John D. Cannon Papers, 1900-1984, bulk 1966-1969

John D. Cannon Papers, 1900-1984, bulk 1966-1969

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.:
UA#0222
Bib ID:
12135424 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Cannon, John Dyson, 1934-2014
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
3.84 linear feet (3 record cartons and 2 document boxes)
Language(s):
English .
Access:
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located off-site.

This collection has restrictions.

Description

Summary

The collection consists of correspondence, memos, publications, reports, press clippings, press releases, sermons and speeches retained by the Rev. John D. Cannon, University Chaplain at Columbia University, 1966-1969.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in 5 series.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located off-site.

This collection has restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); John D. Cannon Papers; Box and Folder; University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Other Finding Aids

Reminiscences of John D. Cannon: oral history, Columbia Crisis of 1968 project, Columbia Center for Oral History, Butler Library, Columbia University, 1968.

University Protest and Activism Collection, 1958-1999 [Bulk Dates: 1968-1972] [UA#007] .

Accrual

No additions are expected

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2016.2017.M035: Source of acquisition--Jeffrey Cannon. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--8/26/2016.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Papers processed CML 4/03/2017-05/26/2017.

Finding aid written CML 08/31/2017.

Revision Description

2017-09-13 xml document instance created by Christopher M. Laico.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Biographical / Historical

John Dyson Cannon (1934-2014) was born in St. Alban's, England. Until 1940, he lived in a London suburb, when the first of the German blitzes destroyed much of the city, and children were sent for safety to the United States. Upon arrival in America, he lived with his foster parents in Kennebunk, ME. In 1952, he graduated from Mt. Hermon School for Boys in Mt. Hermon, MA, followed by Harvard College (1956), and Union Theological Seminary, New York City (1959).

In 1959, Rev. Cannon was ordained a priest by Bishop Horace W.B. Donegan (1900-1991). He first served as an assistant to the rector at Saint Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church in Manhattan, NY. In 1963, Rev. Cannon began his chaplaincy ministry at Columbia University serving as Assistant Chaplain in the Protestant Office (1963-1964), Acting University Chaplain (1964-1966), and University Chaplain (1966-1969).

In the course of his tenure at Columbia University, Rev. Cannon was considered a new breed of clergyman, whose liberal politics and theology fostered a strong orientation toward progressive social action. In this regard, he was closely identified with many campus protest organizations. To illustrate, Rev. Cannon supported the creation of the Student Homophile League, now the Columbia Queer Alliance, protested the Vietnam War and racial inequality. He also recommended the elimination of the University Chaplaincy and the University's relationship with the Episcopal Church. These preceding actions and other projects such as the establishment of the Postscrypt, a coffee house located under St. Paul's Chapel created tensions between Rev. Cannon and the university administration. In October 1968, citing "a real barrier" with the administration and the "powerful pressures" placed upon the chaplain's office, Rev. Cannon announced his plans to resign before the end of the academic year upon the completion of a report undertaken by the Committee on Religious Life. This committee chaired by Rev. Cannon and formed by the University President engaged in an extensive, comprehensive review of religious programs, procedures, and policies at Columbia University.

After Columbia University, Rev, Cannon served a brief tenure at the Academy for Educational Development. Beginning in the mid-1970s, he worked as an assistant to Bishop Paul Moore, Jr. (1919-2003). In 1975, Rev. Cannon became the tenth Rector of Saint John's Church in Greenwich Village, NY. By 1985, he had returned to chaplaincy and teaching at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH. Rev. Cannon retired from the ministry in 1995.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form
Clippings (Information Artifacts)
Speeches (documents)
Name
Cannon, John Dyson, 1934-2014
Columbia University
Columbia University -- Student strike, 1968
Columbia University -- Students
Subject
College chaplains
College students
College students -- Religious life
Gay college students -- United States
Gay liberation movement -- United States -- History
Student strikes -- New York (State) -- New York
Student-administrator relationships
Universities and colleges -- Sermons

Series I: Personal Files

This series contains Rev. Cannon's personal correspondence, lectures, notebooks and collected biographical information such as an interview, an oral history and newspaper mentions.


