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[Identification of item], Elbert Russell Papers, University Archives, Duke University.
The Elbert Russell Papers were received by the University Archives as a transfer in 1966, 1968, and 1974.
Processed by Emily Glenn
Completed March 2003
Encoded by Jill Katte, September 2003
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Elbert Russell, Quaker historian, author, minister, and leader, was born in 1871 in Friendsville, Tennessee. He was educated at Earlham College (Richmond, Ind.) and the University of Chicago. After earning a degree at the University of Chicago (Ph.D.), he returned to teach religion at Earlham College from 1895 to 1915. Russell also taught at Johns Hopkins University, Woolman College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College.
Russell joined the faculty of the Duke University Divinity School in 1926 as a professor of Biblical Interpretation. In 1929, he became Dean of the Divinity School. He served on the Executive Committee of Carolina Institute of International Relations and worked closely with colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to establish a network of specialists in nonviolent international relations. When he retired from the Divinity School in 1942, the Divinity School Alumni Association established the Elbert Russell Scholarship in his honor.
Russell was a prominent leader of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, a traditionally pacifist religious group. He was a guest speaker at Quaker educational institutions, a visiting preacher at churches and religious gatherings across the country, and a teacher of nonviolent conflict resolution. In 1927, he traveled to Central America in on a goodwill mission. After World War II, he traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East working on projects for his church and as a representative of the American Friends Services Committee. A pacifist, Russell had helped young men to defend their right to declare themselves conscientious objectors of war.
Some of Elbert Russell's writings include
After retiring from Duke University in 1942, Russell and his family lived in Greensboro, N.C., Mobile, Ala., and St. Petersburg, Fla. Russell was married to Lieuetta Cox Russell, and had two children. Elbert Russell died in 1951 at age 80.
Contains materials pertaining to the personal and professional work of Elbert Russell, Quaker historian, author, minister, and Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University from 1928 to 1941. In addition to his sermons, articles and books, Russell authored many poems and a play. Much of the correspondence in the collection includes references to pacifism and concerns sermons, teaching, preaching, Quakerism, and formal publication of his writings. Some clippings and correspondence in the collection date from after Russell's death and discuss his life and work. These most likely were collected by colleagues or family members. Materials range in date from 1893-1968.
These and related materials may be accessed under the following subject headings in the Duke University Libraries online catalog.
Includes correspondence.
Includes some reprints.
Includes some reprints.