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Special Collections Research Center
William & Mary Special Collections Research CenterFinding Aid Authors: John Coski.
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John Boyd Bentley Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
Gift: Acc. No. 82-36; 5 items, 10/2/1982.Gift: Acc. No. 82-39; 310 items, 10/17/1982.Gift: Acc. No. 83-22; 350 items, 4/16/1983.Gift: Acc. No. 84-8; 15 items, 2/9/1984.Gift: Acc. No. 85-52; 350 items, 11/18/1985.Gift: Acc. No. 88-10; 2 items, 2/17/1988.Gift: Acc. No. 88-16; 9 items, 4/26/1988.Transferred: Acc. No. 94-90; 1 item, 12/21/1994.
Processed by John Coski in 1987.
John Boyd Bentley was born in Hampton, Virginia 9 February 1896. He attended the College of William and Mary and served in the U. S. Field Artillery in World War I. Bentley attended the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia He served as an Episcopal clergyman in Alaska and in Williamsburg. He then served as Suffragan Bishop and Bishop of Alaska. From 1947 to 1964, Bentley was Director of Overseas Missions of the Episcopal Church. He died 12 June 1989.
Biography Timeline
1896, February 9 Born, Hampton, Virginia,son of Charles Headley Bentleyand Susan Elizabeth (Cake) Bentley
1915 Entered College of William and Mary(attended 1915-1916 and 1920-1921 but did not graduate)
1917 Entered service in U.S. Field Artillery
1921, May 28 Married Elvira Wentworth Carr(died, 1983)
1921 Attended Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia
1921-1925 Episcopal clergyman in Alaska
1926-1930 Episcopal clergyman in Williamsburg, Virginia
1931 Ordained Bishop in Denver, Colorado
1931-1942 Suffragan Bishop of Alaska
1942-1947 Bishop in charge of Alaska
1947-1964 Director of Overseas Missions of Episcopal Church
1964 Retired and moved to Hampton, Virginia
1964-1989 Episcopal minister in Diocese of Southern Virginia
1989, June 12 Died, Hampton, Virginia. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: .
Personal and professional papers, 1896-1987, of Bishop John Boyd Bentley, Bishop of Alaska and Director of Overseas Missions for the Protestant Episcopal Church and personal papers, 1895-1983, of his wife Elvira Carr Bentley.
Includes comprehensive records of his ministerial career including records of his official acts and texts of sermons and invocations. There is some correspondence relating to Bentley's career, including letters from W. A. R. Goodwin (1869-1939), Rector of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia; Peter Trimble Rowe (1856-1941), Bishop of Alaska; and Henry Knox Sherrill (1890-1980), President Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
There is material relating to Bentley's work in Alaska, including a series of letters to his wife, 1930-1937, describing his travels on the Alaskan frontier. The collection also includes a photograph collection as well as diaries, correspondence, and photographs which chronicle his tours of the Far East in 1949; a world tour, 1959-1960; and tours of Latin America, 1960-1961. There are audio-cassettes of his autobiography.
Organization: This collection is organized into 7 series. Series 1 contains papers and correspondence; Series 2 contains bound volumes and other related material; Series 3 contains photographs; Series 4 contains oversized material; Series 5 contains artifacts; Series 6 contains audio tapes; Series 7 contains the addition to the collection. Arrangement: This collection is arranged by chronologically by date. Series 1: Papers and Correspondence, is further divided into the following subseries: genealogical material, the papers of John Boyd Bentley, and the papers of Elvira Carr Bentley.
Folder for Series 7 (addition 1994.90) filed as Box 3, Folder 23.
Audiocassettes from this collection have been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.
Artifacts transferred to the Manuscripts Artifact Collection (Mss. 1.03) include Alaskan Landscape Painting (82B44.A11)
All audiovisual material from this collection has been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.
Other Information:
Additional information may be found at http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00058.frame
Boxes 1-2
Box 1, Folders 1-3
19 items. Includes photocopies of commissions and papers of family revolutionary war veterans.
5 items. Includes several copies of Bishop Bentley's The Cake Family: A Bibliographical Memorandum,and other computations of information.
29 items. Includes notes and family correspondence related to compilation of Bishop Bentley's The Cake Family: A Biographical Memorandum.
Boxes 1-2
44 items. Including letters and postcards to his parents from France during World War I, letters from French citizens, personal letters thanking him for ministerial services, letters from Giles Buckner Cooke (1838-1937) (last surviving member of R. E. Lee's staff) found (with photo of Cook) in Bentley's copy of D.S. Freeman's R. E. Lee, Volume I. See also correspondence of Elvira C. Bentley.
