BEASLEY, ARCHER WILBURN, 1897-1976.
Sermons, 1950-1953.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 236

ACCESS: Unrestricted

REPRODUCTION: Bound volume may not be photocopied due to preservation concerns.

COPYRIGHT: Information on copyright (literary rights) available from repository.

CITATION:  Archer Wilburn Beasley Sermons, MSS 236, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. 

Archer Wilburn Beasley was born on July 26, 1897 in Hampshire, Tennessee to William H. and Ocia Beasley.  He earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Emory University and also attended Vanderbilt University, the University of Chicago, and Union Theological Seminary.  Beasley was a member of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church and worked as a pastor, teacher, and administrator in several schools and churches in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia.  He returned to Atlanta in 1956, becoming the first Almar H. Shatford Professor of Homiletics at Candler School of Theology.  The chair was created by Mrs. Genevieve S. Shatford in honor of her husband, who was a well-known layperson in the Methodist Church and a member of the brokerage firm of Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Bean.  Beasley served as the Shatford Professor of Homiletics until his retirement in 1965.  He continued to teach part-time at Candler and died in March 1976.

A. Wilburn Beasley was married to Sarah Elizabeth Flowers on September 6, 1924 and had three children: Archer Wilburn Jr., Robert Aiken, and Sarah Frances.

This collection consists of one bound volume and one folder of loose material.  The bound volume contains two hundred and thirty-seven pages with twenty-five sermons.  The sermons are handwritten in ink and lead and wax pencil and are interspersed with clippings from the Bible, newspaper and magazine articles, and poems.  Each sermon begins with the title, when and where it was delivered, and the relevant biblical verse, quotation, or clipping.  The sermons are not polished, but are notes from which Rev. Beasley preached and contain numerous editing marks.  They were delivered at Madison Heights Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and Crescent Hill Methodist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1950 to 1953.

The loose material consists of three articles and a set of handwritten notes.  The articles were taken from the publications, "The Reader's Digest" and "The Pulpit," from 1950 to 1953.  The notes are two handwritten pages on the life of John Wesley (1703-1791) and his mother, Susanna Wesley (1670-1742) from unknown sources.  These items were used as source material for the sermons "Show your hand!", "By dawn's early light", and the Easter sermon, "Eternity is now!"

CONTAINER LISTING

Box/Folder     Description                                         Date

1/1            Sermons                                             1950-1953
1/2            Loose material                                      1950-1953