Society of Friends

LC control no.	n 79066083
Descriptive conventions	rda
Corporate name heading	Society of Friends *Browse this term in* LC Authorities or the LC Catalog
Special note	DESCRIPTIVE USAGE: NOT VALID AS A CORPORATE NAME HEADING. "Society of Friends" is a religious group, not a denomination; not valid for main or added entry or for entry element in corporate name references. "(Society of Friends)" is valid as qualifier for Society of Friends "Meetings" that lack the term "Friends." ("Meetings" are entered directly under their own names.) SUBJECT USAGE: Society of Friends is not valid for use as a corporate subject heading. Works about the religious group are entered under the topical subject heading Society of Friends (sh85-124183)
Found in	Barbour, H. The Quakers, 1988 Ltr. fr. Mary Ellen Chijioke, Friends Hist. Lib. of Swarthmore College (Pa.), July 10, 1991 ("Society of Friends" is not a corporate body except in Great Britain, where the formal name of London Yearly Meeting is the "Religious Society of Friends"; the group does not act an entity; there is an emotional recognition of common historical roots and an emotional search for community, but no corporate body; highest level of hierarchy is the Yearly Meeting which is in all cases fully autonomous; there exist a number of alliances of Yearly Meetings, such as Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting, but they are not superior to the Yearly Meetings; Monthly Meetings and Preparatory Meetings are equivalent to local congregations; status of Quarterly Meetings and Half-yearly Meetings are more ambiguous but probably should be treated as autonomous bodies)