Duke University Archives

Duke University Archives. Records inventory

John C. Kilgo, circa 1896

Trinity College. President. John C. Kilgo
Records, 1894-1910

Forms part of: Duke University. President. Records.

Extent: 9.0 linear ft.

11 Hollinger boxes

8 clamshell boxes

2 index files

Organization and arrangement
Organized in 8 series:

1. Correspondence
2. Sermons and notes
3. Lectures, addresses, etc.
4. Methodist Episcopal Church, South
5. Miscellaneous matter
6. Trinity College, Durham, NC
7. Gattis vs. Kilgo et al.
8. Scrapbooks

Finding aids
Inventory in the repository.
Correspondence is indexed in the card catalog; item control. An index card guide to bound volumes is filed with the card index to President Kilgo's library.

Historical note
Duke University was established in 1924 and evolved from the following institutions: Brown's Schoolhouse (Randolph Co., NC), 1838-1839; Union Institute (Randolph Co., NC), 1839-1851; Normal College (Randolph Co., NC), 1851-1859; Trinity College (Randolph Co., NC, 1859-1892 and Durham, NC, 1892-1924).

Biographical note
College president, Methodist clergyman and bishop, born Laurens, South Carolina, July 22, 1861. A.M., Wofford College, 1892; D.D., Randolph-Macon, Wofford, 1895; L.L.D., Tulane, 1910, Trinity, 1916. President, Trinity College, Durham, NC, 1894-1910; Bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1910-1922. As an educator, Kilgo was an advocate of a strong public school system, but thought that higher education belonged in co-ed colleges conducted under Christian auspices.

Kilgo's father, James Tillman Kilgo, was a circuit riding Methodist preacher, and his mother Catherine Mason, of Fairfield County, S.C., was related to the prominent Mason family of Virginia. There were five children, three boys and two girls. John's early education took place in those places where his father preached. He attended McArthur Academy in Limestone, and Gaffney Seminary, and in 1880 enrolled at Wofford College. Eye problems caused his withdrawal at the end of his sophomore year. While at McArthur, a school organized along the lines of a strict English academy, he imbibed the code of strict rules and discipline that characterized his own career as an educator. After withdrawing from Wofford, Kilgo taught school in Clio, SC, and was licensed to preach in May of 1882. From then until 1888, he rode circuit in South Carolina, becoming known as an outstanding preacher. In December of 1882, he married Fannie Natt Turner, of Gaffney, SC; they had five children.

In 1888 he was made financial agent of Wofford College, and was able to continue his education. He received the M.A. from Wofford in 1892, and was appointed Professor of Philosophy and Political Economy. It was during his time at Wofford that he developed the educational philosophy he was later to put into practice at Trinity. Kilgo thought that true higher education could be secured only in institutions conducted under Christian auspices; such schools should be co-educational, as separate women's colleges tended to be inferior to men's.

In 1894, at the age of thirty-three, Kilgo was elected a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, becoming one of the youngest men ever sent. His reputation led an editor to to call him "one of the most useful and popular members of the South Carolina Conference." In July of that year, Kilgo was elected President of Trinity College in Durham. He took up his post the next month, establishing a reputation as a gifted preacher and educator. Methodists around North Carolina were ready to support their college and see it grow, and it was during Kilgo's tenure that Washington Duke took a great interest in the college's affairs. As President, Kilgo spoke out on many controversial topics, including the role of the state in education, academic freedom, and the education of women.

In 1910, he was elected a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and resigned as President of Trinity. He continued, however, to take an active role in the affairs of the school, becoming first a member, then the chairman, of the Board of Trustees. He lived in Durham until 1915, when he moved to Charlotte in order to more easily carry out his responsibilities as a bishop. In 1917, following a controversy over student behavior, Kilgo severed his connection with the College. Kilgo was a member of the Education Commission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which founded and incorporated Emory University.

His health began to fail late in the decade, and in 1920 he was relieved of his episcopal duties. On August 22, 1922, he died in Charlotte, and was buried there.

[Portions of this text are taken from Elizabeth H. Copeland's sketch of Kilgo's life, ca. 1984]

Contents
Correspondence, sermons, lectures, and articles, both manuscript and printed, along with newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and scrapbooks pertaining to Kilgo's career as an educator, as President of Trinity College, Durham, NC, and as a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Subjects include Kilgo's educational philosophy, family affairs, Duke family philanthropy and the financial state of Trinity College, union of Methodist churches; Kilgo's election as bishop, and controversies both he and the college were involved in, including the Gattis vs. Kilgo controversy and the John Spencer Bassett affair concerning academic freedom.

Series Descriptions

1. Correspondence, 1891-1922 + n.d., 3 lin. ft. in 7 boxes, arranged chronologically. Among the subjects are affairs at Wofford College, his appointment to the presidency of Trinity, unification of the Methodist Church, fund-raising, educational reform, and Kilgo's election as Bishop. Among the items are Kilgo's speech to the Board of Trustees, December, 1903, concerning the Bassett Affair, Walter Hines Page's address at the dedication of the Trinity College Library (February, 1903), and Washington Duke's letters of December 1896, and April 1903 concerning his gifts to the College and the status of its women students. Correspondents include Joseph Gill Brown, Wallace Buttrick, William Preston Few, James H. Southgate, Washington Duke, and Robert Lee Flowers.

