# Edwin Mims

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{{Short description|United States professor of English literature}}
{{Infobox person
| name =Edwin Mims
| image = 
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = May 27, 1872
| birth_place = [Richmond, Arkansas](/source/Richmond%2C_Arkansas), U.S.
| death_date = September 15, 1959
| death_place = [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee), U.S.
| death_cause = 
| resting_place =[Woodlawn Memorial Park](/source/Woodlawn_Memorial_Park_(Nashville%2C_Tennessee))
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| other_names = 
| known_for = 
| education = [Webb School](/source/Webb_School_(Bell_Buckle%2C_Tennessee))
| alma_mater = [Vanderbilt University](/source/Vanderbilt_University)<br/>[Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University)
| employer = 
| occupation = University professor
| title = 
| term = 
| predecessor = 
| successor = 
| political_party = 
| boards = 
| spouse =
| children =
| parents = Andrew Jackson Mims<br/>Cornelia Williamson
| relatives =
}}

'''Edwin Mims''' (1872–1959) was an American university professor of English literature. He served as the chair of the English Department at [Vanderbilt University](/source/Vanderbilt_University) in [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee), for thirty years from 1912 to 1942, and he taught many members of the [Fugitives](/source/Fugitives_(poets)) and the [Southern Agrarians](/source/Southern_Agrarians), two literary movements in the South. He was a staunch opponent of lynching and a practicing Methodist.

==Early life==
Edwin Mims was born in 1872 in [Richmond, Arkansas](/source/Richmond%2C_Arkansas), near [Texarkana](/source/Texarkana%2C_Texas).<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator">{{cite news|title=Dr. Mims Dies; Noted Educator of Vanderbilt. Health Declined After Hip Fracture; Services Tomorrow|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/111564518|work=The Nashville Tennessean|date=September 16, 1959|pages=1–2|via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)|url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name="loisbrown">Lois Brown, ''The Encyclopedia of the Harlem Literary Renaissance'', New York, New York: Infobase Publishing, 2006, p. 348 [https://books.google.com/books?id=t910en1a7pkC&pg=PA348]</ref> His father was Andrew Jackson Mims and his mother, Cornelia Williamson.<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/> He had a brother, Stewart L. Mims, who later resided in [Greenwich, Connecticut](/source/Greenwich%2C_Connecticut).<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/>

Mims was educated at the [Webb School](/source/Webb_School_(Bell_Buckle%2C_Tennessee)) in [Bell Buckle, Tennessee](/source/Bell_Buckle%2C_Tennessee). He graduated from [Vanderbilt University](/source/Vanderbilt_University) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1892 and a Master of Arts degree in 1893.<ref name="loisbrown"/><ref name="kara">Kara Furlong, [http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbiltview/articles/2011/01/01/looking-back.129111 Edwin Mims] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140121210409/http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbiltview/articles/2011/01/01/looking-back.129111 |date=2014-01-21 }}, ''Looking Back'', 01/01/2011</ref> He was also the editor of ''[The Vanderbilt Hustler](/source/The_Vanderbilt_Hustler)'', the main campus newspaper.<ref name="kara"/> He earned a PhD from [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University) in 1900.<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/>

==Career==
Mims began his career at his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, where he became an assistant professor in 1892.<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/> He was a professor of English at [Duke University](/source/Duke_University) (then known as Trinity College) in [Durham, North Carolina](/source/Durham%2C_North_Carolina), and later at the [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill](/source/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill) in [Chapel Hill, North Carolina](/source/Chapel_Hill%2C_North_Carolina).<ref name="kara"/>

