The Thomas J. Dodd Papers consist of a diary, sermons, lectures, and book manuscripts ranging in date from May 1873 to 1887.

Thomas John Dodd was born on August 4, 1837 at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He graduated from Transylvania College (Lexington, Kentucky) in 1857 and joined the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Church South in 1860. He served as a delegate to the General Conference in 1866. He taught at private schools in Paris, Nicholesville, Shelbyville and Lexington in Kentucky and also served as principal at the Conference High School in Millersburg. Elected president of Kentucky Wesleyan College in 1875, he left in 1876 to chair the Hebrew and English Literature department at Vanderbilt University. In 1885 he left Vanderbilt and worked with the Dodd Select High School in Nashville for twelve years.

He was skilled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac and other languages and was considered one of the foremost linguists in the South. He was granted an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Centre College. In addition to publishing two books, he was also a frequent contributor of articles to Methodist journals.

Thomas J. Dodd died on February 9, 1899.