Astronomy & Physics
Barnard, Edward Emerson
Edward Emerson Barnard was born December 16, 1857 in Nashville, Tennessee. Compelled to leave school at an early age to work to help support his family, he went to work in a photographer’s studio when he was about nine years old and remained there for seventeen years. From 1883 to 1887 Barnard attended Vanderbilt and served as instructor in astronomy. He later served at the Lick Observatory in California and the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin. He was one of the first observers to use photography in his studies and is credited with discovering the fifth satellite of Jupiter as well as a number of comets and other phenomena. He died in Williams Bay, Wisconsin on February 6, 1923.
The Barnard Papers contain an incomplete autobiography; correspondence from 1882-1923; published and unpublished writings; personal and astronomical photographs; astronomical calculations; material about Barnard; and miscellaneous material.
Landon Cabell Garland was born on March 21, 1810 in Nelson County, Virginia. He taught chemistry at both Washington College and Randolph-Macon College, and was elected president of Randolph-Macon College in 1837. In 1854, he was elected president of the University of Alabama. During the Civil War, the University of Alabama was burned to the ground. After a year of trying to rebuild the university, Garland accepted the chair of philosophy and astronomy at the University of Mississippi in 1867. He remained there until coming to Vanderbilt University in 1875 as chancellor. He died February 13, 1895. He is buried with the three bishops - McTyeire, Soule, and McKendree - on the Vanderbilt Campus, near the Divinity School.
The Landon Cabell Garland Papers, 1830-1993, include correspondence, diaries, speeches, sermons, a report to the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust, and personal and biographical materials.
Athletics
William Lofland Dudley was born on April 16, 1859 in Covington, Kentucky. He received his B.S. from the University of Cincinnati in 1880. He served as Demonstrator of Chemistry and Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology at Miami Medical College before accepting the Chair in Chemistry at Vanderbilt University in 1866. While at Vanderbilt, Dudley established the Vanderbilt Athletic Association; formed the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (precursor of the Southeastern Conference); reorganized the Medical Department at the request of Chancellor Kirkland; served on the executive committee of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition; and was a fellow and vice-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He died on September 8, 1914 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The William Lofland Dudley Papers include incoming and outgoing correspondence from 1896-1915; lecture notes; chemistry lectures; papers read at meetings; printed articles and speeches; business papers; papers relating to athletics; pamphlets; newspaper clippings; and scrapbooks.
Rice, Grantland
Henry Grantland Rice was born on November 1, 1880 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He received his B.A. in 1901 from Vanderbilt University, where he played on both the baseball and football teams. After graduation, he began his long career as a sports journalist at the Nashville Daily News before going to work for the Nashville Tennessean. In 1911 he moved to New York where he continued his sports writing career as well as turning to radio and film. He was a prolific writer, producing numerous sports columns, books, and poetry throughout his career. He is probably best known by the quotation “It’s not how you win or lose, but how you play the game,” which is a misquote of a poem he wrote for a Tennessean article in 1908 to describe a Vanderbilt alumnus football game. He died on July 13, 1954 in New York City.
The Grantland Rice Papers include correspondence; writings; newspaper clippings; photographs and biographical sketches of sports figures; personal, business and estate papers; souvenirs; and miscellaneous publications.
Civil Rights
Branscomb, Bennett Harvie
Harvie Branscomb was born on December 25, 1894 in Huntsville, Alabama. After earning degrees at Birmingham College, Oxford University, and Columbia University, Branscomb served as instructor and administrator at Southern Methodist University and Duke University before coming to Vanderbilt in 1946 as Chancellor. While at Vanderbilt, he doubled both the physical facilities of the campus and the number of PhD programs as well as conducting a number of highly successful fund-raising campaigns for the university. Branscomb served as chancellor during the sit-in movement in Nashville and the highly publicized expulsion of graduate student James Lawson for participating in sit-in demonstrations. He died on July 23, 1998 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Harvie Branscomb Papers include correspondence from 1929 to 1978; speeches delivered by Branscomb; academic papers; materials relating to James Lawson; and papers relating to Branscomb’s various regional and international organizational activities.
A prominent church leader and activist, Kelly Miller Smith played a significant role in the civil rights movement, serving as part of the circle of advisors to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was pastor of the First Baptist Church, Capital Hill for 34 years. The first African-American named to the faculty of the Vanderbilt Divinity School, he served as Lecturer in Church and Ministries and as Assistant Dean. Smith was very active in the civil rights movement in Nashville as well as nationally.
The Kelly Miller Smith Papers include correspondence, notebooks kept as a student at Morehouse and Harvard Universities, biographical/personal material, writings, church records, subject files, and other related materials.