23 items. Including birth certificate, school reports, passports, inoculation records, wedding invitation, driver's license (items from personal documents wallet), membership certificates, copy of a poem by Bentley, and copy of will, 1950, of Nancy Jones, for whom Bentley was an legatee.
41 items. Including certificates of promotions and training, identity pass for service in France, roster and casualties of Battery B, 111th Field Artillery, a pressed poppy flower from Chateau Thierry, and 5 uniform insignias. See also medium oversize file.
Scope and Contents 35 items. Including letters to Elvira C. Bentley describing his travels and work in the interior of Alaska, especially travel conditions, weather, conditions at missionary posts, and his performance of official acts. Also includes several orders for supplies for mission and undated records of daily temperatures.
45 items. Including letters to Elvira C. Bentley during his world tour of 1959 and tours of Latin America, 1960 and 1961. Descriptions and impressions of London, Paris, Geneva, Israel, several cities in India, Singapore, Thailand, Taipei, Japan, and the Philippines. Includes cursory discussions of church work.
20 items. Items relate to his receipt of an honorary degree (Doctor of Divinity) from the College of William and Mary, May 1985. Including program and Alumni Gazette. See also Medium Oversize file.
14 items. Items include baptism certificate, licenses as lay reader and marriage commissioner, certificate as Suffragan Bishop of Alaska, and programs for observation of 50th anniversary of his consecration. See also Medium Oversize file.
Scope and Contents 5 items. Typed transcript of his oral history interview (September 19, 1981) as part of Columbia University's "Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill Oral History Project". Bentley discusses his own career, missions and missionary work, and Bishop Sherrill. Also a 1 page resume written ca. 1943.
75 items. Items relate to his ministerial career, including extensive correspondence in 1930-1931 and 1937 among Bentley, Bishop P. T. Rowe, and W. A. R. Goodwin regarding Bentley's appointment(s) in Alaska, Williamsburg area in the 1920's, letters from Bishop Rowe discussing work in Alaska, extensive correspondence with Bishop Henry K. Sherrill regarding Bentley's appointment as director of overseas missions, and correspondence relating to Bentley's nomination as Suffragan Bishop of Southern Virginia (1958).
85 items. Items include letters congratulating Bishop Bentley on his appointment as Directory of Overseas Missions, including letters from missions around the world.
9 items. See also bound volume of letters.
27 items. Items are in regards to his retirement as Director of Overseas Missions; letters received from missions and church officials around the world, together with carbon copies of Bentley's acknowledgments. See also bound volume of letters received and Medium Oversize file.
133 items. Items include Bentley's list of letters, gifts, etc., received and date acknowledged.
22 items. Items include programs and bulletins from church services, historical observances and ceremonies in which Bishop Bentley participated, including bulletin of 1984 William and Mary commencement ceremony.
10 items. Items include addresses at commencement ceremonies, dedications, ordinations, memorial services, and historical society meetings, 1933-1970, including comments on duties of priests, missionary work, and historical events.
17 items. Items include addresses at ordinations, memorial services, and historical observances, 1971-1979, including outline of 1975 address entitled "Williamsburg As I Knew It."
10 items. Most items handwritten, a few typed, including record of occasions on which each was delivered; arranged chronologically, according to date first delivered.
13 items. Items include records of occasions on which they were delivered; arranged according to date first delivered.
8 items. Arranged by date delivered.
1 item.Typed on 126 pages from looseleaf notebook. Arranged by place and date, specifying occasion and text used.
1 item. 159 pages. Comprehensive calendar/schedule of daily activities, including official acts, meetings, addresses, and invocations, including record of miles traveled and expenses incurred on his travels, mostly on the Virginia peninsula.
5 items. Official acts include baptisms, confirmations, marriages, etc. that he performed in Diocese of Southern Virginia. Arranged chronologically, grouped by year.
13 items. Copies of annual and monthly (tabular) reports of official acts which he performed in Diocese of Southern Virginia, 1970-1978, 1985; and a tabulation and geographical breakdown of official acts performed, 1922- 1976.
2 items. 211 pages. Items are from a loose-leaf notebook detailing names, dates, and places of services.
9 items. 61 pages. Items are from a loose-leaf notebook(s) detailing names, dates, and place for each act, including occasional related correspondences.
13 items. 127 pages. Items are from a loose-leaf notebook detailing names, dates, and places of services. Also includes occasional funeral home records and newspaper obituaries.
14 items. 166 pages. Pages from a loose-leaf notebook detailing names, dates, and places of services, plus records of confirmations performed on his East Asian travels.
14 items. 189 pages. Pages from a loose-leaf notebook detailing names, dates, and places of services.