Box 1

Correspondence, 1952-1984, undated, 3 folders


Box 1

Job Search, 1965-1966


Box 1

Lectures, undated


Box 1

Newspaper Mentions, 1964-1968


Box 1

Notebooks, 1967, undated, 2 folders


Box 1

Reminiscences of John D. Cannon: Oral History--Columbia Crisis of 1968 Project , 1968 June 12


Wu, Albert The Secularization of the Chaplaincy: A History of the Columbia University Chaplaincy, 1908-1969, Senior Thesis, Faculty of the Department of History, Columbia University, 2005 April 15


Box 1

Cannon, John D.--Comments of, 2005 April 28

Series II: Sermons, Speeches and Writings

Arranged in chronological order, this series consists predominantly of Rev. Cannon's sermons and speeches given during his chaplaincy at Columbia University.


Box 1

Comments to Freshmen, 1965-1967


Sermons, 1963-1969 1975, undated, 1963-1969, 1975, undated, 7 folders


Box 1

"Christ and the Mature Man"--on Ephesians 4, 1964 February 2, 1964


Box 1

"To Tell the Truth--on truth-telling on the language of faith, 1964 March 8, 1964


Box 1

"Man's Coming of Age", St. Paul's Chapel, 1964 May 31, 1964


Box 1

"The One and the Many", 1964 August 2, 1964


Box 1

"The Christian and the Movement: Cooperation or Collision", 1966 February 13


Box 1

"The College Consensus: A Commentary on Its Character", Miss Porter's School, 1966 May 1


Box 1

"Is Nothing Sacred", St. Paul's Chapel, 1966 July 24


Box 1

"Christian Presence in the University"--Opening Service, 1966


Box 1

"The Church and Ecumenical Life", 1966


Box 1

"Freedom-Now and Then"--Baccalaureate Sermon, 1966


Box 1

"Relationship of Community of faith to Community of learning"--Opening Service, 1966


Box 1

Vetlesen Award--Jan Hendrick Cort, 1966


Box 1

"The Heart of the Wise in the House of Mourning"--Commemoration Service, 1967 January 15


Box 1

"Conscienceless Power Meets Powerless Conscience"--Race Relations Sunday, 1967 February 12


Box 1

"Godly Guides and Ungodly Gurus", 1967 April 9


Box 1

"Christian Attitude toward Power in the Eucharist as Social Action", 1967 July


Box 1

Good Friday--Dialogues, 1967


Box 1

Hiroshima Day--Feast of Transfiguration, 1967


Box 1

"On Church and State"--Reformation Sunday [text: give to Caesar the things that are Caesars], 1967


Box 1

"Freedom Now and Then", Miss Porter's School, 1967


Box 1

"Knowledge Beyond Knowledge", 1968 September


Box 1

Baccalaureate Service, 1968


Box 1

Passion Sunday--following the death of Martin Luther King, 1968


Box 1

Race Relations Sunday, 1968


Box 1

"True Religion and Political Relevance", 1968


Box 1

"Why Tell it Like it is?", Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 1969 February 9


Box 1

"Guilt and Hope", 1st Sunday in Lent [Temptation in the Wilderness], 1969


Box 1

Rogation Sunday [the Sunday preceding the Rogation Days], 1969


Box 2

"The Advantage of Being Christian", undated


Box 2

"Christian Identity in a Post-Christian World", undated


Box 2

"Citizens of Heaven", St. Paul's Chapel, undated


Box 2

"The Lure of Detachment", St. Paul's Chapel, undated


Box 2

"The New Reformation: Will the Institutional Church Survive", Reformation Sunday, undated


