What is "tracts for the times"

Tract \Tract\, n. [Abbrev.fr. tractate.] A written discourse or dissertation, generally of short extent; a short treatise, especially on practical religion.

The church clergy at that time writ the best collection of tracts against popery that ever appeared.
--Swift.

Tracts for the Times. See Tractarian.

The Tracts for the Times were a series of 90 theological publications, varying in length from a few pages to book-length, produced by members of the English Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic revival group, from 1833 to 1841. There were about a dozen authors, including Oxford Movement leaders John Keble, John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey, with Newman taking the initiative in the series, and making the largest contribution. With the wide distribution associated with the tract form, and a price in pennies, the Tracts succeeded in drawing attention to the views of the Oxford Movement on points of doctrine, but also to its overall approach, to the extent that Tractarian became a synonym for supporter of the movement.