Henry Preserved Smith papers, 1864 -- 1925

Collection context

Creator:
Smith, Henry Preserved, 1847-1927
Abstract:
Henry Preserved Smith (1847-1927) was a Presbyterian minister in Ohio and New York and a scholar with specializations in Hebrew and Cognate Languages, historical and critical interpretations of the Bible who was tried for heresy by the Presbyterian Church, 1892-1894, and was subsequently Professor of Church history and Davenport Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages at Union Theological Seminary, 1917-1925. The collection contains scrapbooks as they were assembled by Smith to document his heresy trial, as well as the contemporaneous trial of Charles Augustus Briggs, and three scrapbooks on Hebrew literature, as well as other writings and notes including nine of Smith's notebooks, correspondence, speeches, trial materials, lecture notes, and other materials maintained by Smith during his work as a professor and librarian.
Extent:
4.25 linear feet (4.25 linear feet; 9 boxes)
Language:
English .
Scope and content:

This collection contains scrapbooks as they were assembled by Smith to document his heresy trial, as well as the contemporaneous trial of Charles Augustus Briggs, which include clippings, notes and pasted-in correspondence detailing the trial and its coverage in periodicals and newspapers at the time, as well as three scrapbooks on Hebrew literature. The collections also contains nine of Smith's notebooks, correspondence, speeches, trial materials, lecture notes, and other materials maintained by Smith during his work as a professor and librarian.

Biographical / historical:

Henry Preserved Smith was a Presbyterian educator, scholar and librarian at Union Theological Seminary. Smith was born in Troy Ohio, on October 23, 1847. The son of Lucy Mayo Smith and Preserved Smith (himself a prominent historian of the Protestant Reformation), Henry Preserved was poised from an early age to pursue a career in the ministry. He earned his A.B. from Amherst College in 1869 before going on to pursue religious studies at the graduate level, first at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati from 1869 to 1872, then at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig from 1872 to 1874 and 1876 to 1877, respectively. During his stay back in Ohio between academic terms in Germany, Smith was ordained in the Presbytery of Dayton on June 8, 1875. While there, he also served as an instructor in church history at Lane from 1874 to 1875 and instructor of Hebrew from 1875 to 1876. He remained at Lane for much of his career, serving as assistant professor (1877-1879) and later professor (1879-1893) in Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis there. Contrary to Smith's conservative upbringing in the church, he was preeminent among Presbyterian scholars of his day for being open to historical criticism when interpreting the Bible, an inclination that resulted in Smith's being charged with heresy by the Presbytery of Cincinnati in 1892. This trial came on the heels of Charles Augustus Briggs' well-known trial on charges similar to those brought against Henry Preserved, which included "holding that a minister could abandon essential tenets of doctrine and yet retain his ordination; teaching 'that the Holy Spirit did not so control the inspired writers in their composition of the Holy Scriptures as to make their utterances absolutely truthful'; and denying the inspiration of Scripture 'in the sense in which inspiration is attributed to the Holy Scriptures, by the Holy Scriptures themselves and by the Confession of Faith". Found guilty of the latter two charges, Smith was stripped of his ordination and his teaching position in Ohio. The following five years were marked by considerable struggle as Smith was unable to regain a teaching position without his ordination license for several years. Eventually, Smith obtained a post as professor of Biblical Literature and pastor at Amherst College, where he remained from 1898 to 1906 before going on to teach at Meadville Theological School from 1907 to 1913. Smith's scholarship regained its vigor in the years following his heresy trial, and established his role as a forerunner in Biblical scholars interested in criticism of Biblical texts, an evolution from his puritan education. All told, Smith's publications included Inspiration and Inerrancy (1893), The Bible and Islam (1897), The Heretic's Defense: A Footnote to History (1926), and various encyclopedia entries on exegetical commentary and Old Testament history. In 1907, Smith became Union Theological Seminary's librarian, a post he would hold until 1925 concurrent with his role as Davenport Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages from 1917 to 1925, and later as professor emeritus from 1925 until his death in 1927. Like Briggs, Smith was unhindered by his trials in the Presbyterian Church, becoming an eminent figure in critical and historical investigations of the Bible in his time. He was recognized with honorary Doctorate of Divinity degrees from Maryville College (1883), Amherst College (1886) and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1888. After a singular career in his scholarship and teaching, Henry Preserved Smith died in Poughkeepsie, New York on February 26, 1927.

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

The following boxes are located offsite: Box 1.1-1.5 and boxes 2.1-2.4. Please note that requests for use of boxes held in offsite storage must be made three business days in advance.

Terms of access:

Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.

Preferred citation:

Item description, UTS1: Henry Preserved Smith papers, series #, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Location of this collection:
Before you visit:
Researchers must book an appointment at least 5 business days in advance to view special collections material in the reading room. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to one item per hour of appointment time.
Contact:
burke@library.columbia.edu