Guide to the W.R. Spurlock Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title

W.R. Spurlock Papers

Inclusive Dates

ca. 1905-1954

Bulk Dates

ca. 1905

Call Number

RG 265

Creator(s)

Spurlock, W. R. (William Randall), 1878-1953.

Quantity

0.25 cubic feet

Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note

William Randall Spurlock was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1878. He attended the College of Wooster and the University of Cincinnati, in Ohio, after which he worked in private industry. In 1904, he was appointed by the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the USA to serve as a Sunday School missionary. As a layman, he established a Sunday School mission on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In 1911, Spurlock graduated from Lane Seminary and was ordained by the Presbytery of Cincinnati. He served in several pastorates throughout the United States. He married Sadie M. Hancock in 1914 and they had one child. Spurlock died in 1953.

Collection Overview

The manuscripts deal primarily with his experiences as a Sunday School missionary on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. The collection contains not only letters and personal reminiscences but photographs, some of them pictures of the residents of the reservation. The photographs (ca. 1905, n.d.) appear to have been taken not long after Spurlock's arrival in 1904. Filed with the correspondence there is also a letter written by his widow in 1954, after his death, when she first offered to donate his papers. It contains an excerpt from a letter dated August 7, 1905. There is a letter contained within his correspondence with that date, but its pagination begins with page 6 and the excerpt is nowhere to be found in the text. It is reasonable to infer that the first 5 pages of the letter may be the origin of the excerpt included in Mrs. Spurlock's letter.

A transcript of Spurlock's reminiscences is included in the collection. However, researchers should be cautioned as the transcription may not be exact.

Organization and Arrangement

SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 1905, 1954

SERIES II: REMINISCENCES, n.d.

SERIES III: PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1905, n.d.

Administrative Information

Processing Information

It is unclear whether the society was ever in possession of the first 5 pages of the August 7, 1905 letter. The incomplete pagination was not discovered until later editing.

Collection processed and finding aid prepared: June 1990
Liz Lafferty, Archives Intern

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Personal Name Subject

Spurlock, W. R. (William Randall), 1878-1953.

Topical Subject

Missionaries--South Dakota.

Home missions--South Dakota.

Sunday school--South Dakota.

Indians of North America--Missions--South Dakota.

Indian reservations--South Dakota.

Geographic Subject

South Dakota--Missions.

Rosebud Indian Reservation (S.D.)

Genre-form

Correspondence.

Photographs.

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description

1	1	Finding Aid to Record Group 265

		SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 1905, 1954

1	2	William Randall Spurlock Correspondence, 1905, 1954

		SERIES II: REMINISCENCES, n.d.

1	3	Personal Reminiscences

		SERIES III: PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1905, n.d.

1	4	Native Americans, ca. 1905, n.d.
1	5	Cowboys, ca. 1905, n.d.
1	6	People and Residences, n.d.
1	7	Miscellaneous Photographs, ca. 1905, n.d.