History Commons^™

The Library Of Appalachian Preaching: A Digital Repository Of Sermons, Robert Ellison

English Faculty Research

This poster was created for the March 2021 Appalachian Studies Association virtual conference. It introduced conference participants to the Library of Appalachian Preaching, a digital humanities project hosted at Marshall University. The Library offers online access to sermons and other addresses delivered within Appalachia, or elsewhere by preachers with ties to the Appalachian region. The poster provides an overview of all of the major elements of the Library. Information presented includes the three “phases” of the project; demographic information about the preachers; examples of the digitized sermons; and examples of biographical sketches and the User Guide, a Google …

Recycling A Colonial Puritan Sermon: A Case Study, David M. Powers

Sermon Studies

Notes which the teenager John Pynchon took in the 1640s as he listened to the Rev. George Moxon’s sermons in frontier Springfield, MA, have become the inspiration and the ingredients for sermon performances in 21st century New England. The project began with a word-for-word transcription of a symbol-for-symbol manuscript based on a code invented by Pynchon. Then a very few words which the notetaker skipped, in his rush to record just what he heard, were added to provide essential clarification. So, too, was introductory material to frame the experience by encouraging the listening congregation to “stretch” a bit to appreciate …

“Wild Mobs, To Mad Sedition Prone”: Preaching The American Revolution, Barry Levis

Sermon Studies

The Church of England in the American Colonies was really not a single institution. Because no local bishop governed the church in America, falling as it did under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, the clergy tended to have differing loyalties. Especially in the southern colonies, local vestries ruled the clergy because they controlled their stipends; therefore the clergy followed the lead of the local squirearchy and suppressed their personal views regarding independence. The New England Anglican clergy were equally in a difficult position. Midst the hostility of Puritanism and the Sons of Liberty, they seemed like an alien …

Preaching In Britain’S “Parish Church”: Sermons At London’S St. Paul’S Cathedral, In The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries, Frances Knight

Sermon Studies

This paper will address the conference themes of ‘space, place and context’ with an examination of the development of preaching at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, over the course of two hundred years. Completely rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, on a scale which was intended to rival St Peter’s in Rome, the new St Paul’s was explicitly designed as a Protestant cathedral. Preaching, therefore, was highly valued. Yet, despite the adoption of Wren’s ‘preaching box’ plan, speaking in the colossal space, potentially to a congregation of many hundreds, presented considerable challenges. As one would expect over a two-hundred-year …

0856: Bible Of Mrs. Isabella W. Hite, 1857, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a single bible. Published by E. Stevenson & F. A. Owen, Agents, for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1856, the title page states it is the English Version of the Polyglott Bible. The book itself contains fold-out maps and illustrations. On the first page is written “Mrs. Isabella W. Hite Cabel Co. Va. Feb 24th 1857” and then in a different ink/pencil, “Isa. H. Moore.” Throughout the book, passages are marked and near them, a name and date are written in the margins. Many of the days (not all were checked) appear to have fallen …

“To Defend The Citadel Of Its Faith From All Assaults": Hermann Adler And The London Society For Promoting Christianity Amongst The Jews, Robert H. Ellison

English Faculty Research

This article employs sermons as a lens through which to examine Jewish-Christian relations in Victorian England. It focuses primarily upon discourses preached by clergy affiliated with the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, and on rebuttals delivered by Hermann Adler, a London rabbi who would go on to become Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. Attention is also given to reviews of Adler's work, and to responses to those reviews. These reviews and reviews-of-reviews are evidence that there was an active conversation taking place in the pulpit and the press; the article seeks to show that preaching is …

Protests From The Pulpit: The Confessing Church And The Sermons Of World War Ii, William S. Skiles

Sermon Studies

This article examines sermons delivered by Confessing Church pastors in the Nazi dictatorship during World War II, and specifically explores the messages of opposition against the regime. The approach of most historians has focused on the history of the Christian institutions, its leaders, and its persecution by the Nazi regime, leaving the most elemental task of the pastor - that is, preaching - largely unexamined. To understand Confessing Church opposition during World War II, I have analyzed 255 sermons delivered in pulpits, published in pamphlets, and broadcast over the airwaves. Furthermore, I have examined sermons delivered "out in the open" …

0836: M. Homer Cummings Papers, 1909-1968, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The 31 boxes in this collection contain the following materials by Cummings: college examination papers; sermons and radio addresses; newspaper columns; letters; poems (single copies, booklets, and a spiral-bound book); and songs (single copies, booklets, song books, printing plates, and recordings). There are also letters written to him; newspaper articles about him and his family; materials from the Literary and Bible Training School and McCrum Slavonic Training School (Rev. and Mrs. Cummings’ alma maters); song books and vinyl records from his collection; and various miscellaneous items.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the …

0819: Memphis Tennessee Garrison Papers, 1898-1981, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection contains the personal, religious, educational, and political possessions of Memphis Tennessee Garrison. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, newspaper articles, programs, books, financial documents, publications, newsletters, plaques, certificates, a diary, and a jewelry box. The materials document Garrison’s various roles on the local and national levels of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as well as her participation in other civil rights activities.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Memphis Tennessee Garrison Papers, 1898-1981 here.

