Spencer B. King, Jr. Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of the papers of Spencer Bidwell King, Jr. from ca. 1917-1973. The papers include a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of sermons Billy Sunday preached in Atlanta in 1917; a scrapbook of clippings, programs, and memorabilia relating to his father’s, Spencer B. King, Sr., ministry at the Blakely Baptist Church (Early County, Georgia) from the 1920’s-1940’s; articles, addresses, and writings by King relating to Georgia history, including extensive information regarding the Civil War and Darien, Georgia; and correspondence pertaining to his involvement with the Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, the Southern Baptist Historical Commission, and the Civil War Centennial Commission. Box 10 contains notecards pertaining to the Darien manuscript; it also contains notes for additional projects. Box 14 is a wooden box that contains lectures and notes.
Dates
- Creation: 1815-1975
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1917-1973
Creator
- King, Spencer Bidwell, Jr., 1904-1977 (Person)
- King (Family)
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
Spencer Bidwell King, Jr., was born on February 19, 1904, in Omega, Alabama, and died on December 14, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was married to Caroline Paul King and had one son, Spencer B. King III, and two daughters, Janet Paul and Margaret Caroline. He earned his A.B. from Mercer University (1929), M.A. from Peabody College (1936), and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina (1950).
King Jr. taught at Fruitland Institute in North Carolina from 1930 to 1933 and at Mars Hill College in North Carolina from 1944 to 1946. He arrived at Mercer University in 1946 and remained until his retirement in 1973. He later became Chairman of the Department of History and served the university in many other capacities. He was a member of the Georgia Baptist Committee on Baptist History between 1954 and 1976 and helped to organize the Georgia Baptist Historical Society in 1964. He was the Georgia editor for the Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists and served on the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1966 to 1973. The Spencer B. King, Jr. Center for Southern Studies at Mercer University is named in his honor.
Extent
10 Linear Feet (14 archival boxes) : Paper materials, publications, scrapbooks, ephemera, diaries, and photographs
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Spencer B. King III, Caroline Paul King, and John Thomas Scott
Subject
- Sunday, Billy, 1862-1935 (Person)
- Blakely Baptist Church (Blakely, Ga.) (Organization)
- Southern Baptist Convention (Organization)
- Southern Baptist Convention. Historical Commission. (Organization)
- Tattnall Square Baptist Church (Macon, Ga.) (Organization)
- Mercer University. Faculty (Organization)
- United States. Civil War Centennial Commission. (Organization)
- Mercer, Jesse, 1769-1841 (Person)
- Confederate States of America. Army. (Organization)
- Harris, Rufus Carrollton, 1896-1988 (Person)
- Bacon, Augustus Octavius, 1839-1914 (Person)
- Title
- Spencer B. King, Jr., Collection
- Author
- Mercer University Library and Special Collections Personnel and Rachel Lukavsky (2021)
- Date
- 2021
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Gift of Spencer B. King III, Caroline Paul King, and John Thomas Scott
Repository Details
Part of the Mercer University Archives and Digital Initiatives Repository