irene Allard (later MacLennan and then Uphaus) (1911-2010) was an educator, activist, and pacifist from Madison, Ohio. She attended Oberlin College, Kent State University, and and Schauffler College of Religious and Social Work, holding a Bachelor of Science and Education and a Bachelor of Science in Religious Education. She taught elementary education for 35 years in Ohio and Florida, teaching at Bay Vista Elementary School in St. Petersburg, and was an active in various civil rights, labor, environmental, and peace causes throughout her life. Ruth was also notably involved in the St. Petersburg sanitation workers' strike of 1968. She was married to Rev. Charles MacLennan (1890-1973) and Willard Edwin Uphaus (1890-1983).

Reverand Charles "Mac" MacLennan was born on February 9, 1890, in River John, Nova Scotia and grew up in the Canadian Maritimes. MacLennan studied at Dalhousie University and the Pine Hill Theological Seminary in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as well as the Auburn Theological Seminary, formerly in Auburn, NY. He taught college courses in Berbice, British Guiana (now Guyana) and several churches in Canada. MacLennan arrived at Willoughby's Presbeterian Church in December 1926 with his family (including four children), where he would meet Adlard and later become deeply involved in pro-labor activism and fiounding the Farm Labor Party. Adlard and MacLennan would eventually leave Willouhby in the late 1930s for Cleveland and Columbus, working for organzations like the Religion and Labor Center in Cleveland and the Ohio-Michigan American Friends Service Committee in Columbus. The pair married in 1951 and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1958.

After moving to St. Petersburg, they purchased land at 1246 Alcazar Way South and constructed a notable residence that became a popular meeting place for like-minded friends hoping to promote peace and reform. Soon after arriving in St. Petersburg, they became active in local meetings of the Society of Friends (Quakers), the local Human Relations Council, and efforts to improve schools, and eradicate patterns of racial and social segregation in St. Petersburg. The home was renamed "Amity House" and became the Florida home to the World Fellowship of Faiths and the Gulf Coast Association for American-Soviet Friendship. After Charles' death in 1973, Ruth opened her home as a "haven for friendship and goodwill."

Willard Edwin Uphaus was born November 27, 1890 and lived in a rural community close to Muncie, Indiana. He attended schools near Muncie and also taught in Indiana public schools from 1909 through 1916. Willard took classes at Earlham College, earned an A.B. at Indiana University in 1917, and completed his graduate students with an M.A. (1921) and Ph.D. (1925) in Religious Education at Yale University. Soon thereafter, he served as an educator at the Vanderbilt School of Religion and Yale's Divinity School. In the early 1930s, Willard founded the National Religion and Labor Foundation (later the Religion and Labor Council of America), becoming the executive director rom 1934-1950. He would become an active leader in the World Fellowship Center in Conway, New Hampshire, from 1953-1969. Willard's wife, Ola Hawkins Uphaus (1897-1972), served as a Christian Missionary in Chinese provinces from 1921-1938 and served in leadership roles with Willard in the World Fellowship Center.

Willard and Ruth Uhpaus married on November 16, 1975 on the patio of Amity House. They spent much of the time in St. Petersburg developing and nurturing local progressive organizations (such as the Gulf Coast Religion and Labor Council and the Gulf Coast Association for American-Soviet Friendship) and working with religious congregations and groups dedicated to social changes (especially the St. Petersburg Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and Lakeview Presbyterian Church). The name "Amity House" honored the birthplace of Willard's wife, Ola, a native of Amity, Arkansas. Willard's death on October 8, 1983, marked the next stage in his legacy with the establishment of the Willard Uphaus Peace and Justice Foundation.

Acquisition information:
Collection was donated by Ruth Adlard MacLennan Uphaus on July 30, 2004.

Access and use

Terms of access:

None. The contents of the collection may be subject to copyright. Visit the United States Copyright Office's website at http://www.copyright.gov/ for more information.

Preferred citation:

Amity House Papers of Ruth Adlard MacLennan Uphaus, Nelson Poynter Memorial Library Special Collections and University Archives, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL.

Location of this collection:
140 7th Avenue South
St. Petersburg
FL
33701
USA