Guide to the Bernard M. Taylor Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

Bernard M. Taylor Papers

Inclusive Dates

1891-1988

Call Number

RG 254

Creator(s)

Taylor, Bernard M., 1906-2003.

Quantity

2.75 cubic feet (4 boxes)

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. Medical, educational, and psychological records of living people are closed.

Digital Content

To browse this collection's digital content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not be available on Pearl or in their entirety.

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

Bernard M. Taylor was born October 14, 1906, in Tallapoosa, Georgia. He completed his high school education in West Philadelphia and graduated from Lafayette College in 1928. Taylor entered Union Theological Seminary in New York and completed his studies there in 1931. In that same year he married Anne Justice, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who was also at Union Seminary.

Mr. Taylor was ordained on September 30th, 1931 and was immediately installed as pastor of the Olive Church, Clarion Presbytery, in Oliveburg, Pennsylvania. In 1936, Taylor accepted a call by Christ Church in Alpine, Tennessee. The work in Alpine focused on the Dale Hollow Larger Parish, an interdenominational project designed to minister to the spiritual needs of the rural communities spread out several hundred square miles where the Dale Hollow Lake was later created. The Taylors also helped the community deal with other problems associated with rural life including proper education, vocational training, electrification, and transportation. Bernard Taylor served as Stated Clerk of Cumberland Mountain Presbytery, Synod of the Mid-South, from 1942 to 1951.

The Taylors took a leave of absence in 1946 and returned to New York City where both earned Master's Degrees in Christian Education from the Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. They returned to Alpine the following year and served there until 1952 when they were called by Old Rehoboth Church (Maryland). Taylor served as pastor of that congregation and as the Stated Supply for the Gunby Church in Stockton, Maryland for five years. In 1957, Taylor received a call from the Georgetown and Coolspring Presbyterian Churches, and served as the Moderator of New Castle Presbytery for one year. Bernard Taylor was installed as Associate Pastor of the First and Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware in 1962 and remained there until his retirement in 1976. Taylor died in 2003.

Collection Overview

The Bernard Taylor papers consist of correspondence, logs, newsletters, academic work, reports, minutes, photographs and miscellaneous materials (sermons, pamphlets, clippings, biographical materials and maps) spanning the years 1891-1988. The majority of the materials cover the 1930s-1950s.

The most comprehensive series in this collection is the correspondence, which reflects the Taylors' experiences as missionaries to rural communities in Tennessee and Western Pennsylvania. The most extensive correspondence deals with the Taylors' parish in Alpine, Tennessee. Bernard Taylor's newsletters to family, friends, and parishioners are also descriptive accounts of the rural community of Alpine.

The logs, which are similar to diaries, are candid narratives of rural traditions in Oliveburg and Alpine. The logs only cover the years 1931-circa 1939, but Taylor kept narratives similar to the logs sporadically until 1984. These accounts can be found in the logs series.

Also of note are the reports and minutes, which largely reflect the work in Alpine.

The photographs series encompasses most of the Taylors' parishes. Some of the most fascinating photographs are of the rural community of Alpine.

Organization and Arrangement

SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 1931-1988

SERIES II: LOGS, 1931-1984

SERIES III: NEWSLETTERS, 1937-1959

SERIES IV: ACADEMIC WORK, 1946-1947

SERIES V: REPORTS, 1924-CIRCA 1983

SERIES VI: MINUTES, 1939-1952

SERIES VII: PHOTOGRAPHS, CIRCA 1930-1960

SERIES VIII: SERMONS, CIRCA 1941-CIRCA 1947

SERIES IX: MISCELLANEOUS, 1891-1980

Alternative Formats

To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.

Administrative Information

Processing Information

The original file headings in the correspondence series were maintained, and then arranged in alphabetical order for easier use. The researcher should be aware that Bernard Taylor frequently used the back of incoming correspondence for carbons of his outgoing correspondence. Therefore, perfect chronological arrangement was impossible.

The newsletter series contains both personal newsletters to family and friends, as well as to parishioners and the community.

The two photograph albums in the collection were disassembled for conservation reasons. The photographs remain in the original order they appeared in the albums.

Collection processed and finding aid prepared: June, 1989
Susan W. Miller, Processing Archivist

Finding Aid revised: January, 1998
Stephanie Phillips, Archive Technician

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Personal Name Subject

Taylor, Bernard M., 1906-

Corporate Subject

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of National Missions.

Christ Presbyterian Church (Alpine, Tenn.)

Dale Hollow Larger Parish (Tenn.)

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Presbytery of Cumberland Mountain.

Old Rehoboth Presbyterian Church (Rehoboth, Md.)

Olive Presbyterian Church (Oliveburg, Pa.)

First Presbyterian Church (Wilmington, Del.)

