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TABLE OF CONTENTSScope and Contents of the Collection |
Elijah L. Shettles papers on the founding of Southern Methodist UniversityA Guide to the Collection
Biographical NoteElijah Leroy Shettles (1852-1940), Methodist minister, magazine editor, publisher, and bibliographer was born in 1852 in the Flatwoods country of Mississippi near Pontotoc, the son of Abner and Caroline (Browning) Shettles. His maternal grandfather, the family patriarch, was a Baptist minister and had a lifelong influence on Shettles. During his eighty-eight years Shettles worked as a teacher, a farm-implement salesman, a law student, a pressman for a newspaper, a freight agent, a public weigher, a coal supplier, a gambler, a saloonkeeper, an insurance solicitor, a preacher, a church administrator, an editor, a book collector and dealer, and a representative of several university and public libraries. He was also a chaplain of the Texas Senate, a publisher of books, and a humanitarian. From 1881 to 1891 he traveled the Southwest as a hard-drinking, cheating, itinerate gambler, who frequently stopped long enough in a town to operate a gambling hall and saloon: most of these years he spent in Texas. Shettles responded to a revival preacher on April 27, 1891 and soon after felt a calling to the Methodist ministry. Shettles's ministerial career, all of it in Texas, spanned over thirty years. Always a devoted bibliophile, he revealed much of his secular reading in his early sermons. He became an accomplished preacher and in 1908 became assistant editor of the Texas Methodist Historical Quarterly. Shettles married Mrs. Elizabeth Letts, a widow, on December 11, 1894. They had no children but raised several foster children. Shettles retired in 1921 and moved to Austin, where he devoted himself to book collecting. He made significant contributions to the development of the libraries at Rice Institute, Sam Houston State Teachers College, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Texas. SMU received Shettles's collection of Wesleyana, and the University of Texas and the Texas State Library received his personal papers. In the 1930s Shettles wrote his autobiography, which was published in several forms. Part of it appeared as articles in the Southwestern Advocate, and some of it was published in the Pontotoc (Mississippi) Progress. It appeared as a book, Recollections of a Long Life, in 1973. Shettles also published articles in the Arkansas Methodist, as well as several books, including William S. Red's The Texas Colonists and Religion (1924) and Don Bigger's Our Sacred Monkeys (1933). Shettles died on May 30, 1940 in Austin and was buried there. Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. McDonald, Archie P., http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/fsh29.html (accessed August 28, 2009). Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the CollectionThe collection contains one small box (4 folders). The bulk of the collection is correspondence pertaining to the founding of Southern Methodist University. The letters in the collection were assembled by E.L. Shettles in an effort to prove that Nathan Powell was responsible for the founding of SMU. Correspondents include: Rev. John R. Allen Dorothy Amann John Atkinson Rev. J. Sam Barcus L. S. Barton Rev. B. R. Bolton H. A. Boaz W. D. Bradfield Wallace M. Crutchfield George W. Davis W. C. Everett Rev. Glenn Flinn G.G. Gray Rev. John W. Goodwin Paul Hardin, Jr. Bishop Hurst C.M. Harless J. Kilgore Rev. J. T. McClure Dr. J. O. McReynolds F. L. McNeny Mrs. Margaret McKennon J. L. Massey J. M. Moore Edwin D. Mouzon Robert Gibbs Mood W. C. Martin Rev. A. D. Porter Nathan Powell Frank Reedy T. F. Sessions E. W. Solomon S. M. Sewell S. W. Thomas D. W. Wesley W. Erskine Williams Dr. G. W. Wiebusch V. M. West Rev. A. A. Wagnon The first series, Correspondence (1913-1936, undated), contains Shettles's personal correspondence. The majority of the letters were produced while Shettles was writing his autobiography in the 1930s. They concern the events leading up to the decision to move Southwestern University to either Dallas or Fort Worth. There are also a few letters between Shettles and the SMU bursar, Frank Reedy, regarding money owed. The series is arranged in chronological order. The second series, Research (1896-1935, undated), is composed of the materials Shettles gathered while researching the founding of SMU. Although Shettles collected the materials in the 1930s, much of the series originated between 1909 and 1911. Shettles received the bulk of this material from Nathan Powell. The majority of it is correspondence from those most closely associated with the project to move Southwestern University from Georgetown to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Also included is correspondence between Powell and Hann & Kendall, Inc., a real estate firm, related to the purchase of land in Dallas. There are also three newspaper articles, as well as extracts from the minutes from the Board of Trustees at Southwestern University, 1910. The series is organized in chronological order. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsAccess to Collection:Collection is open for research use. Publication Rights:Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library. Copyright Statement:It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents Related Material
Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred CitationElijah L. Shettles papers on the founding of Southern Methodist University, Southern Methodist University Archives, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. Acquisition InformationAcquired. Processing InformationInitially processed June 1991. Records were re-arranged and paper clips removed in September 2009. Finding aid written byAllison Osborn, 2009. Encoded byLara Corazalla, 2009. Return to the Table of Contents Detailed Description of the Collection
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