0816: First Presbyterian Church Of Huntington Records, 1890-2008, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection contains the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington from the 1890s to the early 2000s. Most of the collection falls between 1930 and 2002. Within the collection are administrative records such as minutes, registers, and accounting records; photographs of members, non-members, former members, church functions; scrapbooks of sanctuary renovations, church functions, and miscellaneous ephemera; newspaper clippings; an international collection; histories of the First Presbyterian Church; a large collection of lantern slides; and other various items.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, 1890-2008 here.

Pusey's Sermons At St. Saviour's, Leeds, Robert Ellison

English Faculty Research

"E . B. Pusey as a Preacher." It would not be surprising to find such a phrase as the title of a nineteenth-century work. Authors in both Britain and America used it in books and articles about numerous ministers, literary figures, the Apostle Paul, and even Jesus himself.¹ Edward Bouverie Pusey, in fact, was the subject of one such piece: a review of Sermons for the Church's Seasons from Advent to Trinity, published in the Spectator on 11 August 1883.

Such a scope would, however, be too broad for a scholarly study in the twenty-first century. Pusey's canon …

0796: Shirley Foster Streeby Mathews Collection, 1939-2003, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The bulk of the collection contains newspaper clippings that Mrs. Mathews collected over the years about her former students. There are also a few dozen photographs, along with wedding invitations, school pageants and programs, commencements, handwritten and typed correspondence, reunion correspondence, Greenline newsletters (a publication for Marshall University alumni), church programs, funeral/death announcements and holiday cards. Most of the photos are identified on the back.

0771: Stump Photograph Collection, 1900-1904, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of 27 cyanotype and black and white photos mounted on board. Based on the identification of photographs by F.C. Stump, the photographs primarily depict river, dam, and boating scenes on the Levis Fork of the Big Sandy River in Floyd and Pike Counties of Kentucky. Also depicted are a baptismal service and Pike, Floyd, and Johnson County, Kentucky residents. The container list includes the full identification of photographs by Stump.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Stump Photograph Collection, 1900-1904 here.

0760: Camp Creek Church Of Christ Register And Record, 1920-1950, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

A church record book for the Camp Creek Church of Christ located in the vicinity of East Lynn, West Virginia. The record book contains membership rosters, birth, death, and marriage information as well as financial information related to the congregation. Additional loose (un-numbered) register pages and correspondence are also included.

Mr. Tabor has created two digital copies of the Register book that are included. He also wrote a brief history (annotated) of the Camp Creek Church of Christ and compiled an index of the Christian and surnames of the congregation members. The history is boxed with the register, and the …

0757: First Presbyterian Church [Huntington, Wv] Records, 1839-1990, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The First Presbyterian Church of Huntington Archives contain material dating back to the early nineteenth century, with the bulk of the items dating from between the 1880s and the 1990s. The collection consists primarily of 'Minutes of Session,' which relate to official church business; 'Bulletins,' which give information about church sermons, calendars, and events; and 'Church Groups,' which provide information on the social structure and individuals within the Church. There are extensive financial records pertaining to the church, as well as membership rosters for many Church groups, and some marriage/baptism registers. Also included are a few "histories" written by Church …

0731: Claudia Peyton Papers, 1921-1984, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists primarily of correspondence sent from Claudie to family and church members in the United States between 1921 and 1979. Some early letters from the 1920s contain photographs of her time in Africa. Other materials include printed material such as her publication “Twenty Years in Africa”, a Mount Union Sentinal Newsletter, a poster and letter about her book “Forty-Six Years in Africa”, letters from her adopted children in Africa about her estate, negatives of her last visit to Huntington in 1963, unrelated birth announcements sent to family members, and envelopes.

0719: David Caldwell Letters, 1818-1853, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of typewritten transcriptions of letters sent from David Caldwell between 1818 and 1853, an Episcopal clergyman, to members of his family. They discuss personal and family matters. Letters were sent from Bennington, Vermont, Georgetown, Washington, DC, and Amherst County, Virginia. These copies were found in “History of Joseph Caldwell and his descendants…” published in 1926 in Newburyport, Mass.

0712: Creed Neff Papers, 1908-1915, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of five photographs and one manuscript. The photographs depict school children and members of the Guyandotte Methodist Episcopal Church around 1908-1915 while the manuscript consists of a copy of a handwritten manuscript, author unknown, about life in Guyandotte.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Creed Neff papers, 1908-1915 here.

