The Roger Williams Fellowship came into existence informally in 1925 at the Seattle Convention of the Northern Baptist Convention (ABC Churches USA), and more formally at the 1935 Convention in Colorado Springs, as shared by D.R. Sharpe, considered the founding father. The 1920s were a time of upheaveal, fierce social ferment, people who opposed the Social Gospel and those who approved of it. A powerful group of Conservatives/Fundamentalists planned to write a Baptist Creed and have it adopted by the delegates at Seattle.

Cornelius Woelfkin and Harry Emerson Fosdick presented to Dr. Sharpe a resolution making the New Testament our sole rule and guide. Some 35 ment gathered in a hotel room and the Roger Williams Fellowship was born. By 1935 the need was felt for more oganization, so officers, a Board of Directors and a manifesto came into being. The purpose statement reads, in part: "The Roger Williams Fellowship brings into informal organizational relationship a varied group of American Baptists who believe in the value of frank and free discussion of their several viewpoints. The Fellowship welcomes the membership and support of all who earnestly desire to preserve and promote the tradional Baptist Spirt of free creative inquiry."

Text taken from "The Roger Williams Fellowship-Our beginnings, our purpose, our people, our future," found in the collection.