In 1965, Robert Penn Warren wrote a book, now out of print, entitled Who Speaks for the Negro? To research this publication, he traveled the country and spoke with a variety of people who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He spoke with nationally-known figures as well as people working in the trenches of the Movement. The Who Speaks for the Negro? Archive contains digitized versions of the original reel-to-reel recordings, as well as copies of the correspondence, transcripts, and other printed materials related to his research for the provocatively-titled book.
Civil War
Chowning, James C. [small collection]
This collection contains 21 letters, arranged in nine folders by year, mostly written by James C. Chowning to his mother and sisters, during the Civil War and afterwards. They describe his training with the Tennessee Volunteers in the Confederate Army, and military operations of those troops. These letters provide a somewhat detailed description of training in the camps, of rumors among the troops, and his opinion of political events. A few letters were written from admirers to his sisters. Most of the letters are handwritten, some with a typescript.
Jones, T. M. N. [small collection]
This collection contains three diaries of T.M.N. Jones, describing his service in the Cavalry of the Confederate Army from September 24, 1863 to May 23, 1865. A typed transcript of the diary entries is included.
Kimmel, John [small collection]
This collection contains 15 items. The letters are addressed primarily to John Kimmel from friends, during the Civil War. One letter is addressed to Lucy Ingham, who became his wife. There is one unidentified daguerreotype photograph included in the collection, and one poem by John Kimmel.
Williamson, P. J. [small collection]
This collection contains 25 typed copies of letters from P. J. Williamson to his wife, Eunice from 1862 to 1869. One letter is from his brother William to P. J. Williamson. The letters are organized in 6 folders, chronologically.
Educators
Branscomb, Bennett Harvie
Harvie Branscomb was born on December 25, 1894 in Huntsville, Alabama. After earning degrees at Birmingham College, Oxford University, and Columbia University, Branscomb served as instructor and administrator at Southern Methodist University and Duke University before coming to Vanderbilt in 1946 as Chancellor. While at Vanderbilt, he doubled both the physical facilities of the campus and the number of PhD programs and carried out a number of highly successful fund-raising campaigns for the university. Branscomb served as chancellor during the sit-in movement in Nashville and the highly publicized expulsion of graduate student James Lawson for participating in sit-in demonstrations. He died on July 23, 1998 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Harvie Branscomb Papers include correspondence from 1929 to 1978; speeches delivered by Branscomb; academic papers; materials relating to James Lawson; and papers relating to Branscomb’s various regional and international organizational activities.
James Hampton Kirkland was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina on September 9, 1859. He received an A.B. in 1877 and A.M. in 1878 from Wofford College. He received a Ph.D. in Comparative Philology at the University of Leipzig in 1885. In 1886, he was appointed professor of Latin at Vanderbilt University. In 1893 he was elected chancellor and served in that position until his retirement in 1937. He died in 1939.
The James Hampton Kirkland Papers contain correspondence, writings, biographical material, material relating to his academic career, legal papers, financial records, family papers, and newspaper clippings.
Mims, Edwin
Edwin Mims was born on May 27, 1872 in Richmond, Arkansas. He received his B.A. in 1892 and M.A. in 1893 from Vanderbilt University. He received his Ph.D. in 1900 from Cornell University. He served as professor of English at both Trinity College (later Duke University) and the University of North Carolina before coming to Vanderbilt University in 1912. He was professor and chair of the English Department until his retirement in 1942. He died on September 15, 1959.
The Edwin Mims Papers include correspondence from 1892 to 1958; biographical and autobiographical material; addresses and speeches; manuscripts for publications; research notes; and academic material relating to his teaching and management of the English Department at Vanderbilt University.
Family Planning
Mrs. Susie Daniel Kirtland Green (1887-1967), an associate of Margaret Sanger, operated the first birth control clinic in Tennessee at 2204 21st Avenue, South, Nashville, Tennessee, from 1932 to about 1941. In 1941 she began to sell Fem-A-Gyn contraceptive suppositories, which she developed from a recipe that Margaret Sanger included in her "Family Limitation" pamphlet. She and her daughter, Ruth H. Mocker continued a modestly successful mail order business until 1970. The collection documents her professional life as a birth control advocate and includes correspondence, business papers, personal papers and notes, newspaper clippings, and artifacts. The patient records series, which span 1934 to 1966, are restricted.
Family Papers
Clark Family Papers [small collections]
The Clark Family papers (1816-1899) contains correspondence of various members of the Clark family of Campbell County, Virginia.
