Search

The accession includes a master, duplicating master, and use copy videotape recording of a talk given by Coffin at the Yale University Library on February 24, 2003. The title of the talk, "War is a Coward's Escape from the Problems of Peace" was derived from a quote by Thomas Mann. The talk was given in support of a library exhibit on the antiwar movement that featured Coffin's papers. Coffin gives his perspective on the upcoming war in Iraq and reflects on his experiences in the antiwar movement in the 1960s.

This accession is arranged in seven sections: Correspondence; Personal and family; Printed materials and clippings; Topical; Writings; Audiotapes; and Videotapes. There is also a small amount of oversize material. The materials supplement the previous accessions by documenting Coffin's "semi-retirement" during the 1990s and 2000s and by providing materials about his personal life as a father, son, friend, and minister, during the 1930s through the 1980s.

The accession is arranged in four sections: Correspondence; Printed materials and clippings; Topical; and Writings. The materials supplement the main accession and add significant documentation on Coffin's years as senior minister of Riverside Church. Highlighted in the materials is an extensive collection of sermons, both from Riverside and Yale University's Battell Chapel. Though donated by Coffin, these materials were transferred to Yale after the original accession by Warren Goldstein, who used them in researching his biography of Coffin.