Guide to the McKendree Robbins Long Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

McKendree Robbins Long Papers

Inclusive Dates

1898-1977

Bulk Dates

1920s-1960s

Call Number

RG 479

Creator(s)

Long, McKendree Robbins, 1888-1976.

Quantity

6.92 cubic feet (8 boxes and 1 oversize folder)

Language

Materials in English

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. Medical, educational, and psychological records of living people are closed. Sermons recorded on Duodisc electric transcription discs in Box 7 restricted for preservation reasons.

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

McKendree Robbins Long was a pastor, evangelist, hymnologist, poet, writer, and artist. Born July 20, 1888 into a prominent Statesville, North Carolina family, he was baptized and raised in his family's Presbyterian faith. Prior to attending Davidson College from 1906 to 1907, Long had a classical education that included his interest in art. After leaving Davidson, he studied portrait and landscape painting in New York and Europe. While living in London, he was attracted to the evangelical and fundamental Christian gospel message of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. In July 1912, he was baptized by profession of faith at the church. After returning to Statesville in 1913, Long set up a studio. He married Mary Bell Hill in June 1914. After military service during World War I as a noncombatant in France, Long moved his family to Princeton, New Jersey and pursued an artistic career in New York City for the next two years. After he and his family returned to Statesville in 1921, Long was drawn to the ministry and he gave up his pursuit of a career in art.

Although he did not attend seminary, Long was received into Concord Presbytery, Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS), as a minister in 1921. He served Front Street Presbyterian Church (now Oakland Avenue) in Statesville, North Carolina, from 1922 to 1924, and Vineville Presbyterian Church in Macon, Georgia, from 1924 to 1925. While a pastor in Macon, he preached a series of evangelistic meetings in other towns including Covington, Georgia. In November 1925, he gave up the role of minister to become an evangelist for the PCUS.

Citing Presbyterian control and infant baptism as his reasons, Long left the Presbyterian Church to serve as a Baptist evangelist. He, nevertheless, remained closely tied to Presbyterianism and raised his children in the faith. On November 6, 1935, at a called meeting of the Presbytery of Baptist brethren assembled at Augusta Road Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, Long was examined and ordained for the ministry in the Baptist denomination. Based in Statesville, North Carolina, Long was a much sought after evangelist in the eastern United States.

Along with his evangelical work, Long dedicated himself to creative works that included writing and art. He wrote hymns and poems as well as plays, narratives, and other writings. He continued to both draw and paint; a portion of his handwritten work, particularly his sermon outlines, is embellished with imaginative illustrations and/or illumination. In his later years, he created visionary and apocalyptic paintings, including works illustrating the Book of Revelation.

McKendree Robbins Long died on May 8, 1976. Twenty-five years after his death, Davidson College and the North Carolina Museum of Art organized the first comprehensive touring exhibition of Long's art, entitled Reverend McKendree Robbins Long: Picture Painter of the Apocalypse.

Collection Overview

The McKendree Robbins Long Papers, 1898-1977, bulk 1920s-1960s, document Long's life as a pastor, evangelist, hymnologist, poet, writer, and artist. In addition to written and printed materials, the collection includes original drawings, sketches, and illustrations; a folder of photographs; and seven sermons recorded on Duodisc electric transcription discs. Long embellished a portion of his handwritten work with imaginative illustrations and/or illumination, making this collection, and Long, particularly unique.

The collection is divided into two series: "Creative works, 1900, 1916-1972" and "Personal materials, 1898-1977."

The "Creative works" series is divided into five subseries: "Sermon materials, 1922-1927, 1935, 1940, 1959, 1964-1965;" "Hymns, 1900, 1929-1935, 1947-1972;" "Poetry, 1916-1920, 1930-1972;" "Other writings, 1929-circa 1949, 1959-1972;" and "Artwork, 1923-1960s."

The "Sermon materials" subseries includes sermons, sermon notebooks, sermon outlines, revival addresses, meditations, and sayings that are representative of Long's life as a pastor and evangelist. Some of the handwritten materials (particularly the unbound and undated sermon outlines) are illustrated and/or decoratively embellished with calligraphic writing or similar artistry. Bound sermon materials from his ministerial work in both Statesville, North Carolina, and Macon, Georgia, are included. Additional sermon materials include seven undated Duodisc electric transcription discs of sermons recorded by Long. His "Interleaved" Bible contains outlines, references, and notes from special evangelistic sermons.

