Inventory of the James Cannon III Papers, 1912 - 1974
[top]Descriptive Summary
TitleJames
Cannon III Papers,
1912 - 1974.
Creator
Cannon, James,
1892-1960.
Extent
4.6 Linear Feet,
4,500 Items
Repository
4,500 Items
University Archives, Duke
University
Abstract
James Cannon III worked as an educator and
administrator at Trinity College and Duke University from
1919 to 1960, serving as Dean of the Divinity School from
1951 to 1958. The Canon papers contain correspondence,
manuscript drafts of sermons and publications, course
materials, subject files, clippings, photographs, ephemera,
and scrapbooks relating to the life and work of James
Cannon III. Major subjects include biblical literature and
the Bible as literature, religious education, missionary
training, history of religion, Christianity, Buddhism,
comparative religion, and the Cannon family, especially
James Cannon, Jr. and James Cannon IV.
Language
English.
[top]
Administrative Information
Access RestrictionsPatrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Unprocessed materials are closed pending
processing.
In off-site storage; 24 hours advance notice is
required for use.
Use Restrictions
Copyright for Official University records is
held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by
the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], James Cannon III
Papers, University Archives, Duke University.
Provenance
The James Cannon III Papers was received by the
University Archives as a gift in 1974.
Processing Information
Processed by Jill Katte
Completed July 2002
Encoded by Jill Katte, September 2003
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
[top]
Biographical Note
From 1919 to 1960, Reverend Dr. James Cannon III worked as an educator and administrator at Trinity College and Duke University, serving as Dean of the Divinity School from 1951 to 1958. He was born on November 30, 1892 in Farmville, Virginia to Bishop James Cannon, Jr., and Lura Bennett Cannon. He earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity College in 1914 and a master's degree at Princeton University in 1917. Cannon served in the military as a chaplain during World War I, for which he merited the French Croix de Guerre in 1919. Later that year, he returned to Trinity College to teach Biblical Literature and Missions. While he taught at Trinity, he continued his graduate studies at the Princeton Theological Seminary, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in theology in 1925. When the Duke University Divinity School opened in 1926, Cannon became the Ivey Professor of the History of Religion and Missions, a position he held until his death on March 9, 1960.
In addition to his work at Duke University, Cannon actively participated in several religious and educational organizations and authored and edited a number of scholarly publications. In 1958, he was elected president of the Association of Methodist Theological Schools. Cannon also served as president of the Professors of Missions in Eastern Universities in 1941. He was secretary of the Duke chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and served on the Phi Beta Kappa National Senate in 1953. He wrote the History of Southern Methodist Missions (Cokesbury Press, 1926) and co-authored A Guide to the Study of the English Bible (Duke University Press, 1926). Cannon also edited periodicals such as Christian Advocate and The Muslim World.
[top]Collection Overview
The Cannon papers were originally organized into
three main files and arranged alphabetically within these
files. Three series reflecting the original order were
created: Personal files and family history, Writings, and
Subject files. The Writings series was reorganized by type
of writing into three subseries: Sermons, Articles, and
Course materials. Some clippings files, reference
materials, gradebooks, and duplicates were removed from the
papers.
[top]
Subject Headings
These and related materials may be accessed under
the following subject headings in the Duke University
Libraries online catalog.
- Bible as literature--Study and teaching.
- Buddhism--Study and teaching.
- Cannon, James, 1864-1944.
- Cannon, James, 1892-1960.
- Christianity--Study and teaching--Sermons.
- Duke University. Divinity School.
- Duke University--Faculty.
- Missions--Study and teaching.
- Religion--History--Study and teaching.
- Religions--Comparative studies.
- Religious education--North Carolina.
- Religious literature.
- Theological seminaries--United States.
- Clippings.
- Photographs.
- Scrapbooks.
- Sermons.
Chapel Sermons [sound
recordings].
University Archives, Duke
University.
James Cannon, Jr. papers.
