Paul Mercer Cousins Papers

Collection

Identifier: MU-PP-0023

Staff Only

Paul Mercer Cousins Collection Finding Aid

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Scope and Contents

The collection contains 24 scattered issues of "The Countryman" (1862-1865), which was a pro-Confederate newspaper published weekly by J. A. Turner at Turnwold Plantation in Putnam County, Georgia. In addition to being a newspaper published by a plantation during the American Civil War, the newspaper is notable for its role in launching the journalistic career of Joel Chandler Harris. Within the Paul Mercer Cousins Collection, "The Countryman" serial is separated by year and issue. The collection also includes published materials related to Joseph Addison Turner and Joel Chandler Harris as well as notes taken by Cousins from Turner’s autobiography, journal, diary (1849-1867), and correspondence (1863-1867).

Dates

Creation: 1849-1867

Creator

Cousins, Paul Mercer, 1889-1984 (Person)

Rights Statement

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

Paul Mercer Cousins was a white man born in Luthersville, Georgia, on December 1, 1889. He earned his B.A. from Mercer University in 1910. Cousins was a soldier at Camp Gordon, Georgia, during World War I. He married Marjorie Nowell on August 30, 1923, and the couple had one son, Paul, Jr., born December 23, 1931. Cousins died on April 16, 1984, at the age of 94.

Cousins worked as a Latin and Greek professor at the Locust Grove Institute for five years and served as its vice president for three. He was an English professor at Shorter College from 1915 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1938; in the interim, he was at Georgetown College in Kentucky from 1919 to 1920. Cousins earned his M.A. from Columbia University and returned to Shorter College as president from 1933 to 1948. He was awarded an Honorary LL.D. from Mercer University in 1936 and taught English at Mercer from 1948 to 1969. He later earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1966 at the age of 77. He authored Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography, winner of the Georgia Writers Association’s Literary Achievement Award for non-fiction in 1968.