Summary

Creator: Muhlenberg, William Augustus (1796-1877)
Title: Collection of materials by or about William Augustus Muhlenberg
Dates: 1850-1944
Volume: 2 boxes (7.5 inches)

Provenance

It is unknown when these materials came into the possession of the Richard Bolling Memorial Library at St. Luke’s Hospital Center, but it is believed that over the course of time items of historical interest found around the Hospital’s buildings were brought to the Library for safe-keeping. The materials were transferred to the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr., MD Archives in June 2016, after the 2013 merger of the Continuum Health Partners, Inc. (consisting of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Beth Israel Medical Center, and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary) and The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Biographical Note

William Augustus Muhlenberg (16 September 1796 – 8 April 1877), born in Philadelphia, PA, was an Episcopal clergyman and educator. He was the first rector of the Church of the Holy Communion, the founder of St. Luke’s Hospital, and considered the father of church schools in the United States.

A descendant of a notable German immigrant family, his great-grandfather, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–1787), arrived in America from Hanover in 1741 in response to the call for a Lutheran minister to pastor several churches in Pennsylvania. He is, today, considered the father of Lutheranism in America.

Henry Melchior had three sons. The oldest, John Peter Gabriel, became a soldier and fought in the Revolutionary War and the youngest, Henry Ernest, a pastor. Frederick (1750–1801), grandfather of William Augustus, chose a political career and served as a member of the First and Second Continental Congress and as Speaker of the House of Representatives under President George Washington. Frederick’s son, Henry William died suddenly, leaving three young children, William Augustus, Mary Anna (married to John Rogers), and Frederick Augustus, to be raised by their widowed mother.

William A. Muhlenberg was educated at the Philadelphia Academy and the Grammar School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from the university in 1815. In 1817 he was ordained a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and became the assistant to Bishop William White (1748–1836) while continuing his studies. In 1820 Muhlenberg was ordained a priest, and became the rector of St. James' Church in Lancaster, PA.

He developed an interest in educating young men and in 1826 resigned his charge to travel through Europe to study their educational systems. Before leaving, he agreed to fill a pulpit at St. George’s Church in Flushing, NY as a 6-month replacement, which changed the course of his life. Here he became acquainted with a group of men who wished to establish a boy’s school and convinced Muhlenberg to lead it. It was named The Flushing Institute and Muhlenberg initiated a unique and successful method for the education of boys that focused on developing godly Christian character along with high intellectual values, which was then later reproduced in church schools across the country. Muhlenberg developed plans to establish a grammar and collegiate school in College Point, L.I. which would be merged with the Flushing Institute, but lost funding sources in the financial crash of 1837. Without an adequate endowment, the state legislature denied the charter for the school and Muhlenberg’s plans fizzled.

Muhlenberg lost interest in school administration in the following years and by 1845 he left the running of The Institute in the hands of his assistants and moved to New York City to become rector of the Church of the Holy Communion. The construction of this church was funded by his sister Mary A. Rogers as a memorial to her late husband, John Rogers, who wished to found a church where rich and poor could worship together as one community. Muhlenberg, an early proponent of the social gospel, founded various church ministries to assist the poor community that lay just outside of its upper-class residential neighborhood at 20^th Street and Sixth Avenue.

Muhlenberg saw health care as a serious need of the community and in 1846 decided to set aside half of the Sunday offering on St. Luke’s Day (October 18^th) for the founding of a Church Hospital for the relief of the sick. This became an annual offering. Fundraising lagged for a time, but picked up after the hospital was incorporated in 1850. Construction started in 1854. The Chapel, considered by Muhlenberg to be the heart of the Hospital, was completed first and opened in 1857 for public services. The Hospital architecture was so designed that the wards were built off of the Chapel in such a way that patients could hear services without leaving their beds. The Hospital itself was completed and opened in 1858. Rev. Muhlenberg, as Super-intendent and Pastor, had rooms in the hospital where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

The Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, formed to serve the church ministries, became head nurses at the Hospital. Their leader, Sister Anne Ayres, became Muhlenberg’s second-in-command, his editor, and his biographer after his passing.

In 1866, Muhlenberg founded the Church Industrial Community of St. Johnland on Long Island, to care for handicapped children and the elderly consisting. The complex has 535 acres with 1.5 miles of shorefront on Long Island Sound near Kings Park. This work continues today as St. Johnland Nursing Center.

Muhlenberg died on April 8, 1877 in St. Luke's Hospital, and is buried in the St. Johnland Cemetery.

Arrangement

As mentioned above, materials were not collected in a systematic fashion, but were brought to the medical librarian when found on the Hospital premises, or donated by former students or staff or by their families. Therefore the collection and arrangement of the materials was imposed by the archivist.

Scope and Content

This small collection includes a letter, a hymn, and several books written by William A. Muhlenberg (WAM), a few inscribed to particular people. Several books written about him are included, the most significant by Dr. Robert Abbe, which describes his childhood, and bears Abbe’s autograph, and WAM’s personal Bible. The container list also includes other books about the family and its history that are held in the archives library.