Tucker W. Clark and his brother Edward B. Clark, with their wives and children, migrated to Franklin, Kentucky about 1832 and later moved to Russellville, Kentucky. Several married sisters in Virginia bringing into the correspondence the family names Moorman, Harris, and Martin. Edward B. Clark died in 1835. His daughter Mary Evalina Clark seems to have been the person who preserved this collection since about half the letters were addressed to her. Among the more frequent correspondents was Missouri P. W. Clark, whose widowed mother lived in Raleigh, North Carolina. Missouri often addressed Tucker W. Clark as her Uncle and foster-father. About 1843 she married a Mr. Ricks and settled in Ohio. In 1939, in Russellville, Mary Evalina Clark married Robert Z. Hill, who had migrated from Virginia to Russellville some years before. The most frequent correspondent in later years was a cousin, Julia A. B. Clark, a mother of several children.
Subjects include business transactions, the Civil War, education, family life, 19th-Century customs, poetry, and religion.
The Mary Helen Clark Papers consist primarily of letters written by Clark to members of her family while she resided in Brazil. The letters provide detailed accounts of Mary Helen's days in Brazil, particularly in Belo Horizonte, Minas; Porto Alegre; and in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Moore of the Instituto Granberry. In addition to Helen Clark's own letters, there is one folder of his sister Blanche Henry Clark's correspondence during her stay in Brazil in 1932.
Foote, Mary Ella Calhoun [small collection]
Mary Ella Calhoun Foote was the daughter of a Nashville jeweler. When she died in 1918, she left her entire estate to Vanderbilt University to erect a building in memory of her father, William Henry Calhoun. This collection includes correspondence ranging in date from 1860 to 1929, and papers relating to the handling of her estate.
Haun, Andrew and Mattie Papers
Born in 1870, Andrew Haun received his teaching degree from Tusculum College in 1888. In 1893, Mr. Haun moved to Nashville to accept a position as teacher at an elementary school. In 1910, he and his wife Mattie moved to Franklin, Tennessee where Mr. Haun became principal of the elementary school and superintendent of the city schools. Andrew Haun died in 1947.
This contains correspondence, diaries, family records, newspaper clippings and other materials relating to Andrew Jacob Haun and Mattie Francis Oliver Haun, aunt and uncle of the southern writer Mildred E. Haun.
McTyeire-Baskervill Papers
The McTyeire-Baskervill Papers contain the family papers of Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, Janie McTyeire Baskervill, and William Malone Baskervill. Bishop McTyeire persuaded Cornelius Vanderbilt to endow Vanderbilt University as an educational institution and served as president of the first Board of Trust.
The McTyeire-Baskervill Papers contain correspondence; papers relating to Vanderbilt University; materials relating to the history of the McTyeire family; and newspaper clippings.
Historians
Douglas Edward Leach was born in Providence, Rhode Island, 27 May, 1920. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University in 1942, and from 1942 to 1946 he served as a deck officer in the U.S. Navy. He earned his M.A. in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1952 from Harvard University. He served as history professor at Bates College before joining Vanderbilt’s history faculty in 1956. Dr. Leach died July 1, 2003 in Nashville.
The Douglas Edward Leach Papers include correspondence, class notes and teaching materials, lectures, materials pertaining to professional organizations and activities, writings, and research materials.
Henry Lee Swint received his B.A. from Birmingham Southern College in 1929. He received his M.A. in 1930 and his Ph.D. in 1939 from Vanderbilt University. He served on the faculty of the Vanderbilt University History Department from 1939 to 1985. He died in 1985. The Henry Lee Swint Papers include correspondence; writings; research notes; speeches; lecture notes; book reviews; offprints; correspondence regarding Swint's two books; and research notes on Vanderbilt's history.
Journalism
Cheney, Brainard and Frances Neel
Brainard Cheney was a reporter for the Nashville Banner, a novelist and playwright. Frances Neel Cheney worked for the Vanderbilt libraries for 14 years, at the Library of Congress, and taught library courses at George Peabody College. The Brainard and Frances Neel Cheney Papers, 1841-1989, include correspondence, manuscripts of writings, speeches, research materials, publication materials, publicity for books and play productions, reviews, legal and financial documents, family records, memorabilia, clippings and photographs, programs from cultural events, clippings on race relations, materials from Brainard Cheney’s career in politics, and manuscripts of writings by other authors. Among their many correspondents were Caroline Gordon, Donald Davidson, Mildred Haun, Andrew Lytle, Flannery O’Connor, Allen Tate, Peter Taylor, Robert Penn Warren, and Stuart Wright.
A member of the Fugitives literary group, Davidson received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Vanderbilt University and remained at the University his entire professional career (1920 - 1968) teaching English. In addition to being a teacher Davidson was also a poet, novelist, and critic.
The Donald Davidson Papers include correspondence and writings by Davidson as well as reviews, research materials, publications materials, publicity for books, legal and financial documents, family records, newspaper clippings and photographs, segregation materials, and manuscripts of writings by others. The bulk of the materials range from the 1920's through the 1960's.
