Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1829-1960 (Creation)
Extent
2.7 cubic feet
Name of creator
Biographical history
Paul Bentley Kern (1882-1953), American bishop, was born on June 16, 1882 in Alexandria, Virginia. He began his college career at Randolph-Macon College, where his father, John A. Kern, was a professor. After one year of study, Kern transferred to Vanderbilt University and received two degrees: B.A. in 1902 and B.D. in 1905. He was then admitted into the Tennessee Annual Conference in 1905 and served two years as an instructor for the Correspondence School for Ministers while teaching at Vanderbilt and simultaneously serving various local churches. He married Lucy Gorhall Campbell of Nashville, Tennessee, on June 11, 1907. They had three children.
When Southern Methodist University was established in 1915, he became the professor of English as well as Bible and homiletics. By 1920, he was dean of the theological department. In 1926, he went back into the pastoral ministry, and was appointed to the Travis Park Church in San Antonio, Texas. Kern was elected to the episcopacy for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1930. Bishop Kern served in the China from 1930 to 1934.
From 1934 to 1938 he was bishop for both the North and South Carolina areas. In 1938, he was appointed to the Nashville Area with Tennessee, Holston, Florida, and Cuban conferences under his supervision. He was active in the unification of the three Methodist bodies which came together in 1939. Kean also helped in the consolidation of the Epworth League and Sunday School Boards into the Board of Education. Other areas of influence include the Youth Caravan Movement, the Crusade for Christ, and higher education in Methodism. He was chairperson of the board of trustees of Scarritt College. He wrote the Episcopal Address for the General Conference of 1952 which was held in San Francisco. Besides being an author and guest lecturer, he was also a member of many boards and agencies of the Methodist Church and a delegate to the World Council of Churches in 1948. He died on December 16, 1953, at Vanderbilt Hospital, and is buried in Mount Olive Cemetery in Nashville.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This collection documents the professional life of Paul Bentley Kern as a pastor, educator and bishop for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1844-1939) and later for the Methodist Church (1939-1968). At the end of this collection the researcher will find various ministerial credentials awarded to Kern and his forbearers.
The manuscripts include sermons (with and without Biblical texts), addresses, and publications which offer a diversity of interests and commitments that shaped Kern's ministry. Major topics of concerns include a strong anti-war stance in both World Wars (though most of the information is centered on World War I), ethics in business, labor, church union in 1939, the Advance, Crusade for Christ, jazz, as well as systematic and practical theological issues, role of the church in America and the world, America as a steward of the world's wealth and resources, temperance, organization of the Korean Methodist Church, and Methodism. Christian education, sociology, matriculation addresses, Reformation Sunday, missions with an emphasis on China round out the rest of the topics. Kern considered all these areas as major forces which could and should shape the ever changing world in the early and middle twentieth century. . Part of the materials include addresses which were part of the Cole Lectures which he delivered at Vanderbilt University in 1935.
Administrative records include correspondence, telegraphs, reports, annual conference materials, and the Council of Bishops. The correspondence segment is centered on congratulatory remarks in the form of letters (1930) and telegrams (1930) which Kern received upon his election to the episcopacy. One of the reports relates to his trips to the Orient where he served his first term as a bishop for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. There are a small number of field reports from Orient as well. Clippings make up most of Florida, Holston and Tennessee Annual Conferences folder with emphasis on Kern's Episcopal administration in the Tennessee area. There are also a few items relating to China.
System of arrangement
This collection is arranged by series and subseries.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection has no restrictions placed on it.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Detailed use restrictions relating to our collections can be requested from the office of the archivist at the General Commission on Archives and History. Photocopying is handled by the staff and may be limited in certain instances. Before using any material for publication from this collection a formal request for permission to publish is expected and required.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Methodist Church Board of Missions Biographical Reference Series
Springer papers
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
When citing material from this collection please use the following format: Direct reference to the item or its file folder, Paul Bentley Kern papers, United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey. Do not make use of the item's call number as that is not a stable descriptor.
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Prepared by Lacey Brother, Student Assistant and Mark C. Shenise, Associate Archivist
Access points
Subject access points
Name access points
- Methodist Church (U.S.) (Subject)
- Methodist Episcopal Church, South (Subject)
- Brown, Dean (Subject)
- Eskridge, Alfred A. (Subject)
- Kern, John A. (Subject)
- Ainsworth, William Newman (Subject)
- Callahan, William Jackson (Subject)
- Candler, Warren Akin (Subject)
- Cheng, C. Y. (Subject)
- Denny, Collins (Subject)
- DuBose, Horace Mellard (Subject)
- Lenz, Frank B. (Subject)
- Moller, J. (Subject)
- Oxnam, Garfield Bromley (Subject)
- Primm, Ira, Mrs. (Subject)
- Un, Wong Zia (Subject)