The remaining four subseries, "Hymns," "Poetry," "Other writings," and "Artwork" are representative of Long's life as a writer and artist. The collection contains several hundred of Long's hymns, dating from his first hymn composed in January 1900 at eleven years of age to 1972 at age eighty-four. He composed his hymns without music. There are also several hundred of Long's poems dating from 1916 to 1972 and undated. Both the hymns and the poems are arranged chronologically and are not individually identified and dated in the box inventory section of this guide. Long's other writings include several genres such as a drama, a farce, and an allegory. A number of his narrative manuscripts are more than one hundred to over four hundred pages in length. His writings and drawings of a secular nature address a variety of topics, events, and people from the classical age to the modern era. The majority of his secular works produced between the 1930s and 1950s are signed with the pseudonym "Michael Long."

Many of Long's artistic works feature religious and biblical themes. Three items in the collection are of particular note. Two oversize pieces of visual art--"I Will, Be Thou Clean" and "There is Never a Drought in the Spirit"--showcase Long's penchant for fusing his evangelistic impulse with his artistic skill. These monochromatic illustrations represent Sunday School lessons or sermons at Front Street Presbyterian Church in Statesville, North Carolina during Long's pastorate. Long's 1944 drawing of a horseman from the vision of the sixth angel is an early example of his visionary art form depicting a scene from the Book of Revelation.

The "Personal materials, 1898-1977" series contains material relating to or created by Long as well as other family members. The series includes a small quantity of correspondence from and to Long; clippings, ephemera, and other materials in reference to Long; his ordination and baptism records; and several drawings by young Long family members.

Organization and Arrangement

The collection is arranged as follows:

SERIES I: CREATIVE WORKS, 1900, 1916-1972
Subseries 1: Sermon materials, 1922-1927, 1935, 1940, 1959, 1964-1965
Subseries 2: Hymns, 1900, 1929-1935, 1947-1972
Subseries 3: Poetry, 1916-1920, 1930-1972
Subseries 4: Other writings, 1929-circa 1949, 1959-1972
Subseries 5: Artwork, 1923-1960s

SERIES II: PERSONAL MATERIALS, 1898-1977

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

Acquisition Information

Received from Mrs. Isaac Thomas (Caroline Long) Avery, Jr. in 1977.

Processing Information

The collection was minimally arranged and a preliminary finding aid was created in 2001 by Bill Brock, Collection Management Archivist; Don Chalfant, Intern; and Peggy Gardner, Archives Technician.

Further processing of this collection was made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' "Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives" Project. The collection was minimally processed and an enhanced finding aid was created in Archivists' Toolkit in May 2011 by Devin Manzullo-Thomas and Daniel Cavanaugh. Processing was completed and the guide revised in October 2012 by Bill Brock, Collection Management Archivist.

Preferred Citation

McKendree Robbins Long Papers, RG 479, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Catalog Headings

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

Personal Name Subject

Long, McKendree Robbins, 1888-1976.

Corporate Subject

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.--Clergy.

Topical Subject

Evangelists--Southern States--20th century.

Evangelists--United States.

American poetry--20th century.

Eschatology.

Evangelistic sermons.

Fundamentalism.

Hymns, English--20th century.

Illumination of books and manuscripts--Specimens.

Preaching.

Presbyterian Church--Georgia--Clergy--20th century.

Presbyterian Church--North Carolina--Clergy--20th century.

Clergy as artists--United States--Southern States--20th century.

Sermons, American--20th century.

Christian art and symbolism--20th century.

Genre-form

Sermons. aat

Writings (documents) aat

Drawings (visual works) aat

Sketches. aat

Hymns. aat

Poetry. aat

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description	Alternative Formats