The second Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, [James Hampton Kirkland](/source/James_Hampton_Kirkland) (1859–1939), convinced him to return to his alma mater to teach.<ref name="kara"/> He went on to serve as the Chair of the English Department at Vanderbilt University from 1912 to 1942.<ref name="loisbrown"/><ref name="kara"/><ref name="williamstevens">William Stevens Powell, ''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography'', Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1991, p. 281 [https://books.google.com/books?id=kDQ0DyvxjEAC&pg=PA281]</ref><ref>Herschel Brickell, [http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1944/autumn/brickell-vanderbilt-literary/ The Vanderbilt Literary Movement], ''[Virginia Quarterly Review](/source/Virginia_Quarterly_Review)'', Autumn 1944</ref> One of his requirements was to ask his students to learn a thousand verses of poetry by heart.<ref name="kara"/> He also asked students to write an autobiographical essay each year.<ref name="maryeweaks">Mary Weaks-Baxter, ''Reclaiming the American Farmer: The Reinvention of a Regional Mythology in Twentieth-century Southern Writing'', Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 2006, pp. 81-82 [https://books.google.com/books?id=vEQqD3EQ1D0C&pg=PA81]</ref> He wrote a history of Vanderbilt University as well as of Chancellor Kirkland.<ref name="kara"/> Some of his students included [Donald Davidson](/source/Donald_Davidson_(poet)), [Robert Penn Warren](/source/Robert_Penn_Warren), [Cleanth Brooks](/source/Cleanth_Brooks), [Andrew Nelson Lytle](/source/Andrew_Nelson_Lytle), [Allen Tate](/source/Allen_Tate), [Merrill Moore](/source/Merrill_Moore_(poet)) and [Jesse Stuart](/source/Jesse_Stuart).<ref name="williamstevens"/><ref name="maryeweaks"/><ref>Alphonse Vinh, ''Cleanth Brooks and Allen Tate: Collected Letters, 1933-1976'', Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1998, p. 75 [https://books.google.com/books?id=3q4YuBUvZMEC&pg=PA75]</ref> Stuart's ''Beyond Dark Hills'', was the direct result of one of Mims's assignments (writing an autobiographical essay); it was published in 1938.<ref name="maryeweaks"/> During his tenure as chair, he wrote to Chancellor Kirkland to discourage him to match the offer that [Kenyon College](/source/Kenyon_College) in [Gambier, Ohio](/source/Gambier%2C_Ohio), had made to his colleague [John Crowe Ransom](/source/John_Crowe_Ransom), so that Ransom would leave for Ohio instead.<ref name="williamstevens"/><ref name="thomasunderwood">Thomas A. Underwood, ''[Allen Tate: Orphan of the South](/source/Allen_Tate%3A_Orphan_of_the_South)'', Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 274 [https://books.google.com/books?id=0M_iUdjxb3IC&pg=PA274]</ref> However, Allen Tate tried to expose his hypocrisy as Mims assured Ransom he would be welcome to stay in his department at Vanderbilt.<ref name="thomasunderwood"/> Another colleague, [Lyle H. Lanier](/source/Lyle_H._Lanier), agreed that this demonstrated Mims's hypocrisy.<ref name="thomasunderwood"/>

A progressive, Mims became vocal in his opposition to [lynching](/source/Lynching_in_the_United_States).<ref name="kara"/> He established the [Law and Order League](/source/Law_and_Order_League), an anti-lynching organization.<ref name="kara"/> He also addressed the [New York Southern Society](/source/New_York_Southern_Society) in [New York City](/source/New_York_City), where he reiterated his opposition to lynching.<ref name="kara"/> His 1926 book entitled ''The Advancing South'' was a call to action for progressives in the South.<ref name="loisbrown"/><ref name="kara"/> It was reviewed favourably by [Alain Leroy Locke](/source/Alain_Leroy_Locke) (1885–1954) in ''[Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life](/source/Opportunity%3A_A_Journal_of_Negro_Life)''.<ref name="loisbrown"/>