John Egerton was a staff writer for Southern Education Report, 1965-1969, and for Race Relations Reporter, 1969-1971. In 1971, Egerton began his career as a free-lance reporter. He was a contributing editor for Saturday Review of Education (1972-1973), Race Relations Reporter (1973-1974), and Southern Voices (1974-1975). From 1973-1975, he was a writer for Atlanta's Southern Regional Council. In 1977-1978, he was journalist-in-residence at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Mr. Egerton has written or edited eleven non-fiction books and contributed over two hundred articles to periodicals. He has also been a participant in and writer for many projects or conferences dealing with desegregation and civil rights.
The John Egerton Papers, 1950s-2001, include correspondence, manuscripts of writings, speeches, research materials, publication materials, publicity for books, reviews, legal and financial documents, memorabilia, clippings and photographs, programs from cultural events, scrapbooks and periodicals on race relations and school desegregation, and audio and video tapes. The ninety boxes of this collection cover approximately 38 linear feet. Major topics include civil rights, desegregation, race relations, Southern history, and Southern food. The collection is arranged in chronological order, beginning with Egerton's early writings in the army and in public relations while in graduate school at the University of Kentucky and continuing through his extensive work as a free-lance writer and author of many books. These papers offer a fascinating insight into the career of a non-fiction writer in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Rice, Grantland
Henry Grantland Rice was born on November 1, 1880 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He received his B.A. in 1901 from Vanderbilt University, where he played on both the baseball and football teams. After graduation, he began his long career as a sports journalist at the Nashville Daily News before going to work for the Nashville Tennessean. In 1911 he moved to New York where he continued his sports writing career as well as turning to radio and film. He was a prolific writer, producing numerous sports columns, books, and poetry throughout his career. He is probably best known by the quotation “It’s not how you win or lose, but how you play the game,” which is a misquote of a poem he used in a Tennessean article he wrote in 1908 to describe a Vanderbilt alumnus football game. He died on July 13, 1954 in New York City.
The Grantland Rice Papers include correspondence; writings; newspaper clippings; photographs and biographical sketches of sports figures; personal, business and estate papers; souvenirs; and miscellaneous publications.
James D. Squires rose from mill worker's son to editor and executive vice president of one of the country's most influential newspapers, the Chicago Tribune. A 1966 Peabody College graduate, Squires began his journalism career at the Tennessean in 1962, where he worked as a reporter, night city desk editor and Washington correspondent before moving to the Tribune in 1972. He worked in the Washington bureau until 1977, becoming the bureau chief in 1974. While at the Tribune, Squires covered Watergate, presidential elections and accompanied former President Gerald Ford on a 1975 state visit to China. He moved from the Tribune to the Orlando Sentinel-Star (later the Orlando Sentinel) in 1977, where he was editor until returning to Chicago as editor of the Tribune in 1981. Eight-and-a-half years and seven Pulitzer Prizes for the Tribune later, Squires resigned. He and his wife Mary Anne moved to a horse farm in Kentucky, where he bred 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos. He was an adjunct professor at Harvard University in 1990 and Middle Tennessee State University in 1992. Squires was Ross Perot's media adviser during his 1992 presidential campaign.
The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, videocassettes, audiocassettes and signed original political cartoons. (Note on access restrictions: Material related to Ross Perot's 1992 political campaign, for which Squires served as media adviser, is restricted until a biography is authorized by Perot.)
Stahlman, James G.
A Nashville native and Vanderbilt alumnus, James G. Stahlman was a nationally prominent newspaper publisher and member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust. As publisher of the Nashville Banner newspaper for 42 years, Stahlman was active in national newspaper and civic organizations. The James G. Stahlman Papers contain materials relating to his newspaper career; his support and activities regarding Vanderbilt University, his military and aviation career during World War II, and his political and community activities.
Law and Politics
Denna Frank Fleming was born on March 25, 1893 in Paris, Illinois. He received his A.B. in 1916, A.M. in 1920, and Ph.D. in 1928 from the University of Illinois. He taught at Monmouth College before coming to Vanderbilt as Professor of International Relations in 1928. From 1939 to 1947, Fleming presented a series of weekly radio programs broadcast from WSM over much of the United States concerning events leading up to, during, and after the World War II. The programs were favorably received and many of them were collected and published in the book While America Slept.
The papers of Denna F. Fleming include correspondence; writings; lecture and research notes; radio program transcripts; and scrapbooks.
