QUIMBY, KARL, 1887-1982.
Papers, 1927-1969.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 258

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CITATION:  Karl Quimby Papers, MSS 258, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. 

Karl Kline Quimby was born on November 26, 1887 to Charles M. and Julia Kline Quimby in Pottersville, New Jersey.  He attended Dickinson Academy and received his A.B. from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  He received his divinity degree from Drew Theological Seminar in 1914 and was ordained into the Methodist ministry the following year.

Quimby served churches in West Orange, Irvington, Newark and Ridgewood, New Jersey.  He was a District Superintendent of the Jersey City District for four years before being appointed Executive Secretary for Missionary Education of the Methodist Missionary Board in New York City in 1941.  He held this position until his retirement in 1958.

In 1949 Quimby started Religion in American Life (RIAL), and he later helped organize Goodwill Industries.  From 1958 to 1962 he was the Public Relations Assistant with the American Bible Society.  A prolific writer, Quimby also wrote the Sunday school lessons for the John Milton Society for the Blind from 1958 to 1968.

He received an honorary doctorate degree from Morningside College, Iowa in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of missionary education.  Quimby was elected to five General Conferences, was a member of the Executive Committee of the World Methodist Council in 1947 and in 1956, and served as the chair of the Committee on Exchange of Preachers for the World Methodist Council.  He was a trustee of the ecumenical Silver Bay Association and a member of the International Council of Religious Education.

Quimby married Lilian Marten of Irvington, New Jersey in 1916.  Lilian died in 1964.  They had one son, Donald.  After retiring from the John Milton Society, Quimby married Modena McPherson Holt, the daughter of N. C. McPherson of Atlanta who provided financial support for the missionary efforts of  Japanese reformer, Toyohiko Kagawa, in the 1930s.  She was the widow of  the Reverend Edmund D. Rudisill of the North Georgia Conference and Bishop Ivan Lee Holt of Missouri.  In 1975 the Quimbys moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where Karl Quimby died of cancer on August 18, 1982.

(Source: Northern New Jersey Conference Journal. 1983.)

This small collection consists of correspondence and ephemera.  One folder contains correspondence to and from Karl Quimby, primarily concerning books he had acquired or read and activities to which he was invited.  A few items pertain to his work with the Methodist Missionary Board.  There are also a few items of ephemera, including a business card of Quimby's and a 1927 campaign card listing New Jersey license plate codes.

The second folder contains correspondence between N. C. McPherson and Toyohiko Kagawa regarding the missionary work of Kagawa and his associate, Hiroyashi Kaneda. A photograph of Kaneda is included.  There is also a letter from C. B. Dawsey regarding a Methodist missionary society in Brazil.  All of the correspondence was written in 1934 and 1935.

CONTAINER LISTING

Folder    Description                                       Dates

1         Quimby correspondence and ephemera                1927-1969
2         N. C. McPherson correspondence                    1934-1935

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