Genre-form

Clippings (information artifacts) aat

Correspondence. aat

Maps (documents) aat

Minutes (administrative records) aat

Photographs. aat

Sermons. aat

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

1	0	Finding Aid to Record Group 254

		SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 1931-1988

1	1	Alpine, TN, 1937-1947
1	2	Alpine, TN, 1948-1952
1	3	Alpine, TN--Crafts, 1937-1954
1	4	Alpine, TN--Dedications and Fire, 1936-1940
1	5	Alpine, TN--Farm, 1937-1952
1	6	Alpine, TN--Forestry, 1939-1942
1	7	Alpine, TN--Forestry, 1943-1952, 1984-1986
1	8	Alpine, TN--"Leaving Alpine"
1	9	Alpine, TN--Memorial Building, 1939-1952
1	10	Alpine, TN--Miller Chapel, 1937-1987
1	11	Alpine, TN--"Moving to Alpine," 1936-1940
1	12	Alpine, TN--Promotional, 1936-1952
1	13	Alpine, TN--Property, 1943-1952
1	14	Alpine, TN--"Special Supporters," 1938-1951
1	15	Alpine, TN--Staff, 1937-1943
1	16	Alpine, TN--Staff, 1944-1952
1	17	Alpine, TN--"Struggle to Save" Alpine Institute, 1942
1	18	Alpine, TN--Walnut Club, 1937-1951
1	19	Bethel College, Memphis, TN, 1951-1952
1	20	Cumberland Mountain Presbytery, 1942; 1951-1952
1	21	Dale Hollow Larger Parish, 1948-1952
1	22	Dale Hollow Larger Parish, Tuberculosis Center, 1942-1952
1	23	Georgetown, DE, 1957-1962
1	24	Oliveburg, PA, 1931-1934
1	25	Oliveburg, PA, 1935-1936
1	26	Orangeburg, NY--Study leave, 1946-1947
1	27	Personal, 1936-1988
1	28	Rehoboth, MD, 1952-1958
1	29	Smyrna, TN, 1943-1948
1	30	Taylor, Anne, 1946-1949
1	31	Warren H. Wilson Institute of Rural Church Work, Swannanoa, NC, 1946-1951
1	32	Wilmington, DE, 1960-1968

		SERIES II: LOGS, 1931-1984

2	1	Oliveburg, PA, 1931
2	2	Oliveburg, PA, 1931-1932
2	3	Oliveburg, PA, 1932
2	4	Alpine, TN, circa 1936-circa 1939

3	1	1941, 1946-1948, 1951; 1956
3	2	1982-1984

		SERIES III: NEWSLETTERS, 1937-1959

3	3	Taylor, 1937-1945
3	4	Taylor, 1946-1949
3	5	Taylor, 1950-1953
3	6	Taylor, 1954-1959
3	7	Alpine Institute, 1939-1943
3	8	Alpine and Dale Hollow, 1939-1957

		SERIES IV: ACADEMIC WORK, 1946-1947

3	9	Papers, 1946-1947
3	10	Sunday School Evaluations, 1946-1947
3	11	Thesis, 1947

		SERIES V: REPORTS, 1924-1951

3	12	Alpine, TN, 1929-1952
3	13	Alpine, TN, undated
3	14	Alpine, TN--Crafts, 1948-circa 1961
3	15	Alpine, TN--Farms, 1944-1945
3	16	Alpine, TN--Forestry, 1940-1951
3	17	Alpine, TN--"Re-Thinking Alpine" Seminar, 1945
3	18	Alpine, TN--School, 1924, circa 1928-circa 1949
3	19	Cumberland Mountain Presbytery, circa 1940, 1952
3	20	Dale Hollow Larger Parish, 1945-1952
3	21	Dale Hollow Tuberculosis Center, 1947-1949
3	22	Oliveburg, PA, circa 1936
3	23	Presbyterian Summer School of the Mid-South, Warren Wilson College, 1944
3	24	Rehoboth, MD, circa 1952-circa 1983
3	25	Rural Ministers' Course, Bethel College, 1951
3	26	Smyrna, TN, 1941, 1945
3	27	TN--Camps and Courses, 1941-1951

		SERIES VI: MINUTES, 1939-1952

3	28	Alpine Community Council, 1939-1942
3	29	Alpine Staff Meetings, 1940-1948
3	30	Alpine Staff Meetings, 1949-1951
3	31	Cumberland Mountain Presbytery, 1946, 1952
3	32	Dale Hollow Larger Parish Health Committee, 1949-1952
3	33	Session, Christ Church Alpine, 1951-1952

		SERIES VII: PHOTOGRAPHS, CIRCA 1930-1960

4	1	Alpine, TN--Index to Album #1, circa 1930s-1940s
4	2	Alpine, TN--Album #1, 1-37, circa 1930
4	3	Alpine, TN--Album #1, 38-81, circa 1930

4	4	Alpine, TN--Album #2, "Alpine Views," "Parish People," circa 1930
4	5	Alpine, TN--Album #2, "Oak Dale," "Alpine Construction," circa 1930
4	6	Alpine, TN--Album #2, "Alpine Institute," "Parish Activities," circa 1930	Digital
4	7	Alpine, TN--Miscellaneous, circa 1930-1952
4	8	Bethel College, 1951
4	9	Coolspring, PA, circa 1931
4	10	Georgetown, DE, 1957-1960
4	11	Oliveburg, PA, 1932, 1936
4	12	Oliveburg, PA, circa 1934-1935
4	13	Rehoboth, MD, 1952-circa 1954
4	14	Warren Wilson Institute, circa 1949

		SERIES VIII: SERMONS, CIRCA 1941-CIRCA 1957

3	35	circa 1941-circa 1957

		SERIES IX: MISCELLANEOUS, 1891-1980

3	36	Alpine, TN--Pamphlets, circa 1920-circa 1940
3	37	Dale Hollow, TN--Pamphlets, circa 1945-circa 1951
3	38	Alpine, TN--School Publications, 1891, 1914, 1924, circa 1929, 1932, 1936-1937
3	39	Clippings, circa 1920-1962, 1980
3	40	Bernard Taylor Biographical Information, 1939-1950

		Oversize Maps:
		Alpine Mountain Relief Map
		Overton County
		Alpine Forest Reserve

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Guide to the Bernard M. Taylor Papers

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