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special
Collections Library, Duke
University.
 | List of Series in Collection | |||||||
 |  | Personal files and family history, 1912-1974 | ||||||
| | Writings, 1920-1961 | ||||||
| | Subject files, 1917-1965 | ||||||
 | | Oversize materials | ||||||
Detailed Description of the Collection
Personal files and family history, 1912-1974
Correspondence, clippings, publications,
photographs and ephemera primarily related to Cannon's life
and career. Typed note cards within some of the files
provide background information on major events and
cross-references to other files; a family member or office
assistant of Cannon most probably created these. Additional
personal and family photographs, clippings, and scrapbooks
can be found in Oversize Boxes 10 and 11.
Box 1
Association of Methodist Theological
Schools,
1958
Bennett, William Wallace,
1939-1959
Bermuda shorts,
1957
Bishop Cannon's Own Story,
1950-1958
Blackstone, [Virginia],
1960-1965
Cannon, James, Jr., Bishop and Mrs.,
1937-1964
Cannon, Walter,
1943-1958, undated
Cape Cod, Mass.,
July
1957
Cards, undated
Cartoons, James Cannon III, ca.
1954
Chairman, Duke Divinity School
Faculty,
1950
Chaplaincy: Appointment,
assignments, identity card,
1918-1919
Citation, United States Army,
1918-1919
Cleland, James T.,
1950-1959
Conference, Western North Carolina,
1959-1960
Convocation and James A. Gray
Lectures,
1953-1956
Correspondence,
1958-1963
Croix de
Guerre,
1919
Cushman, Robert E.,
1958-1959
Daily Suggesters [pocket calendars],
1950,
1952
Dean,
1951-1958
Appointment as Dean
[Congratulatory correspondence]
A-J,
1951
K-Z,
1951
Installation as Dean,
1951
Box 2
Resignation as Dean,
1958
Letters, A-L,
1958-1959
Letters, M-Z,
1958
Deanness,
1951
Death and funeral notices,
1960
Diary, War years,
1918
Discharge, Army,
1918-1919,
1960
Divinity School
1951-1958
1958-1960
Divinity School students,
1953-1967
Duke Circuit
Rider,
1952
Duke Divinity School
Bulletin, First editor,
1946
Duke University,
1938-1955, undated
Duke in Scotland,
1957
Edens, A. Hollis, President,
1949-1960
Edinburgh [University],
1919
Faculty resolutions on death,
1960
Faculty resolutions on retirement,
1958
Box 3
Famous Virginians' Dinner,
1957
Federal Council of Churches,
1925
First Division,
1918-1960
Football, undated
France and Germany, World War I
[photographs and post cards], ca.
1920
Funeral,
1960
Garrett Biblical Institute,
1924
[Graduate Department of Religion],
1959
History of Southern
Methodist Missions,
1924-1927
Holy Land [photographs], ca.
1937
Honorary degrees,
1938,
1956
Hope Valley [photographs],
undated
Ireland, World War I, ca.
1920
Italy, Army YMCA, ca.
1918
Jimmy [James Cannon IV],
1923-ca.
1934
Kendall, Helen M.,
1957-1958
Kodak pictures (Assorted)
[photographs of James Cannon III],
1938-1959
Library Lectures, Duke Divinity
School,
1955,
1959
Memorial service,
April 19,
1960
Methodist Theological Seminaries,
1958-1960
Box 4
Missions, Courses in; Missionary
Institutes; Missionary Alumni,
1950-1966
National Cyclopedia of
American Biography,
1960-1961
Painting, Lura Bennett Cannon,
1957,
undated
Phi Beta Kappa,
1925,
1957-1960
Photographs,
1914-1960, undated
Princeton Theological Seminary,
1915-1917,
1924-1925,
1951
Princeton University,
1924
Princeton University Alumni
Association,
1960
Publications,
1925-1931
Publications,
1932-[1958]
Randolph-Macon College,
1956
Registration Cards,
1917,
1942
"Those Who
Remembered,"
1960
The Richmond
Virginian,
1915
Rocky Mount, North Carolina,
1921
Seminars, Duke Divinity School,
1952-1956
Sigma Chi [certificate of
membership],
1912
Spence, H. E.,
1942-1963, undated
Standard Training Schools, M. E.
