Title: Reverend Howard A. Merrill Letter

Date/Date Range :   1905 April 29

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

In an April 29, 1905 letter to Mr. and Mrs. John Work of Nashville, Reverend Howard A. Merrill expresses sympathy at the loss of their daughter and asks Mr. Work, a professor at Fisk University and a scholar and collector of Negro spirituals, to help him promote his book.

Call number: MS-2252

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

This collection is property of Special Collections.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Reverend Howard A. Merrill Letter, MS-2252. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

No biographical information could be found for Reverend Howard A. Merrill.

Professor John W. Work of Nashville (1871-1925) earned a position as a Latin and Greek instructor at Fisk University if 1898. While teaching, he became a leader in the movement to preserve, study, and perform Negro spirituals. With his brother Frederick Jerome Work, he published a number of collections of slave songs and spirituals, including 1901's collection New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. For eighteen years, Work trained and performed with professional and student groups of Jubilee singers. In 1923, Work left Fisk to serve as president of Roger Williams University in Nashville, where he stayed until his death on September 7, 1925.

In an April 29, 1905 letter to Mr. and Mrs. John Work in Nashville, Reverend Howard A. Merrill of Scarboro, ME writes to offer his condolences on the death of the Work's daughter Agnes. He also asks about many of the Jubilee singers and invites the Works to his home in Maine.

A note to Mr. Work is also included. In this note, Merrill says that he is sending a copy of his book to the Works, and he asks Work for advice on working with literary agents.

• Publishers and publishing -- History -- 20th century.
• Work, John Wesley, 1871-1925.
• Jubilee singers.
• Spirituals (Songs) -- Southern States.
• Fisk University.