Edmund M. Morgan, Jr. received the Bachelor of Arts in 1902, the Master of Arts in 1903 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1905. He later completed another Masters degree at Yale (1919). Morgan left Yale for Harvard in 1925, serving as Royall Professor of Law until he reached mandatory retirement age in 1950. During the summers, he taught at Columbia, North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Stanford, and Southern California. In 1936-37 and 1942-45, he was Acting Dean of the Harvard Law School. Upon his retirement, he joined the faculty of the Vanderbilt University Law School and was named Rand Professor of Law in 1951. He taught at Vanderbilt until approximately 1962.
The papers of Edmund M. Morgan, Jr., date from approximately 1906 to 1964 and document his lengthy and distinguished career as an attorney, a legal scholar, a teacher, and a public servant. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1940s and 1950s. Extensive correspondence, Morgan's own writings, and papers related to his professional activities provide insight into his scholarship and record his part in such important proceedings as the simplification of the federal rules for civil procedure and the modernization of the code of military justice. Other materials reflect his role in the development of rules for civil procedure in Puerto Rico and Israel.
Literature
Cheney, Brainard and Frances Neel
Brainard Cheney was a reporter for the Nashville Banner, a novelist and playwright. Frances Neel Cheney worked for the Vanderbilt libraries for 14 years, at the Library of Congress, and taught library courses at George Peabody College. The Brainard and Frances Neel Cheney Papers, 1841-1989, include correspondence, manuscripts of writings, speeches, research materials, publication materials, publicity for books and play productions, reviews, legal and financial documents, family records, memorabilia, clippings and photographs, programs from cultural events, clippings on race relations, materials from Brainard Cheney’s career in politics, and manuscripts of writings by other authors. Among their many correspondents were Caroline Gordon, Donald Davidson, Mildred Haun, Andrew Lytle, Flannery O’Connor, Allen Tate, Peter Taylor, Robert Penn Warren, and Stuart Wright.
Dr. Alfred L. Crabb was Professor of Education at Peabody from 1927 to 1949. He received his B.A. from Peabody College, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. from Peabody College. He was also presented with honorary doctorate degrees from University of Kentucky and Georgetown College. Highly respected as an educator, Crabb was also a successful novelist, penning eleven historical novels. He served as editor of the Peabody Journal of Education for 28 years. He also wrote historical articles for The Peabody Reflector from 1939-1941. He died in 1979.
The Alfred Leland Crabb Papers include correspondence ranging in date from 1914 to 1978. There are also manuscripts from his various writing projects, as well as copies of manuscripts written about him; clippings of reviews of his books; and research materials he assembled while working on various writing projects.
A distinguished Medieval and Renaissance scholar, Walter Clyde Curry was a member of the Vanderbilt University English Department faculty for 40 years. He served as head of the English department and the humanities division from 1941 until his retirement in 1955. Walter Clyde Curry was also an initial member of the Fugitive literary movement. Curry's collection contains 77 outgoing letters; 135 incoming letters; writings - published & unpublished; book reviews; publishers' announcements & revisions; royalty statements; research/lecture notes; budget/curriculum notes; graduate information; offprints by others; diagrams & illustrations; photographs; and ephemera.
A member of the Fugitives literary group, Davidson received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Vanderbilt University and remained at the University his entire professional career (1920 - 1968) teaching English. In addition to being a teacher Davidson was also a poet, novelist, and critic.
The Donald Davidson Papers include correspondence and writings by Davidson as well as reviews, research materials, publications materials, publicity for books, legal and financial documents, family records, newspaper clippings and photographs, segregation materials, and manuscripts of writings by others. The bulk of the materials range from the 1920's through the 1960's.
Robert Drake was born on October 20, 1930 in Ripley, Tennessee. he received his B.A. in 1952 and M.A. in 1953 from Vanderbilt University, and a second M.A. in 1954 and Ph.D. in 1955 from Yale University. During his academic career he taught at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Northwestern University; University of Texas, Austin; and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The Robert Drake Papers include correspondence; writings; speeches; research and publication materials; publicity for books; reviews; legal and financial documents; memorabilia; clippings; personal and biographical material; and photographs.
James Harold Flye was born on October 17, 1884 in Bangor, Maine. He received his B.A. in 1910 from Yale University and his M.A. in 1912 from the University of Virginia. he graduated from the General Theological Seminary in New York in 1915. In December 1915, he was ordained into the priesthood of the Episcopal Church. He served as history teacher at St. Andrew’s School in Sewanee, Tennessee from 1918-1954, where he befriended future writer James Agee. He died on April 14, 1985 in New York.