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection. However, several of the books are very fragile (as noted) and should not be handled without direction.

Related Materials

• St. Luke’s Hospital Records
• Church of the Holy Communion Collection
• Books in the library collection of the Aufses Archives (see list below)

Subjects

• Biographies
• Church of the Holy Communion
• Episcopal Church
• Flushing Institute
• Historical sketch
• Hymns
• Photographs
• Robert Abbe (1851-1928)
• Sermons
• Sisterhood of the Holy Communion
• St. Luke’s Hospital (New York, NY)

Container List

Books

All books are in Box 1.

• ‘I would not live always’ and other pieces in verse, by WAM. New York: Robert Craighead Printer, 1860 (Three copies inscribed and dated by WAM, to “My Dear Aunt, Margaret Sperry;” “To Mary Ayres;” and to “Elizabeth C. Meier – from her affectionate cousin.”  FRAGILE, see restrictions note
• I would not live always. Evangelized. With the story of the Hymn and a brief account of St. Johnland, by WAM. New York: J. Whittaker & Co., Publishers, 1871.  Inscribed to ‘Robert Abbe, MD.”  FRAGILE, see restrictions note
• The Woman and her Accusers. A Plea for the Midnight Mission, by WAM, 1871
• Directory for the Use of the Book of Common Prayer, for the Church of the Testimony of Jesus, St. Johnland, L.I., (assumed author is WAM), 1871  FRAGILE, see restrictions note
• Memorial Papers. The Memorial: with Circular and Questions of the Episcopal Commission…1857 WAM’s Communication, pp 274-289.
• Some American Churchmen, by Frederic Cook Morehouse, 1892. (Notes on WAM, pages 125-138)
• The History of St. James Church, by Klein and Diller, 1944. (Notes on WAM, pages 95-110)

Related Books in the Library Collection of the Aufses Archives

• Evangelical Catholic Papers. First Series comprising essays, letters and tractates from the writings of William Augustus Muhlenberg, D.D., during the last forty years by William Augustus Muhlenberg;  ed. Anne Ayres. [Suffolk County, N.Y.]: St. Johnland Press and Stereotype Foundry, 1875.
• Evangelical Catholic Papers. Second series comprising addresses, lectures, and sermons from writings of Rev. W.A. Muhlenberg, D.D., during the last fifty years by William Augustus Muhlenberg; ed. Anne Ayres [Suffolk County, N.Y] : St. Johnland, 1877
• The fighting parson of the American Revolution; a biography of General Peter Muhlenberg, Lutheran clergyman, military chieftain, and political leader, by Edward W. Hocker, 1873- . Philadelphia: self-published, 1936
• Dr. Muhlenberg, by William Wilberforce Newton, DD, 1843-1914. Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1890
• The life and work of William Augustus Muhlenberg by Anne Ayres, 1816-1896. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880
• Church leader in the cities: William Augustus Muhlenberg, byAlvin Wilson Skardon. Philadelphia:  University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971
• Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, "Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America,” by William K. Frick. Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1902
• Life and Times of Henry Melchior Mühlenberg, by William J. Mann., 1819-1892. Philadelphia: G.W. Frederick, 1887
• The Muhlenbergs of Pennsylvania, by Paul A. W. Wallace.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1950
• The Life of Major-General Peter Muhlenberg, of the Revolutionary Army, by Henry A. Muhlenberg.  Philadelphia:  Carey and Hart, 1849
• Descendants of Henry Melchior Mühlenberg, by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Richards, 1848-1935.  Lancaster, Pa.: Pennsylvania-German Society, 1900
• The Glory of Yorktown; Yorktown, ancient and venerable, became heroic and glorious in 1781, when it witnessed the crowning victory of the Revolutionary War, which achieved American independence and assured the establishment of the United States. Yorktown, past and present, by Jean Henri Clos. Yorktown, Va.:  Yorktown Historical Society, 1924
• A Biographical Congressional Directory, 1774 to 1903. The Continental Congress: September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, inclusive. The United States Congress: the First Congress to the Fifty-seventh Congress, March 4, 1903, inclusive, by O.M. Enyart; Corp Author: United States., Congress. Washington, D.C.: Govt. Print. Off., 1903
• The Old Trappe Church, 1743-1893: a memorial of the sesqui-centennial services of Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, by Ernest T. Kretschmann, 1866-1897. Philadelphia: Published by the Congregation, 1893
• Compilation of works of art and other objects in the United States Capitol. Corp Author: United States, Architect of the Capitol. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1965, 1952
• The Muhlenberg family; a bibliography compiled from the subject union catalog {of} Americana-Germanica of the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation, by Felix Reichmann, 1899-1987. Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation, 1943 

Processed by Nancy Panella; update and written guide by Michala Biondi, May 2018