For access to these collections, contact Bridwell Library Special Collections.
Miriam Welty Cochran (1898–1966) was a Dallas-based professional pianist and organist, choir director, and music teacher. Her husband, George C. Cochran, Jr. (1897-1961) was an attorney and patron of the arts. Includes personal and business records, photographs, and genealogy research files.Date Range: 1847-1998. Extent: 6 boxes (4 linear feet).
Roger N. Deschner served as associate professor of church music and director of the Sacred Music program at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, from 1975 until 1991. Extent: 25 boxes (24.5 linear feet)
Documentation of the life of Fred D. Gealy (1894-1976). Dr. Gealy was a Methodist minister, missionary, Bible scholar, and church musician. His career included teaching positions at Aoyama Gakuin University, Drew Theological School, Iliff School of Theology, Perkins School of Theology, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and the Methodist Theological School in Ohio. Includes correspondence; personal materials; research, writing, editing, and teaching files; sermon notes; and publications. Date Range: 1909-1977. Extent: 23 boxes (10.5 linear feet).
Kenneth W. Hart served as professor of sacred music and director of the Master of Sacred Music program at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, from 1987 to 2000. Inlcudes information about and interviews with Lloyd Pfautsch. In 2014 Hart published a biography of Pfautsch, A Day for Dancing.Extent: 4 boxes.
Documentation of the artistic legacy of Jane M. Marshall, noted composer and conductor of sacred choral works, respected music educator, and poet. She served as the organist and choir director at Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas, taught in the public schools, and held the position of adjunct professor of church music conducting at Southern Methodist University. Includes copies of published anthems and hymns, songbooks containing her tunes and texts, and documents detailing the development and use of her compositions. Date Range: 1952-2012 Extent: 4 boxes (2.25 linear feet)
Materials documenting the artistic works of Jane Marshall and many personal connections between Marshall and Leah Wilson King. Marshall directed the Perkins School of Theology Church Music Summer School (CMSS) from 1976 to 1983. Leah Wilson King directed the CMSS from 1987 to 2010. Date range: 1985 - 2018. Extent: 1 box (.25 linear foot).
Office records, publications, and recordings Note: Perkins School of Theology internal administrative records are closed to public access for a period of fifty years from creation. Extent: 6 boxes (5 linear feet).
Documentation of the lives of the Rev. Alfredo Náñez, D.D. (1902-1986) and his wife, Clotilde Falcón de Náñez (1908-1998), church leaders, educators, authors, and advocates of Hispanic pride and cross-cultural understanding. Hymnody and sacred music researchers will want to note Series 1, Subseries 4: Sacred Music and Texts, circa 1910-1980. Date Range: 1873-1995. Extent: 22 boxes (11 linear feet).
Alfredo Náñez was an ordained United Methodist minister who served as a Pastor and District Superintendent in the Rio Grande Annual Conference. Náñez served as President of the Lydia Patterson Institute and as the founding director of the Mexican American program at Perkins School of Theology. Clotilde Falcón de Náñez was a respected teacher, Christian Educator, author, and translator. She held many leadership positions in the Woman’s Society of Christian Service and served on the Women’s Division of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church from 1964 to 1968. Clotilde Náñez served the church as a hymn writer, translator, and hymnal committee member.
Lloyd A. Pfautsch (1921-2003) was a composer, conductor, and professor of voice and choral conducting who taught at Illinois Wesleyan University, The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Indiana University Bloomington, Union Theological Seminary, Northwestern University, and Southern Methodist University (SMU). Includes Pfautsch’s draft and published compositions, writings, teaching files, correspondence, materials on the Dallas Civic Chorus and Mu Phi Epsilon fraternity, audio-visual resources, and personal papers. Date Range: 1919-2011. Extent: 36 boxes (17.5 linear feet)
Bridwell Library’s collection on the Charles Wesley family comprises manuscript letters and other documents written by or received by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), his wife Sarah (Sally) Gwynne Wesley (1726-1822), their children Charles Wesley, Jr. (1757-1834), Sarah Wesley (1759-1828), Samuel Wesley (1766-1837), and Samuel Wesley’s son, Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876). Date Range: 1740-1873. Extent: 2 boxes (1 linear foot)
Professional papers documenting Carlton R. ("Sam") Young’s music ministries and teaching career, including files from the production of the 1966 Methodist Hymnal, the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal, and 1993 Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal. Date Range: Circa 1960-2000. Extent: 44 boxes (44 linear feet).
The 1935 Methodist Hymnal Commission was created to revise the 1905 hymnal used by the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Carlton R. Young Collection of 1935 Methodist Hymnal Commission records document the commission’s process of selecting, researching, and organizing hymns to include in the hymnal. Includes correspondence, tunes, hymns, minutes, programs, and photographs. Date Range: 1897-2010. Extent: 4 boxes (5 linear feet)
Autographs and other documents bearing the signatures of more than two hundred seventeenth- through twentieth-century celebrities who lived in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany. See Series 2 (Literature, 1814-1960) and Series 3 (Religion, 1715-1953). Extent: 7 boxes (5.5 linear feet) Date range: 1619-1984.
Letters and documents written, signed or associated with Methodists in the United States of America, Canada, and Mexico. Items of special interest to sacred music scholars and hymnologists include:
Date range: 1770 – 1961. Extent: 7 boxes (3 linear feet) [Boxes 568A-570B]
For access to these archival collections, contact Joan Gosnell in DeGolyer Library.
Robert T. Anderson Papers
Robert T. Anderson, or RTA, was an internationally renowned organist who taught at Southern Methodist University from 1960-1996. He was the service organist for Perkins Chapel from 1960-1995, Chair of the Organ Department, first Meadows Distinguished Teaching Professor, University Distinguished Professor, and served as organ consultant for the C.B. Fisk organs opp. 100 and 101 at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and Caruth Auditorium. Includes correspondence, teaching files, photographs and slides, audio, video, programs, and posters. Date Range: 1940s - 2009. Extent: 48 boxes (26 linear feet).
Having served as campus minister at Louisiana State University for over eight years, Dr. William M. Finnin, Jr. began his tenure as chaplain at Southern Methodist University in 1980. He served until his retirement in December of 2008. During his time at the Chaplain’s office, Finnin established the SMU Wesley Foundation and helped develop the University’s Civil Rights Pilgrimage and the Journey of Remembrance, a human rights seminar on the Nazi death camps of Poland. Series 3 contains material related to the worship services the Chaplain’s Office officiated. Date Range: 1958-2009 Extent: 8 boxes (4.5 linear feet)