Harold Wickliffe Rose papers

The Harold Wickliffe Rose Papers consist entirely of materials relating to his book, The Colonial Houses of Worship in America (1963). Besides the actual manuscript, the collection includes correspondence during and after the writing of the book, printed reviews, and a large amount of research material: notes, letters of inquiry, and printed and pictorial matter about churches.

The most valuable material in the papers is the collection of original photographs of churches. As the book's subtitle explains, Rose attempted to record every American church "built in the English colonies before the Republic, 1607 – 1789, and still standing." He was not completely successful, but he did take more than 400 photographs of churches in eighteen states. Most of these photographs—some of which were not published in the book—are arranged by state in boxes 5-12; in many cases there are a 4 by 5" negative, a 4 by 5" print, and an 8 by 10" print of each photograph. There are also large mounted photographs in the two folio boxes, and some photographs in the correspondence folders.

In the research material, boxes 5-12, the notes, correspondence and printed matter for each state are arranged chronologically, while the photographs, in separate folders, are arranged alphabetically by the name of town or county, with less clearly indentified photographs at the end. There are separate folders, containing both notes and photographs, for particularly well-documented churches.

The papers were given by Mrs. Elizabeth Rose to the Yale Art and Architecture Library, and transferred to Manuscripts and Archives in October 1980.