Los "Popol Wuj" Y Sus Epistemologías: Las Diferencias, El Conocimiento Y Los Ciclos Del Infinito, Carlos M. López

Modern Languages Faculty Research

In this book the author studies one of the documents contained in the Ayer MS 1515, commonly known as the Popol Wuj (or Vuh). This text constitutes a fragmentary but not necessarily coherent corpus of writings, however, it still is a very important piece of the cultural and epistemological discourse of some of the pre-colonial Mesoamerican civilizations. Another important characteristic of this text is the superposition of multiple re-phonetizations and translations to which the text has been subjected. This transforms it into a text written under conditions of coloniality that encompasses several layers of meanings intersected by Western concepts. …

Oral History Interview: Lowell E. Long, Lowell E. Long

0064: Marshall University Oral History Collection

Lowell E. Long’s interview focuses on the region of Appalachia: its location, environments, people, and identity. Mr. Long was born in April 1941 in War, McDowell County, WV. His family moved to East Liverpool, OH, after World War II, and relocated to Huntington, WV, in January 1945. In the audio clip provided, Mr. Long discusses what it means to be Appalachian and focuses on family bonds and sense of belonging in the region. During his interview, he describes his family’s use of folk medicine. Mr. Long provides descriptions of the segregated neighborhoods and schools of Huntington, WV, during his childhood. …

Oral History Interview: Bob Chapman, Bob Chapman

0064: Marshall University Oral History Collection

Bob Chapman was born in Louisa, KY. He grew up on Homemade Holler in the coal community of McVeigh, KY, located in Pike County. His father worked for the Eastern Coal Corporation as an explosions miner. Mr. Chapman attended a two-room school house for a short time in the 1940s, but continued his education through high school in the McVeigh school system. In the audio clip provided, Mr. Chapman discusses a typical day in a coal community and the class system within this community. In his interview, he also focuses on the integration of Belfry High School in 1957, and …

0607: George Colin Mcintosh Typescript, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a manuscript by George C. McIntosh where he reflects on his life and religious beliefs, which are fluid.

0598: Marcia Myers Collection, 1895-1993, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection primarily documents Marcia Myers’ research into female Presbyterian missionaries in Appalachia, particularly West Virginia. Significant in the collection is the correspondence of Helen Desbrow, stationed in Raleigh Co., West Virginia, to her family in New Jersey, regarding her work in the Home Mission between 1922 and 1935, central to Myers’ thesis on female Presbyterian missionaries in Appalachia submitted for her M.Div at Princeton University. Correspondence by Hugh J. May and Frances H. Pindar are directly in response to Myers’ request for information on the same topic, and the Helen Disbrow correspondence was gifted possibly from Disbrow herself. Other …

0567: Low Gap United Baptist Church Records, 1898-1944, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists predominantly of copies of minute books for the Low Gap United Baptist Church from 1898-1944. Also included in this collection is a copy of “A Brief History of the Low Gap United Brethren Church” written by Brandon Kirk in 1993 and two photocopied photographs of the church and some church members. Because most of these materials are copies, legibility can be limited.

0548: Carl G. Wolfe Manuscript, 1987, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a manuscript by Carl G. Wolfe for a Marshall University graduate course in history on the history of the Ceredo United Methodist Church from 1866 to 1987. Also included in the manuscript is a list of pastors and footnotes.

0513: Byron T. Morris Papers, 1967-1989, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Copies of Mr. Morris's newspaper column, "Out of the Past," written for the Wayne County News; subjects include histories of communities in Wayne County, West Virginia, genealogy of Wayne County families, registers of marriages in neighboring counties of Wayne County persons, and school and church histories.

0494: Huntington W.Va. First Congregational Church, 1872-1932, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Minutes, membership lists, deeds, and other documents related to the running of the Huntington, West Virginia First Congregational Church from 1872-1932.

0491: Carrie Eldridge Combined Collection, 1678-2014, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Carrie Eldridge is a genealogical researcher in Chesapeake, Ohio. This collection contains photocopies of many county record books of the Appalachian areas of West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, ranging from the American Revolution until the early twentieth century. It also contains her personal research files on topics related to slavery and the Underground Railroad in Ohio and West Virginia as well as local history topics such as church and family histories.

0485: Burlington Presbyterian Church Records, 1826-1828, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of eleven pages copied from the Burlington Presbyterian Church record book containing the “Record of the Establishment Proceedings of the Presbyterian Church of Burlington, Lawrence County, Ohio.” The text includes a list of members, minutes and notes, and a list of baptisms between 1826 and 1828. It also includes copies of a more modern photograph of the church added later and a copy of a typed page about the Kanawha Presbytery, First Presbyterian Church in Huntington, West Virginia. Due to the fact that all pages are copies, legibility can vary.

0441: Rev. Garrett Marriage Records, 1879-1912, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Marriage records of Rev. James Dolliver Garrett, Wayne Co., W.Va. from 1879 to 1912, transcribed and indexed.