The James Harold Flye Papers include Flye's correspondence with over two hundred individuals (primarily letters received), journals kept in scattered years during the 1920s and 1930s, almost daily journals kept from 1957 to 1981, Flye's own writings, and information regarding James Agee. The collection does not currently include originals of the Agee-Flye correspondence, but it does include typescript copies of Flye's letters to James Agee. The papers also include information regarding a 1980-1981 traveling exhibit of Flye's photographs from the 1930s and 1940s, an extensive file of photographs from the 1920s to the 1970s, and audio tapes of telephone conversations, personal observances, and reminiscences.
Haun, Mildred
Mildred Haun was born on January 6, 1911 in Hamblen County, Tennessee. She received her M.A. in 1937 from Vanderbilt University. In 1940, she published a collection a short stories under the title The Hawk’s Done Gone. Throughout her career, she worked as book editor for the Nashville Tennessean, editorial assistant for the Sewanee Review, information specialist at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tullahoma, and as public relations editor and technical manuscript author for the Department of Agriculture. She died on December 20, 1966 in Washington, D.C.
The Mildred Haun Papers contain correspondence; diaries and personal records; business papers; research notes; folk songs; writings; estate papers; and miscellaneous materials.
George Marion O'Donnell was born January 21, 1914, on the Silver Home Plantation near Midnight, Mississippi. Upon graduation from high school in 1932, he entered Memphis State University. In 1934, he transferred to Vanderbilt University, where he was influenced by several well-known Southern literary figures, including Allen Tate, Cleanth Brooks, and Andrew Lytle. He received a B.A. in English from Vanderbilt in 1936 and his M.A. in 1939.
The papers of George Marion O'Donnell date from approximately the 1870s to 1982. The bulk of the collection, however, dates from the 1940s and 1950s. It includes O'Donnell's correspondence, journals, and daybooks, which reflect his interest in modern literature and the influence of several Vanderbilt and other Southern literary figures over his own work. O'Donnell's literary career is further documented by the manuscripts and published versions of many of his poems, stories, essays, and reviews included in this collection.
Frank Lawrence Owsley obtained his B.S. in 1912 from the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn, Alabama and his M.A. in history from University of Chicago in 1917. He joined the staff of Vanderbilt University in 1920. He was a member of the Agrarians literature movement at Vanderbilt and wrote the essay entitled "The Irrepressible Conflict" for I'll Take My Stand: the South and the Agrarian Tradition published by Harper Brothers of New York and London in 1930.
The Frank Lawrence Owsley Paper include correspondence; writings; personal and biographical materials; Agrarian literary group material; papers relating to his academic career and professional activities; and research materials.
John Crowe Ransom was born April 30, 1888 in Pulaski, Tennessee. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1909, was a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, 1910-1913, and joined the faculty of Vanderbilt in 1914, where he taught English until 1937. While at Vanderbilt, Ransom was a major figure in the Fugitive and Agrarian Groups and their publications, The Fugitive (1922-1925) and I'll Take My Stand (1930). In 1937, Ransom accepted a position at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio as professor of poetry and later founded and edited an important literary quarterly, The Kenyon Review (1939-1959). Ransom retired in 1959, but remained active in literary pursuits until his death in 1974 at the age of eighty-six. His works of poetry include Poems About God (1919), Chills and Fever (1924), and Selected Poems (1945, 1963, 1969).
The collection consists primarily of correspondence and manuscripts produced during Ransom's retirement (1959-1974), although important earlier materials are included, such as Ransom's letters to his wife, Robb Reavill Ransom, dated 1920-1938. Also included are class rolls, clippings, family records, financial records, Kenyon College items, lecture notes, memorabilia, photographs, programs, publications, recommendations, and school catalogs. There are also a few scattered older pieces of incoming correspondence, such as a 1917 letter from Macmillan rejecting the manuscript which was eventually published as Poems About God.
Jesse Ely Wills, 1899-1977, a Nashville native, was a member of the group of poets who met in Nashville in the early 1920's to write and publish the influential literary magazine The Fugitive. He was an officer and executive of the National Life and Accident Insurance company during his business career and was active in Vanderbilt University affairs as a member of the Board of Trust and chairman of the Board of the Joint University Libraries.
This collection contains correspondence; writings; book drafts; offprints; and newspaper clippings.
Performing Arts
Francis Jackson Craig was born in Dickson, Tennessee, on September 10, 1900. Craig entered Vanderbilt University in January 1919 after a very brief stint in the Army between his eighteenth birthday and the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. A talented pianist, he formed a dance band in 1920 to help pay his college expenses. After graduating in 1922, he continued his music career.
The Francis Craig Papers date from 1919 to 1994 and include a small amount of biographical information, correspondence, memorabilia, and photographs. The bulk of the collection, however, dates from the 1930s and 1940s and consists of clippings, sheet music, and recordings.