2. Sermons and notes, 1882-1918 + n.d. 33 volumes (notebooks) and loose papers, in 2 flat boxes and 1 5" box. Manuscripts of sermons, and notes for same, mostly undated. 2 notebooks list sermons and dates given; 3 volumes are titled "Sophomore Bible," "Junior Bible," and "Senior Bible" from 1895/96, and were apparently intended for those classes at Trinity. Hand-written or typed, in a variety of bindings, and loose papers. Notebooks contain full sermons on particular topics and biblical passages, or simply jotted ideas. Some of the books contain miscellaneous notes.

3. Lectures, addresses, etc. 1894-1920 + n.d. 1 5" box + 1 flat box. Manuscript and typed lectures, articles, and speeches, and reports, plus 20 notebooks. Most of the materials are undated, some were apparently titled by Kilgo, and some have supplied titles. Articles include "The North Carolina Conference and the Twentieth Century Movement," "The American Democracy," "Physical Culture at Trinity College," and "The Meaning of a Larger Endowment for Trinity College," Titled notebooks include: Development of American Methodism; Christology, 1895; Key to map of the Western North Carolina Conference, M.E. Church, South; Slavery in America. Copies of published articles include: Christian Education: Its Aims and Superiority, [1896?]; Our Duty to the Negro, 1903; American Commercialism; The Silent South, [1907]; Francis Asbury, [1916]; A Plea for the Union of Methodism in America, 1906; The Value of Endowed Colleges. Other writings treat inter-collegiate athletics, the history of Vanderbilt University, educational philosophy, why he severed his connection with Trinity College, and talks to students and fellow Methodist clergy. Among the manuscripts are writings on Washington and B.N. Duke and eulogies for J.H. Southgate, Joseph F. Bivens and others. The materials are roughly arranged into these categories: general, Methodist, Trinity College. The notebooks contain material on a variety of subjects: travel notes on the Orient, (3 vols.); notes for a lecture on Robert E. Lee; theology; genealogical notes on the Burton (or Bruton?) family; Washington Duke, and other subjects.

4. Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Records and printed matter. 1903-1916 + n.d. Board of Missions Financial Statements, 1915-1916 (6 vols.); newspapers; forms for recording minutes; resolutions, addresses, etc. Some oversize.

5. Miscellaneous matter, ca. 1894-1970 + n.d. Correspondence with Kilgo's descendants; biographical data on Kilgo; Moravian Church literature; postcards and memorabilia from a trip to the Orient; a Greek Bible; bills, receipts, check stubs, ca. 1910 - 1920; newspaper and magazine clippings concerning the controversy over the Mecklenberg Declaration, Methodist Conference activities, Kilgo's speeches and articles, conditions at Trinity College, and other subjects. Notes from newspapers, 1891-1906 complied by Nannie Tilley, concern press attacks on Trinity College, Kilgo, and the Dukes. The notes bear on Gattis vs. Kilgo and the Bassett Affair, and Trinity College accepting money from the Dukes. The remainder consists of student papers, some anonymous poetry, and miscellaneous printed matter (ads, circulars, etc.). Some oversize.

6. Trinity College Records, 1894-1917. 1 flat box. Report of the Board of Trustees concerning the charges brought against Kilgo by Trustee Justice Walter Clark, 1898 (4 copies of a bound pamphlet); Trinity College Financial Statement, Inter-State Audit Company, Charlotte, 1917; Washington Duke Memorial Fund, subscription and donor books, 1905-1908 (2v); C. Hook and other architects, specifications for Kilgo's residence and for a new dormitory building at the College; report of the Board of Visitors, ca. 1900; program and seating chart from President Few's Inauguration; manuscript and typed copy of Kilgo's inaugural address, 1894. Miscellaneous printed matter, including a broadside on fraternity corruptions, a brochure on the admission of women to Trinity College (separated), debate programs, and ephemera.

7. Gattis vs. Kilgo et al., 1899-1905, 4 bound volumes, typescript copies, plus 1 pamphlet; in 1 flat box. Hearings at the Wake and Granville Superior Courts, and a North Carolina Supreme Court appellate brief, concerning the slander suit brought by Thomas J. Gattis against Kilgo, B.N. Duke, and W.R. Odell.

8. Scrapbooks, 1906-1910 + n.d., 7 volumes in 1 flat box (some dismantled). Newspaper clippings of articles, sermons, etc. by Kilgo, including a 5-part article, written in Spartanburg, on "Female Education", pages cut from the Bible and hymnals, book reviews, and other items.

Duke University. President. John C. Kilgo. Records, 1894-1910 ,
Produced on 08/07/96.