Box 2

Notes for a lecture--talk on the New Morality, undated


Box 2

"On Detachment and Confessions" St: Luke's Hospital, undated


Box 2

"On the Eucharistic Assembly in Prodigal Son", undated


Box 2

"The Parable of the Prodigal Son", undated


Box 2

Passion Sunday, Columbia University--with comments on Ed Crawford's paintings, undated


Box 2

"Sower and the Seed", undated


Box 2

"Technology and Progress: Towards the New Jerusalem", undated


Box 2

Thanksgiving Sermon, St. Thomas Church, undated


"What Resources Do We Have for Christian Living", St. Paul's Chapel, undated


Box 2

Preparation Materials--Miscellaneous Notes, 1963-1969 undated, 1963-1969, undated, 3 folders


Box 2

Speeches, 1959-1960


Box 2

"Student Power -- Open Revolt" Seventeen Magazine, 1968

Series III: Student Strike, 1968

Arranged alphabetically, series three encompasses news releases, periodicals, publications, reports, and student group information collected by Rev. Cannon about the 1968 Columbia Student Strike.


Columbia Crisis, 1968-1969


News Releases, 1968-1969


Box 2

General Administration, 1968


Box 2

Kirk, Truman and Trustees, 1968


Newspapers


Box 2

The Columbia OWL , 1968


Box 2

The Columbia Spectator , 1963-1969


Box 2

New York and other, 1968


Box 2

Student Organizations--Columbia University, 1968


Publications and Reports


Box 2

Columbia Crisis '68: A report submitted to The Ecumenical Foundation by The Reverend William F. Starr, staff member of the Foundation at Columbia , 1968


Box 2

Columbia College Today: Six Weeks That Shook Morningside , 1968


Box 2

The Columbia Crisis: Campus, Vietnam, and the Ghetto: A survey of student and faculty attitudes and behavior at Columbia University , 1968 July 1


Box 2

Who Rules Columbia?, North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), 1968 September


Box 2

Crisis at Columbia: What Happened, Why It Happened, The Future by Robert E. Price, 1968 October 1


Box 2

Student Groups, 1967-1969

Series IV: Subject Files

This series contains files related to Rev. Cannon's campus ministry activities and committee work. The series has an alphabetical arrangement.


Box 2

Abortion, 1966-1992


Box 2

Alumni--Columbia University, 1968-1969


Campus Ministries, 1965


Box 2

Case Studies in the Campus Ministry, The Church Society for College Work, 1968


Box 2

Columbia Student Christian Association, 1929-1942


Box 2

Columbia University--Reform, 1968-1969


Box 2

Commencements--Columbia University, 1966-1967


Box 2

Committee on External Affairs, 1968


Box 2

Committee on Religion, 1953-1954


Box 3

Committee on Religious Life, 1966-1967


Box 3

Correspondence, 1948-1969


Box 3

Interim Report--Draft--Materials, 1933-1967


Box 3

Outline Report of Review of Religious Life, Columbia University, 1967


Box 3

Recommendations Memoranda, undated


Box 3

Report--Price, Robert E., "Religious Life at Columbia, 1754-1922", undated


Box 3

Reprint--Friess, Horace L., "Growth in Study of Religion at Columbia University, 1924-1954", The Review of Religion, 1955 November, 1955


Box 3

Concerned Faculty and Students of Religion Department, 1968


Box 3

The Danforth Foundation, 1966


Box 3

The Ditchley Foundation, 1973


Box 3

Draft--Conscientious Objectors--Columbia University, 1934-1968


Earl Hall


Box 3

Activities, 1942-1968


Box 3

Advisory Committee, 1962-1968


Box 3

Correspondence, 1900-1984 undated, 1900-1984, undated, 7 folders


Box 3

Nominations for Clergy Appointments, Columbia University, 1968


Box 3

Pamphlets, 1964-1967 undated, 1964-1967, undated


Box 3

Photograph, undated


Box 3

Report [incomplete], undated


Box 3

Statistics--Religious Preference, 1954-1967


Box 3

Student Governing Board, 1969


Box 3

The Ecumenical Foundation for Higher Education in Metropolitan New York, Inc., 1965-1968


