Geoffrey Plank, author of the new book John Woolman’s Path to the Peaceable Kingdom: A Quaker in the British Empire, will be giving a series of talks in the Philadelphia area in early October.  His complete schedule follows:

October 4, 7:00 p.m., Swarthmore College Science Center 199: “The Other Woolmans: Family Life and the Ideals of an Eighteenth-century Abolitionist”

October 6, 2:00 p.m.,  Mount Holly Friends Meeting, 81 High Street, Mount Holly, New Jersey: “The Other Woolmans” (as above)

October 7, 3:00 p.m., The Barn at the Pendle Hill Conference Center, 338 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, Pennsylvania: “John Woolman and the Utility or Futility of History”

October 8, 4:30 p.m., Special Collections, Magill Library, Haverford College: “The Other Family Living with the Woolmans: African-Americans and Quakers Living Together, and the Process of Gradual Emancipation”

For more information you may contact Geoff at g.plank@uea.ac.uk

Author Thomas Slaughter, Professor of History at the University of Rochester, presents The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition at the Library Company, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Tuesday, October 14, 2008.

John Woolman (1720-1772), a Quaker tailor from New Jersey, had an extraordinary commitment to attaining self-purification through the rejection of slavery, war taxes, and rampant consumerism. Though not a famous politician, his persuasive ideals influenced the likes of fellow Quakers, social reformers, labor organizers and peace advocates. Through Woolman’s essays and Journal, Slaughter illuminates his transformation from a humble idealist to a prophetic voice for the Anglo-American world.

A reception will begin at 5:30 with the program to follow from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested: dshapiro@librarycompany.org or 215/546-3181.