Church, South,
1922,
1924
The Stars and
Stripes,
1918
Stockham, Herbert C.,
1958-1960
Supply Pastors' School, Duke
Divinity School,
1954-1955
"A Tribute to Dean
Cannon,"
1958
Trinity College,
1913-1955
Wedding,
1920
Who Was Who,
1960
York Chapel,
1951-1958
YMCA -- Army,
1917-1918
Box 5
Correspondence, Margaret Faw,
1917-1919, undated
[5
folders]
Automobile accident,
1952
James Cannon Jr.
O'Brien-Glass correspondence,
other papers in re-trial
Guest book from memorial service for
James Cannon III,
1960
Reviewers Club,
1974
Writings, 1920-1961
Research notes, manuscript drafts, clippings,
programs, and bulletins related to Cannon's sermons,
publications, and courses. Additional course-related
material can be found in the Subject Files series.
Sermons, 1941-1957, undated
"At Ease with
God,"
Randolph-Macon College Commencement,
June 3,
1956
"Christ and Human
Need,"
Duke University Church,
February 28,
1954
"Christian
Faith,"
Duke University Chapel,
January 20,
1957
"The Christian
Message,"
St. Paul Methodist Church, Durham, N. C.,
August 5,
1951
"The Christian
Ministry; or, How Shall They Hear Without a
Preacher?"
1951
"The Consolations of
God,"
Duke University Church,
March 15,
1953
"The Daily
Cross,"
undated
"Easter
Message,"
Duke University Chapel, undated
"Jesus Christ: Who He
Was; What He Did,"
York Chapel Talk,
undated
"Men of
Conviction,"
Duke University Church, January 13,
1952
"The Opportunity of a
Chain,"
undated
"The
Pilgrims,"
Duke University Chapel,
July 13,
1952
"The Pure Flame of
Truth,"
Phi Beta Kappa address, undated
"Three Ways of Life:
the Communist Way, the American (Democratic) Way, the
Christian Way,"
Duke University Church,
July 15,
1951
"Truth and
Faith,"
undated
"When Our Ideals
Betray Us,"
undated
"Women in Today's
World,"
Columbia College Commencement,
1941
Articles, 1925-1956, undated
"An Appreciation of
the Duke Endowment,"
North Carolina
Christian Advocate,
May 31,
1956
"Can the Hebrew
Old
Testament be Relied Upon?"
undated
"David
Livingstone,"
undated
"A Day's Work for a
Day's Pay,"
Christian
Advocate,
September 4,
1925
"The Department of
Religious Training,"
Trinity Alumni
Register, undated
"The Doctrine of the
Future Life in India,"
The Union Seminary
Quarterly,
January
1926
"Every Christian a
Missionary,"
Christian
Advocate,
June 5,
1925
"Figures by Which the
Church is Represented in the New Testament,"
undated
"The Functions of a
College Department of Missions,"
North Carolina
Christian Advocate,
May 14,
1925
"Future Life among
Animistic Peoples,"
Methodist Quarterly
Review,
October
1925
"The Gospel of
Barnabus,"
The Moslem
World,
April
1942
"Habakkuk, a
Monograph on Faith,"
Nashville Christian
Advocate,
February 19,
1926
"Investment
Opportunity,"
North Carolina
Christian Advocate,
August 16,
1951
"Japanese Indigenous
Christianity,"
South Atlantic
Quarterly,
July
1925
"The Linguistic
Argument for the Late Date of Canticles,"
Methodist Quarterly
Review,
April
1925
"Methodist
Theological Schools Are Growing,"
North Carolina
Christian Advocate,
July 31,
1952
"Missionary Education
at the Home Base,"
The Missionary
Review of the World,
April
1926
"Missionary
Families,"
undated
"The Order of the
Green Mustaches,"
[Poem], undated
"Our Missionary
Literature,"
Christian
Advocate,
March 13,
1925
Box 7
"The Philosophy of
Missions,"
World
Outlook,
April
1952
"Proofs of the
Christian Life,"
Christian
Advocate,
July 9,
1926
"The Search for
Saviors,"
undated
"Shinto: Literary
Sources and Popular Cultus,"
The Review and
Expositor,
July
1925
"The Teaching of
Missions in Colleges,"
Christian
Advocate,
March 27,
1925
"Transmigration and
Karma in Hinduism,"
undated
"The Vital Breath of
Missions,"
North Carolina
Christian Advocate,
August 16,
1928
"Who Should Pay for
Educating Methodist Ministers?"
