Addie E. Davis Papers

Collection

Identifier: MU-PP-0049

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Addie E. Davis collection contains papers from her years at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, sermons and bulletins from church services, audio tapes of sermons, and miscellaneous personal papers and publications.

Dates

Creation: 1929-2002
Creation: Majority of material found within 1961-2002

Creator

Davis, Addie Elizabeth, 1917-2005 (Person)

Conditions Governing Use

To quote in print, or otherwise reproduce in whole or in part in any publication, including on the World Wide Web, any material from this collection, the researcher must obtain permission from (1) the owner of the physical property and (2) the holder of the copyright. Persons wishing to quote from this collection should consult the reference archivist to determine copyright holders for information in this collection. Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original.

Biographical / Historical

Addie E. Davis was from Covington, Virginia. She was born on June 29, 1917, and died December 3, 2005. She attended Meredith College (1938-1942) in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she majored in psychology and minored in speech. After college, she was the education director for the First Baptist Church in Elkin, North Carolina, and then was the Dean of Women at Alderson-Broadus College, Philippi, West Virginia. While there, she occasionally taught psychology classes. After her father’s death in 1944, she returned home to help her mother manage the family’s furniture store. During the 1950s, she was an interim pastor at the Lone Star Baptist Church near Covington, Virginia.

Rev. Davis enrolled at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina, in 1960 and graduated in May 1963. She was the first female pastor ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention. She was ordained by the Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, NC, on August 9, 1964.

After ordination, Rev. Davis pastored at First Baptist Church, Readsboro, Vermont (1964-1972), where she was “pastor of the year” in 1971. Her next appointment was the Second Baptist Church, East Providence, Rhode Island (1972-1981), followed by the Rich Patch Union Church, Alleghany Co., Virginia (1981-2002). She also was a guest pastor at many other churches throughout her ministry.