Delbert Mann, motion picture and television director, is a native of Lawrence, Kansas and graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1941. He directed a number of productions for television, including Jane Eyre, The Man Without a Country, All Quiet on the Western Front, All the Way Home, and April Morning. His motion picture credits include Marty (1954), Desire Under the Elms (1957), Separate Tables (1958), and That Touch of Mink (1961). Mann won the Academy Award, Best Director, for Marty in 1955.
The papers of Delbert Mann consist primarily of the materials generated by Mann's television and motion picture productions. Papers on approximately two hundred productions often include scripts, publicity, reviews, scrapbooks, casting and shooting schedules, background information, memoranda, and correspondence.
Rice, Grantland
Henry Grantland Rice was born on November 1, 1880 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He received his B.A. in 1901 from Vanderbilt University, where he played on both the baseball and football teams. After graduation, he began his long career as a sports journalist at the Nashville Daily News before going to work for the Nashville Tennessean. In 1911 he moved to New York where he continued his sports writing career as well as turning to radio and film, even starting his own film production company called Sportlight. He was a prolific writer, producing numerous sports columns, books, and poetry throughout his career. He is probably best known by the quotation “It’s not how you win or lose, but how you play the game,” which is a misquote of a poem he used in a Tennessean article he wrote in 1908 to describe a Vanderbilt alumnus football game. He died on July 13, 1954 in New York City.
The Grantland Rice Papers include correspondence; writings; newspaper clippings; photographs and biographical sketches of sports figures; personal, business and estate papers; souvenirs; and miscellaneous publications.
Robinson, Francis
(111 MB file – requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing)
Francis Arthur Robinson was born on April 28, 1910 in Henderson, Kentucky. He received his B.A. in 1932 and an M.A. in 1933 from Vanderbilt University. He worked for WSM and the Nashville Banner before going to work for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. During the 35 years he worked at The Met, Robinson served as tour director, assistant manager, press representative, and spokesman, as well as befriending a large number of performers such as Maria Callas and Luciano Pavorotti. He also served his alma mater as a member of Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust. He died on May 14, 1980.
The Francis Robinson Collection includes correspondence; newspaper clippings; material relating to Vanderbilt University; personal and business papers; photographs; opera and dance memorabilia; and scrapbooks.
Religion
Barnett, Eugene Epperson [small collection]
Eugene Epperson Barnett was born in 1888 in Leesburg, Florida. He received a B.A. from Emory University in 1907; post-graduate study in the School of Religion at Vanderbilt University, 1907-1908; and received Honorary Degree of LL.D., from Emory University in 1944, and University of North Carolina in 1946. He was the General Secretary of the National Council of YMCA's from 1908-1910. He continued his work with the International Committee of the YMCA. From 1910-1936 he worked in China. While in China, he observed many religious and political changes including the downfall of Chiang Kai-Shek and the resurgence of Communism. After leaving China, he continued to work for the YMCA until his retirement in 1953. The autobiographical manuscript written by Eugene E. Barnett gives detailed information on his family background (the Barnett and Epperson Families), his boyhood, his college years with his involvement with the YMCA, the lives of his family both at home and abroad, and his many experiences.
James Harold Flye was born on October 17, 1884 in Bangor, Maine. He received his B.A. in 1910 from Yale University and his M.A. in 1912 from the University of Virginia. he graduated from the General Theological Seminary in New York in 1915. In December 1915, he was ordained into the priesthood of the Episcopal Church. He served as history teacher at St. Andrew’s School in Sewanee, Tennessee from 1918-1954, where he befriended future writer James Agee. He died on April 14, 1985 in New York.
The James Harold Flye Papers include Flye's correspondence with over two hundred individuals (primarily letters received), journals kept in scattered years during the 1920s and 1930s, almost daily journals kept from 1957 to 1981, Flye's own writings, and information regarding James Agee. The collection does not currently include originals of the Agee-Flye correspondence, but it does include typescript copies of Flye's letters to James Agee. The papers also include information regarding a 1980-1981 traveling exhibit of Flye's photographs from the 1930s and 1940s, an extensive file of photographs from the 1920s to the 1970s, and audio tapes of telephone conversations, personal observances, and reminiscences.
Dr. Mayhew retired from the Vanderbilt Divinity School in 1963 after spending 29 years on the faculty. Originally from Virginia, Dr. Mahew received a B.A. degree from Lynchburg College, a B.D. degree from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. During his lifetime he was a member of the Board of Education of the Disciples of Christ, the National Council on Religion in Higher Education, and the American Society for Oriental Research. He died on 7 Aug 1965 in Homestead, Florida.
