George Whitefield was born in Gloucester, England on December 16, 1714, the youngest son of innkeepers Thomas and Elizabeth Edwards Whitefield. He studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he met Charles Wesley and joined the Oxford Holy Club. An Anglican deeply influenced by Puritan writings, Moravian Pietism, and his own spiritual re-birth experience, Whitefield was ordained a deacon in June of 1736. Rev. Whitefield ministered in England in 1737 and in the British North American colony of Georgia in 1738. After returning to England, he was ordained a priest in January of 1739 under the patronage of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon.
In response to finding many Church of England pulpits closed to him, Whitefield adopted field preaching as a way of conveying the message of Christianity to the public. Over the next three decades his dramatic style of preaching, evangelical new-birth message, and constant public appearances made Whitefield one of the most popular preachers in Great Britain and British North America during the First Great Awakening. He died in Newburyport, Massachusetts on September 30, 1770 while on a preaching tour.
Though they were colleagues in ministry early on, Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley parted ways over theological differences. The Wesleys championed Arminian Methodism while Whitefield supported the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Conference, Lady Huntingdon’s (Calvinistic Methodist) Connexion, and the cause of mass evangelism.
Sources:
Henry, Stuart Clark.
Rack, H. “Whitfield, George.”
Rogal, Samuel J.
The documents authored by, sent to, or signed by George Whitefield in this collection record evidence of the personal life and ministerial career of a leading eighteenth-century English missionary and field-preaching evangelist.
The collection is organized into three series:
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[Identification of item], Collection on George Whitefield, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
Acquired, 1957-ongoing. The core of this collection was a gift of Bishop Frederick DeLand Leete as part of the Methodist Historical Library.
Processed by Timothy S. G. Binkley, 2013.
Timothy S. G. Binkley, 2013.
Ada Negraru, 2013
Digital images of all the items in this collection are available for viewing at
The first series comprises two folders of letters written to George Whitefield. The first folder contains a triple letter written in 1741-1742. The second folder contains a single letter written in 1769 just prior to Whitefield’s final voyage to North America.
The second series consists of nine folders containing eight single letters and a double letter written by George Whitefield between 1736 and 1764.
The third and final series holds two documents that are not letters: a receipt for payment of a family grave and a copy of a hymn text that George Whitefield wrote for his own funeral.