James White Merritt Collection

Collection

Identifier: MU-PP-0081

Staff Only

James White Merritt Collection Finding Aid

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Scope and Contents

The Merritt Papers contain clippings that Merritt collected from The Christian Index during the years 1915, 1917, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, and 1924. The 1915 and 1917 clippings are related to B.Y.P.U. events and news. The 1920-24 clippings are mainly “Our Georgia Baptist Sunday Schools” pages from the time that Merritt was a field director for the Sunday School Department. The collection contains a few entire special issues of The Christian Index as noted below. The collection was donated to Mercer University by the Rev. Troy Acree and was received September 9, 2004.

Dates

Creation: 1915-1924

Creator

Merritt, James White, 1886-1972 (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

James White Merritt was born December 29, 1886, in Johnsonville, Georgia (Monroe County). His father died when he was only two years old, and his mother moved the family to Gainesville, Georgia, when he was six. Merritt left school before finishing high school to go to work. He worked in a bank for 11 years, during which time he was president of the Baptist Young People’s Union (B.Y.P.U.) of the Georgia Baptist Convention.

In 1920, Merritt resigned his banking job to become an associate field director for the Sunday School Department of the Georgia Baptist Convention. He served as business manager of The Christian Index from 1925 to 1930. In 1930, he was elected Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Georgia Baptist Convention and served in this capacity for 25 years (1930-1955). When Merritt took over this position, the Convention was badly in debt and did not have sufficient income to cover the debts. Merritt is credited with helping turn this situation around. In 1954, Merritt was elected President of the Georgia Baptist Convention and served two terms.

Merritt received the LL. D. from Mercer University in 1934.