The Papers of George Noel Mayhew date from approximately 1853 to 1965 and document his education and career as a religious scholar and businessman. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1930's to the 1960's. Extensive correspondence document Mayhew's career and his participation in the Disciples of Christ Church and his writings and business records provide insight into his many fields of interest. The papers are comprised of approximately thirteen cubic feet (40 boxes, 1 flat) of correspondence, teaching materials, Christian Church materials, and business records.
A prominent church leader and activist, Kelly Miller Smith played a significant role in the civil rights movement, serving as part of the circle of advisors to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was pastor of the First Baptist Church, Capital Hill for 34 years. The first African-American named to the faculty of the Vanderbilt Divinity School, he served as lecturer in church and ministries and as assistant dean. Smith was very active in the civil rights movement in Nashville as well as nationally. The Kelly Miller Smith Papers include correspondence, notebooks kept as a student at Morehouse and Harvard Universities, biographical/personal material, writings, church records, subject files, and other related materials.
Tigert, John James, IV
John James Tigert IV was born on February 11, 1882. He received an A.B. from Vanderbilt University, a B.A. from Oxford University, an M.A. from the University of Minnesota, and an LL.D. from the University of Kentucky. He served as president of the University of Florida from 1928-1947. He died on January 21, 1965.
The John James Tigert Papers include correspondence; addresses and lectures; newspaper clippings; family history materials; legal and business papers; materials relating to the founding of Vanderbilt University; biographical material on John James Tigert (1856-1906); and miscellaneous materials.
World War I
Avery, Roy Crowdy [small collection]
Roy Crowdy Avery was born in 1885 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He received an A.B. Degree from the University of Connecticut, a B.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts, and a PhD. degree from Vanderbilt. He became a naturalized citizen in 1917 and immediately joined the United States Army. He was later commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant, and served with the Sanitary Corps from 1917-1919, spending time in France, Germany, and England. After the war he studied at Manchester University in Manchester, England. Roy Crowdy Avery later was a Professor of Bacteriology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University from 1926-1953. He became Professor Emeritus in 1953.
Briggs, Marion H. [small collection]
Marion H. Briggs, a native of Spencerville, Ohio, served in the U. S. Army during World War I. His overseas service was spent with the 147th U. S. Infantry Med. Dept. in Belgium, France, and Germany. This .21 linear feet collection of 28 items contains 18 pieces of correspondence written to family members primarily during World War I pertaining to army life and health. The collection also contains a booklet, map, pamphlet, and roster from the late 19th century. The collection is arranged in 14 file folders.
Bryan, Stanley Fisk [small collection]
This collection contains copies of the World War I letters of Captain Stanley Fisk Bryan to his mother, father, and brother. Most of the letters are typed, but several are handwritten. The collection also contains 3 newspaper clippings, 2 pamphlets, and song lyrics all relating to World War I.
World War II
Rezek, Philipp [small collection]
This collection contains personal letters written by friends and family of Philipp Rezek, who were Jewish refugees. The collection covers Austria's takeover by the Germans in 1938, the family's departure, internment camps, arrival to the United States, and medical school. A few of the letters are written from right to left to pass German censors. The majority of this collection is in German.
Roulhac, Polly Ann Billington [small collection]
Polly Ann Billington Roulhac was a Vanderbilt University graduate, who served as a Recreation Worker and Assistant Field Director for the American Red Cross from 1942-1944. She was attached to various hospitals in Maryland, Oklahoma, England, Algeria, and Italy. The book is compiled of three years of letters and v-mail 'home', to various members in her family, while serving in the American Red Cross in Europe and Africa during World War II.
John Thompson, a native of Nashville, was a graduate of the former Wallace School. He attended Vanderbilt University and received a B.A. in 1930 and M.A. in 1932. He then attended Harvard Law School. In 1933 he joined the staff of the Tennessean, where he became an editorial writer and a day city editor. He also was a night manager of the Associated Press Nashville Bureau. In 1942, he enlisted in the United States Navy for service in World War II. In 1944 he was promoted to Lieutenant, and was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1945, he wrote a weekly newsletter for the naval post squadron and wings. He was stationed in Alaska, and later assigned to a naval cruiser in the Pacific.
This .21 linear feet collection contains 63 letters, two postcards, and one V-Mail Christmas Card from John Thompson to several family members while serving in the United States Navy during World War II. The letters are arranged in file folders chronologically by year, then month.
In September 2006, the Special Collections Library commenced a project to document the stories of men and women who attended Vanderbilt University and George Peabody College during the years of World War II (1939-1945), including the build-up and aftermath of this world changing event. Interviews were conducted in person or by phone when the participant lived in another state. Thirty-five interviews were done between 2006 and 2009, culminating in this web site devoted to the memories of the "Greatest Generation." Researchers will find audios of the original interviews, interview transcripts, and a selection of representative images of this period in history.