Virginia Methodist
Advocate,
Nov. 23,
1950
"Will We Run Out of
Preachers?"
Shepherds,
April
1952
"The Witness of the
Roman Catacombs to Early Christianity,"
New York Christian
Advocate, undated
"The World Outlook of
Duke University,"
World
Outlook,
July
1941
Course materials, 1920-1960, undated
The Bible as literature, Summer
school, undated
The Bible, The use of in public
schools, Summer school, ca.
1920
Bo tree,
1944-1951
Buddhism, Miscellaneous,
1929-1933
Buddhism in Ceylon, Burma,
Cambodia, Siam, undated
Buddhism in China, ca.
1929
Buddhism in India,
undated
Buddhism in Japan,
undated
Christianity and world movements,
undated
The Church on the mission field,
ca.
1947
College courses in missions,
1929,
1949
Divinity School, early days,
1926
Divinity School faculty,
1926-1958
Box 8
Ethical ideals and social practice
in the religions of the world (Comparative Religion),
undated
Expansion of Christianity to the
Reformation, Summer school, ca.
1920
Great preachers and missionaries,
undated
Ideas of future life [Religion
284: Comparative Religion], ca.
1941
The idea of God, Comparative
Religion, ca.
1945
The idea of salvation, Comparative
Religion, undated
The idea of sin (Comparative
Religion), ca.
1942
Hinduism,
1940-1950
How religions have spread,
undated
Judaism, ca.
1947
Latin America, Christian work in,
ca.
1936
Missionary education, suggested
program for a local church, ca.
1944
Missions in the modern world,
1935-1960
The nature and early development
of religion [Religion 181], undated
Preaching, Expository,
undated
Religions of Eastern Asia, China,
Korea, Japan, ca.
1943
Religions of India, Religion S285,
1939-1947
Rise and expansion of Islam,
undated
Superstitions, ca.
1949
Theological scholarships, ca.
1950
Subject files, 1917-1965
Research notes, correspondence, clippings, and
other materials related to Dr. Cannon's teaching and
writing. Some files contain outlines for courses included
in the Course materials subseries above.
Box 9
Africa, ca.
1943
Program of Advance in Foreign
Ministries,
October
1948
Chronology of China,
undated
Cleland, James T.,
1955-1965
Comparative religion, Outlines,
undated
Garber, Bishop and Mrs. Paul N.,
1947-1963
Garber diary
February 10,
1945 - October 5, 1945
October 11, 1945
- March 12, 1946
March 13, 1946 -
December 15, 1946
March 22, 1947 -
September 4, 1947
Hindu sacred literature, course
notes, undated
History of Religion 15, Examination,
1951
Islam, lecture notes, ca.
1939
Living religions, course outline,
undated
The philosophy of the Christian
world mission, lecture notes,
1946-1951
Mohammedanism - Outline, ca.
1946
Bibliography, undated
Clippings, ca.
1945
Nature and Development of Religion
[Religion 181], undated
Petry, Ray C.,
1950-1964
Phi Beta Kappa,
1960
Photographs, undated
Schweitzer, Albert [Clippings],
1947
World mission of the Christian
religion, course, ca.
1930
Oversize materials
"The Book of Jimmy
Cannon"
This scrapbook details the life of James
Cannon IV, son of James Cannon III. The book contains
photographs, ephemera, correspondence and other
materials.
Box 11
Scrapbook
Photographs
Clippings