		SERIES I: CREATIVE WORKS, 1900, 1916-1972

		Subseries 1: Sermon materials, 1922-1927, 1935, 1940, 1959, 1964-1965

1	1	Volume, "'A Church of Macedonia' and other sermons," 1922-1923
1	2	Volume of sermons, revival addresses and sermons, and brief address, 1923 and undated
1	3	Volume of sermons, sermon outlines, revival addresses, sayings, meditations, illustrations, material re Vineville Presbyterian Church and Long, and the first draft of the manuscript "The King's Bridal" (see also: "As the Day Approaches. An Allegory of the Present." Box 5 Folder 17), 1923-1925 and undated
1	4	Volume of sermons, sermon outlines, talks, and other writings, 1923-1924
1	5	A Sermon, Sermonettes and Sayings by McKendree Robbins Long (pastor, Vineville Presbyterian Church, Macon, Georgia) and sermon clipping, [1924 or 1925]
1	6	Volume, "Skits and Squibs," primarily sermon outlines, sermons, and other writings, 1924-1925
1	7	Volume of sermons/sermon outlines primarily from the Luke Series, 1924-1925 and undated
1	8	Volume of "Sermons and Lectures-Macon Series," including sermon outlines and other material, circa 1924-circa 1925

2	1	Interleaved Bible with Long's "outlines, references and notes from special evangelistic sermons," circa 1924-circa 1925
2	2	Volume of "Outlines, sermons and miscellaneous," 1925
2	3	Volume of sermon outlines, sayings, and quotations, 1925
2	4	Volume of sermon outlines, sermons, titles of new sermons, and sayings, 1925-1926
2	5	Volume of "New Sermons," 1927
2	6	Volume of sermon outlines, sayings, quotations, and hymns, 1927-1928, 1971 and undated
2	7	"Sayings and Epigrams," meditations and other sermon materials, 1935, 1965 and undated
2	8	Volume, "Beginning of Hero and Heroine Series," primarily sermons, sermon outlines, and sayings, undated
2	9	Volume, "Flying Ingots," primarily sermon outlines, sermons, titles of new sermons, sayings, and other writings, undated
2	10	Notebook of new sermon titles, sermon notes and outlines, and sayings, undated
2	11	Volume of "Stories, anecdotes, parables, illustrations," undated
2	12	"Bible Notes," undated
2	13	Sermon notes, 1940, 1959 and undated, bulk undated
2	14-15	Sermon outlines, undated

3	1	Sermon outlines, undated	Digital
3	2	Sermon outlines, undated
3	3	Sermon outlines, undated	Digital
3	4	Sermon outlines, undated
3	5	Sermon outlines, undated
3	6	Sermons, 1926, 1964 and undated
3	7-9	Sermons, undated

7	1	Sermon (recorded on a Duodisc electric transcription disc), "Barake - The Leaning Hero," undated [restricted for preservation reasons]
7	2	Sermon (recorded on a Duodisc electric transcription disc), "Christ Died for Us," undated [restricted for preservation reasons]
7	3	Sermon (recorded on a Duodisc electric transcription disc), "Christ Preeminent," undated [restricted for preservation reasons]
7	4	Sermon (recorded on a Duodisc electric transcription disc), "He that Believeth is not Condemned, etc.," undated [restricted for preservation reasons]
7	5	Sermon (recorded on a Duodisc electric transcription disc), "Paid in a Moment" / "Unpaid Forever," undated [restricted for preservation reasons]
7	6	Sermon (recorded on a Duodisc electric transcription disc), "The Precious Blood" / "Moses," undated [restricted for preservation reasons]
7	7	Sermon (recorded on a Duodisc electric transcription disc), "Simon Peter (Before and After)," undated [restricted for preservation reasons]

3	10	Titles of new sermons, undated

		Subseries 2: Hymns, 1900, 1929-1935, 1947-1972

3	11	Hymns, 1900, 1929-1935, 1947
3	12	Hymns, 1949-1951
3	13	Hymns, 1952-1956
3	14	Hymns, 1957-1958 March
3	15	Hymns, 1958 April-1958 December

4	1	Hymns, 1959, 1962-1972 and undated
4	2	Hymns (photocopies), early 1930s-early 1960s

		Subseries 3: Poetry, 1916-1920, 1930-1972

4	3	Poetry, 1916, 1919-1920, 1930-1933, 1935-1937, 1939
4	4	Poetry, 1940-1941
4	5	Poetry, 1942-1943
4	6	Poetry, 1944-1953
4	7	Poetry, 1955-1956, 1960, 1962, 1965-1966, 1968-1969, 1972
4	8	Poetry, 1921, 1930, 1933, 1941, 1949-1950 and undated, bulk undated
4	9	Poetry, 1943, 1948, 1964, 1968 and undated, bulk undated
4	10	Poetry, "Dad's poems" (photocopies), 1930s-1960s
4	11	Poetry notebook, 1945, 1947

