Title: Episcopal Bishops Collection

Date/Date Range :   1858-1956

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

The Episcopal Bishops Collection, 1858-1956, contains letters, envelopes, printed portraits, and other materials related primarily to bishops of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Tennessee. Included are notes and a lengthy letter from James Hervey Otey, the first Bishop of Tennessee.

Call number: MS-2279

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

Aquisition Information:

The Special Collections Library purchased this collection in February of 2005.

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], Episcopal Bishops Collection, MS-2279. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder divided into eleven series: Material on James Hervey Otey (Consecrated January 14, 1834; Died April 23, 1863); Material on Charles Todd Quintard (Consecrated October 11, 1865; Died February 15, 1898); Material on Thomas Frank Gailor (Consecrated July 25, 1893; Death date unknown); Material on Troy Beatty (Coadjutor; Consecrated September 18, 1919; Died April 23, 1922); Material on James Matthew Maxon (Coadjutor; Consecrated October 18, 1922; Death date unknown); William George McDowell (Alabama Coadjutor; Consecrated October 20, 1922; Death date unknown); Henry Disbrow Phillips (Southwestern Virginia; Consecrated September 27, 1938; Death date unknown); E.P. Dandridge (Coadjutor; Consecration and Death dates unknown); Matthew George Henry (North Carolina; Consecrated September 29, 1948; Death date unknown); Theodore N. Barth (Consecration and Death dates unknown); and John Vander Horst (Suffragan; Consecrated March 2, 1955; Death date unknown).

Any known biographical information on the individual bishops in the collection can be found in the container list below. The first convention of the Diocese of Tennessee was held in 1829 in Nashville. One month later, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church accepted the diocese. In 1834, James Hervey Otey was elected the first Bishop of Tennessee.

While the majority of the men in this collection were, at one time, the Bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee, a few were either Bishop Coadjutor of Suffragan Bishop. The Diocesan Bishop stood as the primary bishop of the Diocese, meaning that all other bishops in the diocese were responsible to him. The Bishop Coadjutor, however, was the elected and ordained bishop who was to succeed the sitting Diocesan Bishop after his retirement or resignation. The role of the Suffragan Bishop, however, was to assist the Diocesan Bishop and to serve under the Diocesan's direction. Unlike the Bishop Coadjutor, the Suffragan Bishop has no inherent right of succession when the Diocesan Bishop retires or resigns.

The Episcopal Bishops Collection, 1858-1956, contains letters and other materials from bishops of the Episcopal Church. While the majority of the bishops represented in this collection are from the Tennessee Diocese, clergy from North Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia are also included. Most of the envelopes and letters are addressed to a representative of the library at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, MA, where the Right Rev. Dr. Lawrence, Bishop of Massachusetts, maintained a collection of autograph letters from Episcopal bishops throughout the country. This collection represents a portion of that collection.

The material on James Hervey Otey, the first bishop of Tennessee, stands out for its content. On a two-sided, undated manuscript page, Otey states that "perhaps one of the most singular & pernicious mistakes which men have ever made is that of supposing that the truths of religion are above the comprehension of a child." A 10-page letter from Otey to a Mr. Wharton, dated April 19, 1858, also sheds light on Otey's religious interpretations. Otey speaks of the religious press ( "I find that the Editor of our church papers are governed much in the same manner as the Conductor of the secular or political press, through by a different class of motives & for other objects." ). He continues by discussing the laws of the church and the church's powers within the construct of the American political system, saying "the Episcopate whatever may be [have been?] its original functions, has so far restricted itself as to be limited to the express powers of the law."

• Episcopal Church -- Clergy.
• Episcopal Church -- History.