Methodist Episcopal Church, South minister and educator James Atkins (1850-1923) was born on April 18, 1850 in Knoxville, Tennessee to James Atkins and Mary Jackson. James Atkins, Sr. served as a minister in the Holston Conference for more than 34 years. In 1866 the family moved to Emory, Virginia and Atkins began coursework at Emory and Henry College. However, in 1869 he was forced to abandon his studies due to family financial difficulties. Atkins taught school in rural eastern Tennessee before becoming the principal of Blue Springs Academy, south of Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1870.
On October 31, 1870 Atkins was granted a license to preach from the Cleveland, Tennessee Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS), where his father was pastor. In 1871 he returned to Emory and Henry College, eventually receiving a Master of Arts honoris causa. In 1872 he was admitted on trial into the Holston Conference. During the next six years he served in Jonesboro, Virginia; Abingdon, Virginia; and Asheville, North Carolina. In 1877 he was elected Secretary of the Board of Missions of the Holston Conference.
From 1879 to 1896, Atkins served as president of two colleges. At Asheville Female College in Ashville, North Carolina he held this position from 1879 through 1889. For the next four years (1889-1893), he worked at his alma mater, Emory and Henry College. He returned to Asheville Female College from 1893 to 1896. In 1890 he received a Doctor of Divinity degree (D.D.) from Trinity College (later known as Duke University) in Durham, North Carolina. Atkins ended his tenure as college president in 1896 to become the Sunday School Editor in Nashville, Tennessee.
Atkins was elected bishop in 1906. Though he remained a resident of North Carolina throughout his episcopacy, Bishop Atkins served many important roles throughout the MECS. He led the denomination’s Commission on Education in 1911 as it established Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Atkins assisted in fundraising for the building of the university and participated in the laying of the Dallas Hall cornerstone in 1912.
In 1914 Atkins was elected President of the General Sunday School Board of the MECS. He later served as Chairman of the Centenary Commission, a group that raised $50 million in support of home and foreign missions in 1918 and 1919. Following World War I the MECS used some Centenary funds to open missions in Belgium, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. The denomination then named Bishop Atkins first superintendent of the new European mission field. In addition to his work with religious education and missions, Atkins was also instrumental in the founding of the Southern Methodist Assembly at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.
On September 14, 1876 Atkins married Ella Maria Branner. The couple had four children: Mary Lyons, Love Branner, James, and Hilliard. Ella Branner Atkins died on August 3, 1916. On June 7, 1921 James Atkins married Eva Rhodes.
Bishop Atkins died on December 5, 1923 in Little Rock, Arkansas and was buried in Waynesville, North Carolina.
Sources:
Chappell, E. B.
Duncan, Watson B.
Harmon, Nolan B., Ed.
Grimes, Lewis Howard.
Correspondence, writings, reports, printed material, publications, financial records, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks and artifacts comprise the James Atkins papers. This collection has been divided into three series: Professional Material, Personal Material, and Posthumous Material.
All folder titles for this collection were assigned by the archivist. All dates in brackets are estimations. Due to the organization of the collection as found, some items are missing pages or could be out of order.
The collection is organized into three series:
F. D. Leete collection on Methodist Bishops, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
James Atkins Papers, #32, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The collection is open for research use. Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the Bridwell Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
[Identification of item], James Atkins Papers, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
This collection was a gift of Joseph T. Shackford, grandson of James Atkins, in 1978.
This collection was arranged and described in 2011 by Elizabeth Lanier.
Elizabeth Lanier, 2011
Ada Negraru, 2011
This series contains all items related to Atkins’s work in the Methodist faith community. The majority of the material consists of correspondence and religious writings for sermons or publication. Some items relate to Atkins’s work on the Sunday School Board and his involvement with the Missionary Centenary Fund. In addition, there are three documents regarding the founding of Southern Methodist University.
Personal Material consists of items that are not related to Atkins’s professional life. A substantial amount of correspondence from Atkins to his second wife, Eva, while travelling is included. In addition, there is one folder that contains material that belonged to Eva.
The three scrapbooks primarily document Atkins’s work in the ministry and published writings; all correspondence and assorted other documents that were found between the pages have been moved to separate folders. The green scrapbook contains material related to women and was possibly created by Atkins’s first wife Ella or another family member. The marbled scrapbook was created by Atkins and contains information about his parents and many of his published writings. The black scrapbook contains an assortment of clippings from Atkins’s life, but also a large quantity of obituaries and tributes to Atkins added after his death. A CD featuring scans of the scrapbooks is also available in Box 2004.
Posthumous Material consists of items collected after Atkins’s death, such as condolence messages and obituaries. Also included is a history of the Lake Junaluska Summer Assembly in North Carolina written by Atkins’s daughter, Love Branner Atkins.