		Subseries 4: Other writings, 1929-circa 1949, 1959-1972

4	12	"Referendum for the Christian Conscience," 1929
4	13	"Back to Luther, Forward to Love" / "Back to Worms - Forward to Philadelphia," Introduction and pages 1-160, 1930
4	14	"Back to Luther, Forward to Love" / "Back to Worms - Forward to Philadelphia," pages 161-350, 1930
4	15	"Back to Luther, Forward to Love" / "Back to Worms - Forward to Philadelphia," pages 351-419, 1930
4	16	"Rohoboth, Or a Chronicle of Wonderful Providences," 1930 November - 1931 February
4	16	"Rohoboth - The Chronicle of a Soul-Winner," 1935 February 4-5
4	17	"A Calendar of Comfort," 1932
4	18	"Solitudes of the Spirit," 1932-1934 and undated

5	1	Volume of "Miscellaneous notes on various books by Michael R. Long, Waynesville, N.C., 12/30/36"
5	2	"The White Raven," 1941-1943 and undated
5	3	"Protogenes and Demetrius," 1943
5	4	"Always-Frustration," 1943
5	5	"Velazqueth and Isabella of Bourbon," 1944 and undated
5	6-9	"The Rider of the Bear" (no pagination), circa 1947
5	10	"Mr. Sojourner Journeys On" (handwritten), Synopsis and pages 1-33, 37-85, 87-153, circa 1949
5	11	"Mr. Sojourner Journeys On" (typed), pages 1-39, circa 1949
5	12	Proverbs, 1959, 1965-1967, 1970, 1972 and undated
5	13	Notebook primarily of proverbs with new sermon titles and "A Prayer for Revival," 1960s and undated
5	14	Notebook primarily of proverbs with poetry and other writings, 1960s and undated
5	15	"The Covenanter Meets the Pope" and "Christ and This Republic" (No. I and II), 1967-1968
5	16	"The Scape-Man," undated
5	17	Manuscript volume, "As the Day Approaches. An Allegory of the Present." (see also: first draft of "The King's Bridal" Box 1 Folder 3), undated

6	1	Manuscript material, undated
6	2	Manuscript material, undated
6	3	Manuscript material, undated
6	4	Manuscript material, undated
6	5	Other writings, 1933 and undated
6	6	Unidentified pages and fragments, undated
6	7	List of books, undated

		Subseries 5: Artwork, 1923-1960s

		[Oversize, 193B, shelf 6]
		Illustration, "I Will, Be Thou Clean," 1923 [fragile, handle with care]
		Illustration, "There Is Never a Drought in the Spirit," 1923 [fragile, handle with care]

6	8	Printed matter related to Long's artwork, circa 1929, 1948, 1958 and undated
6	9	Drawings and sketches (signed by Long), 1930s-1960s and undated	Digital

8		Framed drawing of a horseman from the vision of the sixth angel, inscribed "Rev. 9:17-18," 1944

6	10	Drawings and sketches (unsigned), undated	Digital
6	11	Photos and newspaper photo of paintings by Long, undated
6	12	Notebook of drawings, sketches, and writings, undated

		SERIES II: PERSONAL MATERIALS, 1898-1977

6	13	Clippings and other collected material, 1900s, 1920s-1970s
6	14	Clippings, ephemera, and other material re Long, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1950, 1966 and undated
6	15	Drawings by young Long family members (including Ben Long) and unidentified, 1932, 1959 and undated
6	16	Historical subject matter, 1950, 1968, 1974 and undated, bulk undated
6	17	Letter of condolence to Mrs. B.F. Long on the death of her husband and a Christmas story by Mary Hill Long (printed and typescript copies), 1925, 1975 and undated
6	18	Letters, incoming to Long, 1926, 1945, 1947, 1969 and undated
6	19	Letters, outgoing from Long, 1908, 1933, circa 1957, 1965 and undated
6	20	Ordination and baptism records, report card, Davidson College loyal alumnus certificate, photos re Long, 1898, 1912, 1935, 1960, 1966 and undated
6	21	Postcards of grandson Ben Long's frescoes, 1974-1975, 1977
6	22	Tributes to Long, 1976 and undated