Scope and Content Note
The papers of Garfield Bromley Oxnam (1891-1963) consist of diaries, correspondence, subject files, writings, addresses, sermons, lectures, notebooks, scrapbooks, daily records, and related material documenting the span of Bishop Oxnam's long career of religious and public service. The material extends from 1823 to 1963, with the bulk of the papers falling within the period 1912-1960. The collection is organized into eight series: Diaries and Journals; General Correspondence; Subject File; Speech, Article and Book File; Addresses, Lectures, and Sermons; Notes, Miscellaneous Papers, Records, and Reports; Miscellany; and Scrapbooks.
The diaries, subject files, and writings constitute the most important parts of the collection. Extensive and voluminous, the diaries are supplemented by correspondence, newspaper clippings, programs, church bulletins, photographs, articles, book reviews, addresses, sermons, lectures, notes, memoranda, reports, and records. Although there are no diaries for 1922, 1924, 1925, 1927, and 1932, entries for these years are contained in miscellaneous volumes at the end of the series. The diary entries for 1961-1963 are sketchy and sparse.
The Subject File series covers Oxnam's role in controversies over diplomatic relations between the United States and the Vatican, his participation in the issue of church and state and Protestantism as it related to Catholicism, the charges made against him of un-Americanism, his work with the Church of All Nations in Los Angeles, academic career, and other subjects closely related to Oxnam's life.
The Scrapbooks series presents in great detail Oxnam's life as reported by the press. He was involved in public as well as religious affairs, and his activities and views generated considerable publicity, which is reflected in the Scrapbooks.
Prominent or frequent correspondents include Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Athēnagoras I, George Smith Brown, Samuel McCrea Cavert, Matthew J. Connelly, Henry Hitt Crane, John Foster Dulles, Sherwood Eddy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin Clark Fry, Frederick Brown Harris, Cordell Hull, Donald Lester Jackson, David Eli Lilienthal, Marvin Hunter McIntyre, Carl McIntire, Louie D. Newton, Charles C. Parlin, Daniel A. Polling, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Henry Knox Sherrill, William L. Stidger, Henry L. Stimson, Myron Charles Taylor, Harry S. Truman, Harold Himmel Velde, Henry A. Wallace, and Herbert Welch. There is also considerable correspondence from the general public, most of it in the Subject File.