Education


Box 3

Articles, 1968


Box 3

Syllabi, 1963-1964


Box 3

Exhibition--Sister Mary Corita, 1959 1967, 1959, 1967


Box 3

Faculty Viewpoints Meeting, Ferris Booth Hall, 1968


Box 4

Invitations to Events, 1965-1968


Box 4

Morningside Area Clergy, 1968


Box 4

Newsletters, Pamphlets, and Reports, 1968-1969


Box 4

The Protestant Foundation, 1955-1969


Box 4

St. John's in the Village, 1975, undated


Box 4

St. Thomas Church, 1960-1968


Box 4

Strike Education Committee, 1968


Box 4

Vietnam TEACH IN, 1966 March 24, 1966


Box 4

The Westminster Foundation of Columbia University--Program and Reports, 1946-1949


Box 4

William Earl Dodge Center for Religion and Life, University Religious Affairs, 1969


Worship Services


Liturgies and Services


Box 4

St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University, 1963-1969


Box 4

Marriage Service--The Certificate, 1963 undated


Box 4

Meditations, undated


Box 4

Ministry Related, 1962-1964 undated, 1962-1964, undated

[restricted until 2039]


Box 5

Prayers


Box 5

Benedictions, undated


Box 5

Memorial Services, 1956-1969

Series V: Publications--Collected

This series contains publications collected by Rev. Cannon and deals with the political, religious, and social upheavals facing university ministries during the late 1960s. These publications, many of them rare, contain Cannon's marginalia and notes evincing the development of his thoughts about how to lead a chaplaincy in a time of great campus turmoil. This series is arranged alphabetically by author. If the author is not known, the publication is arranged alphabetically by either article or periodical title.


Box 5

"An Activist Bishop Faces Life" Newsweek , 1972 December 25


Box 5

Campus Ministers' Conference for the Metropolitan New York City Area, Catholic Center, New York University, under the auspices of the Metropolitan New York City Chapter of the Religious Education Association, 1966 March 22, 1966


Box 5

Carey, John J., "The Changing Campus" Dialogue on Campus, vol. 19, pp. 2-6, 1969 April


Box 5

Chambeau, Frank Alsid de, "An Exploratory Ministry in Education: Analysis and Recommendations", undated


Box 5

The Chautauquan: Illustrated Book of Chautauqua, 1952 April, 1952


Box 5

Free Student: Published by May 2nd Movement, no. 3, undated


Box 5

Goodman, Paul, "Student Chaplains", The New Republic, 1967 January 7, 1967


Box 5

Heights , 1967


Box 5

Hill, Herbert, "Planning the End of the American Ghetto: A Program of Economic Development for Equal Rights", 1966


Box 5

Hudson, Frederic M., "The American College Chaplaincy as an Action Research Community", undated


Box 5

Journal of Social Commentary, 1967 May, 1967


Box 5

Kavanaugh, Robert E., "The Grim Generation", Psychology Today Magazine, 1968 October, 1968


Box 5

Merkovic, Lee, "Rabbi Goldman", Manhattan Tribune, vol. 1, no. 27, 1969 May 24


Box 5

Moore, John M. The Place of Moral and Religious Values in Programs of General Education, 1952


Box 5

New York State Campus Ministry Consultation--Reaction Papers, 1967 May 25-June 3, 1967


Box 5

The Proceedings from an Invitational Workshop on Religious Studies in Higher Education , 1967


Box 5

Roy Rogers: a magazine of the arts, 1967 May, 1967


Box 5

Schlossberg, Edwin, ed. Good News, The Institute for Contemporary Studies, undated


Box 5

Senarclens, Jacques de The Church and the University, undated


Box 5

Summer '69: Published by Columbia University and Teachers College , 1969


Box 5

Tremmel, William C., "Changing Patterns of Religion on Campus", undated


Box 5

Wedel, Theodore O. The Church and the University, undated