274

Papers of the Rev. Paul Dresser, part of the founding family of the New Thought religious movement.

Various places, circa 1892-1937
4 large volumes and one small box of loose papers (1.1 linear feet); condition generally strong except for photo album binding.

  • Notes: Jean Paul Dresser (1877-1935) was a Swedenborgian minister. His father was Julius Dresser (1837-1893), founder of the New Thought religious movement, who was in turn inspired by folk healer and mesmerist Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866). Brother Horatio Dresser and mother Annetta Seabury Dresser were also key figures in the movement. The movement promoted the idea that the mental state manifested in the physical. They bore some similarity to Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science, with whom their relationship was fraught; later exponents included Father Divine. The movement is estimated to have more than two million adherents today. This collection includes: 

    3 albums of sermons. Includes 77 different sermons on approximately 750 pages (typescript and/or manuscript).  laid down on album leaves. Sample titles include "Changing One's Desires," "Immunity to Evil through Loyalty to Truth," and "Constructive Non-Resistance." 1931-1934 and undated. 

    Several unbound manuscripts and typescripts, some with diagrams of personality types, 1931 and undated

    10 printed tracts on religion and sex education from the Church of New Jerusalem and other sources, 1914-1937

    Several issues of the church magazine, "The American New-Church League Journal" and "The New-Church Herald," 1932-1935

    Correspondence commemorating Dresser's death, 1935

    Family photograph album with 22 cabinet cards inserted, including 2 portraits each of father Julius Dresser and mother Annetta Seabury Dresser, one of his brother Horatio Dresser from 1892, 2 showing Paul Dresser with his brother Horatio, and 5 other childhood portraits of Paul Dresser. Laid in are 8 mounted cartes-de-visite of Julius Dresser, Annetta Seabury Dresser, Paul Dresser and others. The album is worn and disbound but the contents are generally sound.
  • Condition:
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November 20, 2025 10:30 AM EST
New York, NY, US

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