This database indexes the William H. Whitsitt Papers, 1858-1909 (Accession 24812).

William Heth Whitsitt was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1841. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1862 and served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. A professor of Church history at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, between 1872 and 1895, he served as President of the seminary from 1895-1899. He finished his career as a professor of philosophy at Richmond College, now the University of Richmond, in Richmond, Virginia, from 1901 to 1910. Whitsitt died in 1911.

The database provides access to the collection which contains nearly 1300 items consisting of correspondence, index cards, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and notes. The bulk of the collection concerns the so-called "Whitsitt Controversy" that occurred between 1896-1899, following the publication of his A Question of Baptist History: Whether the Anabaptists in England Practiced Immersion before the Year 1641. The collection contains letters from theologians, educators, Baptist clergymen and laymen in all parts of the country. Especially interesting are Whitsitt's annotations of the letters. The papers are valuable not only as a chronicle of the Whitsitt controversy but also as a source of information regarding the affairs of the Seminary during his presidency.

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