Mims served as President of the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools for Southern States, later known as the [Southern Association of Colleges and Schools](/source/Southern_Association_of_Colleges_and_Schools), in 1902.<ref name="williamstevens"/> He then served on its executive committee.<ref name="williamstevens"/> He lectured at the [Chautauqua Institution](/source/Chautauqua_Institution) in 1912-1942.<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/> He was also a member of the [Methodist Episcopal Church](/source/Methodist_Episcopal_Church) and served on the joint hymn book commission between the Methodist Episcopal Church, North and the [Methodist Episcopal Church, South](/source/Methodist_Episcopal_Church%2C_South) in 1902-1903.<ref name="williamstevens"/>

==Personal life, death and legacy==
In June 1898, Mims married Clara Puryear, the daughter of a [tobacco](/source/tobacco) broker from [Paducah, Kentucky](/source/Paducah%2C_Kentucky).<ref name="williamstevens"/> They had four children: Edwin, Catherine, Thomas and Ella.<ref name="williamstevens"/> His daughter Ella was active in the Nashville chapter of the [Southern Regional Council](/source/Southern_Regional_Council).<ref name="nashvilleway40">{{cite book |last1=Houston |first1=Benjamin |title=The Nashville Way: Racial Etiquette and the Struggle for Social Justice in a Southern City |date=2012 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |location=Athens, Georgia |isbn=9780820343266|oclc=940632744 |page=40}}</ref>

Mims died on September 15, 1959, in Nashville.<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/><ref name="loisbrown"/> His funeral took place at the [West End United Methodist Church](/source/West_End_United_Methodist_Church) on the edge of the Vanderbilt University campus, and he was buried at the [Woodlawn Memorial Park](/source/Woodlawn_Memorial_Park_(Nashville%2C_Tennessee)) in Nashville, Tennessee.<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/><ref name="williamstevens"/> His pallbearers included [Richmond Beatty](/source/Richmond_Beatty), [Harvie Branscomb](/source/Harvie_Branscomb), [Walter Clyde Curry](/source/Walter_Clyde_Curry), [Hugh Jackson Morgan](/source/Hugh_Jackson_Morgan), [Charles Madison Sarratt](/source/Charles_Madison_Sarratt), and [Herbert Charles Sanborn](/source/Herbert_Charles_Sanborn).<ref name="nashvilletennesseannotededucator"/>

A pair of statues representing [Dismas](/source/Dismas) and [Lazarus](/source/Lazarus_of_Bethany) in the foyer of the Benton Chapel on the campus of Vanderbilt University are dedicated in his honor.<ref>[http://www.vanderbilt.edu/religiouslife/wedding-guidelines/benton-chapel Vanderbilt University: Benson Chapel]</ref> The ''Edwin Mims Professorship'' at Vanderbilt University is named in his honor.<ref name="loisbrown"/> It was the result of a fundraising campaign by alumnus [Lucius E. Burch Jr.](/source/Lucius_E._Burch_Jr.) (1912–1996).<ref name="loisbrown"/>

==Bibliography==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*''Advancing South: Stories of Progress and Reaction'' (New York, New York: Doubleday, 1926).
*''Adventurous America: A Study of Contemporary Life and Thought'' (New York, New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1929).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.89472 <!-- quote=inauthor:"Edwin Mims". --> Internet Archive]</ref>
*''Chancellor Kirkland of Vanderbilt'' (Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press, 1939).
*''History of Vanderbilt University'' (Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press, 1946).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=86VBAAAAIAAJ Google Books]</ref>
*''The Christ of the poets'' (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1948).
*''A Biography of Sidney Lanier''
*''Great Writers As Interpreters of Religion''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=560| name=Edwin Mims}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edwin Mims}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mims, Edwin}}
Category:1872 births
Category:1959 deaths
Category:People from Pulaski County, Arkansas
Category:Educators from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee) alumni
Category:Vanderbilt University alumni
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:Duke University faculty
Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Category:Vanderbilt University faculty
Category:Methodists from Tennessee
Category:American anti-lynching activists
Category:Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery (Nashville, Tennessee)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edwin Mims](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Mims) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Mims?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.