F. D. Leete collection on Methodist Bishops

A Guide to the Collection

Biographical Note

Frederick DeLand Leete was born at Avon, New York on October 1, 1866. He studied at Syracuse University, earning A.B. (1889) and A.M. (1891) degrees. On July 28, 1891, Leete married Jeanette Fuller. They had three children.

Rev. Leete joined the New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888 and served congregations in New York state until 1906, when he was appointed Pastor of the Central Methodist Church in Detroit, Michigan. The General Conference of 1912 elected Leete bishop. Before retiring, Bishop Leete served two four-year terms in three different locations: the Atlanta area (1912-1920), the Indianapolis area (1920-1928), and the Omaha area (1928-1936).

With insights gained from episcopacies in both northern and southern states, Bishop Frederick D. Leete advanced the cause of Methodist Church union. He also served as a member of the Ecumenical Methodist Conferences of 1911, 1921, and 1931 and as President of the Ecumenical Council of the Americas and Orient, 1931-1944.

Leete wrote the following books: Every-day Evangelism (1909); Christian Brotherhoods (1912); The Church in the City (1915); Palestine: Land of the Light (1917); Christianity in Science (1928); Palestine: its Scenery, Peoples and History (1933); Pictures of Jesus (1935); Skyward: A Book of Horizons (1936); New Testament Windows (1939); The Deland Family in America: a Biographical Genealogy (1943); and Methodist Bishops (1948). Twenty-one of his sermons, public addresses, essays and book reviews were also published between 1901 and 1947. In 1936 Southern Methodist University granted Bishop Leete an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Frederick D. Leete was a member of the American Historical Association. As a church historian, he gathered a significant quantity of manuscript and published materials by and about Methodist bishops and items concerning other topics in Methodist history. Leete donated his Methodist Historical Library to Bridwell Library in 1956. After the bishop’s death in 1958, Librarian Kate Warnick continued adding materials to the Leete collections in his honor until her retirement in 1979.

Sources:

Earl, Jesse E. "Frederick D. Leete." In Encyclopedia of World Methodism, vol. 2. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1974.

Warnick, Kate. "The Romance of Methodism: The Methodist Historical Library, Inc." Perkins School of Theology Journal (Fall 1945): 17-21.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The F. D. Leete Bishops Collection consists of research materials on the lives of 254 Methodist bishops from the late eighteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century. The collection includes published and unpublished documents, personal and business correspondence, journals, biographical sketches, and images. These items range in date from 1830 to 1977. Materials collected before 1948 were used by Bishop Leete in writing Methodist Bishops: Personal Notes and Bibliographies.

Restrictions

Access to Collection:

The collection is open for research use. Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.

Publication Rights:

Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the Bridwell Library.

Copyright Statement:

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], F. D. Leete collection on Methodist Bishops, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Bishop Frederick DeLand Leete, 1956.

Processing Information

This collection was arranged and described in 2010 by Timothy Binkley with assistance from Heather M. Oglevie.

Encoded by

Lara Corazalla, 2010.

Detailed Description of the Collection