W.A. Shelton papers 1919-1950, bulk 1919-1920

Author/Creator:

Shelton, W. A. (William Arthur)

Publication/Creation:

1919-1950

Resource Type:

Archival Material or Manuscripts

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

W.A. Shelton papers 1919-1950, bulk 1919-1920

Subjects/Genre

Genre:

Correspondence
Diaries
Lantern slides
Passenger lists
Photographs
Printed ephemera

Subjects:

Breasted, James Henry,1865-1935
Shelton, W. A. (William Arthur)
Michael C. Carlos Museum
S.S. Duca D'Aosta
Egyptology
Travelers' writings
Egypt
Middle East

Description/Summary

Finding Aid:

Finding aid available electronically

Summary:

Papers of educator and Methodist minister William Arthur Shelton include correspondence, photographs, and other materials related to his participation in the American Scientific Mission, a 1920 exploration through Egyptian and former Ottoman territory led by James Henry Breasted. Also included are documents related to Shelton's purchase of antiquities later housed in the Emory University Museum (now the Michael C. Carlos Museum).

Language:

English

Language Note:

Entire collection in English.

Physical Type/Description:

7 linear feet (8 boxes)

Restrictions on Access:

Unrestricted access.

Use and Reproduction:

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Organization and Arrangement:

Organized into 5 series: (1) Correspondence; (2) Ephemera and other papers; (3) Photographs; and (4) Glass lantern slides.

Biographical/Historical Note:

William Arthur Shelton was born on September 6, 1875 in Azusa, California. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Hargrove College in Ardmore, Oklahoma in 1904 as well as bachelor of divinity and master of arts degrees from Yale University in 1908. He was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church and subsequently served as President of Oklahoma Wesleyan College in Oklahoma City from 1911 until 1914. In 1919 and 1920, Shelton accompanied James Henry Breasted and three other men, Ludlow Bull, Daniel Luckenbill, and William Edgerton, on an expedition through Egyptian and former Ottoman territory then under British mandate. The expedition, called the American Scientific Mission, sailed from New York on the S.S. Duca D'Aosta on Christmas Eve of 1919. It passed through Egypt and eventually reached Mesopotamia via Bombay (Mumbai) in March 1920. Shelton, Breasted, and the others were students of the Ancient Near East, and the expedition was devoted primarily to the exploration of ancient artwork and ruins throughout the so-called "Fertile Crescent" (a term coined by Breasted), and to the gathering of antiquities, especially in Egypt. Several of these items, including a full mummy purchased in Cairo, formed the initial foundation of the Emory Museum's (now the Michael C. Carlos Museum) Egyptology collection. Shelton documented the American Scientifit Mission in his memoir, Dust and Ashes of Empires, published in 1922. After the American Scientific Mission, Shelton remained at Emory for nearly another decade, until be became the pastor of Mt. Vernon Place Methodist Church in Washington, DC, in 1930. Two years later he returned to Atlanta to lead Grace Methodist Church. Shelton became Superintendent of the Methodist Church's Birmingham District in 1938. From 1949 to 1951 be was briefly Professor of Religion at Birmingham-Southern College. He died February 23, 1959.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

990035053460302486

OCLC Number:

893209620

Barcode:

010003186984
010003186983
010003186988
010003186702
010003186986
010003186981
010003186985
010003186982
010003186987