Jesse L. Cuninggim Collection

Collection

Identifier: MSS.0095

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The following material is a collection of letter, newspaper clippings, poems, dedications, pamphlets, and a typescript. The main personages in this collection are Jesse L. Cuninggim, Wilbur F. Tillett and Oswald Eugene Brown. Accompanying papers concerning the persons mentioned above are also a collection of documents concerning Vanderbilt University’s School of Religion. There are also two large scrapbooks; one in particular follows the life of Jesse L. Cuninggim through newspaper clippings and articles about him.

Dates

Undated

Biographical Note - Jesse Lee Cuninggim

Jesse Lee Cuninggim was born in 1870 in North Carolina. Cuninggim was the last president of Scarritt Bible and Training School and the first president of Scarritt College. Scarritt Bible and Training School was originally for young women training to be missionaries. Scarritt Bible and Training School was formerly based in Kansas City, Missouri and was affiliated with the United Methodist Church. This school was credited for starting to train deaconesses in 1902.

When Jesse L. Cuninggim came into the position of president of Scarritt Bible and Training School, his intention was to move the school from Kansas City and enlarge the school’s academic focus. In 1924 the school was moved to Nashville, Tennessee and was renamed Scarritt College.

Jesse L. Cuninggim did his theological studies at Vanderbilt University. Cuninggim, at one point, was also the Director of the Department of Ministerial Supply and Training at Vanderbilt University.