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Ora Delmer Foster Papers

 Collection
Identifier: msc0211

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Scope and Contents

The papers of Ora Delmer Foster date from 1895 to 1965 and document his life and career. Autobiographical materials, memoirs, and diaries give insights into Foster's private life. His correspondence (both personal and professional) which spans seventy years is contained in five boxes. Many of his writings, especially those on Mexico and South America as well as those concerning religious issues, are included in manuscript form, with typescript drafts and notes.

Religion courses that he taught at the University of Iowa are documented in the papers with lectures, notes, research, and memoirs. Iowa's School of Religion is the subject of one entire box. Information regarding Dr. Foster's work with Comrades in Service, the American Association on Religion, and the North American Board for the Study of Religion in Higher Education is included as well. There are also boxes of photographs, books and pamphlets relating to Latin America, and slides.

Dates

  • Creation: 1895-1965

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Biographical / Historical

A Congregational minister, Ora Delmer Foster (1877 -- 1965) graduated from Manchester College in Indiana. He received his B.D. and A.M degrees at Oberlin and his Ph.D. at Yale. Toward the end of World War I, he organized and directed the Comrades in Service Movement. This was an interfaith project that included all of the welfare agencies along with officers and soldiers. Dr. Foster was for many years the university secretary of the Council of Church Boards of Education. In 1922, at the Conference of Church Workers in Universities, he presented a paper proposing the idea of a School of Religion as a part of a tax-supported university. His idea was picked up by Iowa officials attending the meeting, and the University of Iowa's School of Religion was born. Dr. Foster was a guest professor there in the 1940s. He was a promoter of interfaith and church-state understanding and cooperation. His life's work was in the field of inter-cultural relations. A wide traveler and unofficial ambassador of goodwill, he spent many years working and studying in Mexico and South America. Dr. O. Delmer Foster died in Claremont, California, at the age of eighty-seven.

Extent

24.50 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Congregational minister, lecturer, and professor. Subject files, literary manuscripts, diaries, photographs, and books relating to Foster's life and career.

Method of Acquisition

The Ora Delmer Foster papers were given to the University of Iowa Libraries in 1958.

Related Materials

Correspondence with Henry Agard Wallace is in Wallace's collection, MsC 177.

  • 3 boxes of foreign language books removed from the collection for x-collection.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Repository Details

Part of the University of Iowa Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5921
319-335-5900 (Fax)