James Douglas (1837-1918), was a Presbyterian licentiate, mining engineer, first president of Phelps Dodge Corporation and philanthropist.

The collection contains forty-one holograph sermons delivered at various churches in Montreal and Quebec, Canada, and Phoenixville, PA. Each is annotated with the multiple places and dates of presentation. The sermons date from 1859, when Douglas was studying theology at the University of Edinburgh, to 1880, when he first became involved with Arizona mining.