8 items. Items include travel diaries of both trips, documents pertaining to honorary degree received in Japan (December 1948), and itinerary for 1959 tour. See also travel diary of Elvira C. Bentley for the 1959 trip and Medium Oversize subseries.
13 items. Items include "Blackbeard (a story)"in March 1916 The William and Mary Literary Magazine, and 12 articles on his adventures and travels in The Alaskan Churchman.
12 items. Items especially concern his army service, and high school football team and re-unions, and a copy of wedding announcement.
42 items. Items regard Bentley's professional career, including articles on his appointments, many describing his work in Alaska and his retirement. Also includes a 1927 article by Bentley, entitled "With the Episcopal Students at the College of William and Mary,"and the December 1956 issue of The Alaskan Churchman.
Box 2, Folders 10-13
13 items. Items include a birth certificate, passports, inoculation certificates, social security card (items from wallet), obituary, death certificate, and description of her death by her husband, and items relating to retirement and death of her father.
13 items. Items include all materials related to her education, high school graduation memorabilia, membership certificate of Colonial Dames, copy of address given in Atlantic City (1934) and her diary of 1949 Far East trip. See also Medium Oversize File.
Scope and Contents 14 items. Item mostly concern undated letters received from Bentley family and friends in Alaska, and silver anniversary cards received.
Scope and Contents 21 items. Most letters were received during his trips to East Coast and during Bishop Bentley's absence; discusses church financial troubles during the Depression, her work with women's church organizations in Alaska, and Rowe's expectation that Bentley will succeed him; includes letter from Mrs. Vernon M. Geddy on behalf of the "Bishop Bentley Branch of the Women's Auxiliary of the Bruton Parish Church" (10 February 1934) inquiring how they can assist work in Alaska and Rowe's letter (5 December 1935) describing his visit to Williamsburg and Hampton.
Box 2, Folders 14-24
40 pages. Manuscript Volume 1. Record of purchases for construction projects; originally a pocket diary for 1871, but never used for this purpose.
36 pages. Manuscript Volume 2. Includes diary of final weeks before graduation, pressed class flowers, class roster, and other enclosed items which are in a separate folder of her personal items.
144 photographs on 52 pages. Photographs. Manuscript Volume 3. Includes labeled photos of ships, harbor, sites of city, Bentley's family and friends, College of William and Mary, and Bentley's handwritten description (ca. 1983) of photos.
13 pages. Manuscript Volume 4. Text of wedding service, marriage certificate and signatures of witnesses for Bentley's wedding, 28 May 1921.
29 pages.Photographs. Manuscript volume 5.
53 pages. Manuscript Volume 6. See also folder of other letters.
104 pages. Manuscript Volume 7. See other letters in Manuscript Folder.
18 pages. Manuscript Volume 8.
3 items.
4 items. Items include updated newspaper description of book, note cards of remarks at dedication of book, and transcription of tombstone in Hampton, Virginia.
2 items.
Box 3, Folders 1-22
See also mounted photographs and medium oversize items and 4 army photos, in oversize file.
See also mounted photographs.
See also negatives file.
See also postcards and mounted photo album in bound manuscript volumes.
See also postcards.
See also postcard folder.
Photograph of Bentley and others at Bishop's Conference, circa 1954. Photograph of party celebrating Bentley's 25th anniversary of his consecration, 1956. Photograph of Bishop Henry K. Sherrill. Photograph of Bentley on his 1959 world tour.
See also photograph album in bound manuscript volumes and newspaper clippings.
See also oversize file.
Mostly diplomas and certificates of Bishop Bentley and Mrs. Bentley, including Mrs. Bentley's high school diploma, United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) membership certificates, and Bishop Bentley's certificates as Deacon, Priest, and Bishop, honorary degrees, and items received in Japan (written in Japanese) in 1949. Also photograph of Bracken House in Williamsburg, where the Bentleys resided, 1929-1939.
Scope and Contents 3 items. Items include a photograph of Battery D, 1st Regiment of Field Artillery, Virginia Volunteers, at Richmond, 27 June 1916, honorary degree from College of William and Mary (1985), and copy of the "Frenchman's Map" of Williamsburg.
Box A, Folders 1-15. Physical location: See artifact box (A)
Plaque
Plaque
Belt buckle.
Cross
Cross
Cross
Also includes pocket-size New Testament, inscribed by Margaret M. Sims.
Medal
Scope and Contents Painting. 3" x 5"
Ring
Wallet. Documents previously kept in it are in personal items files.
Wallet. Documents previously kept in it removed and filed with personal items.
Other: 1-9 Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassettes
"A description of Hampton Creek about 1900, with a brief outline of my life from my birth until I went to Richmond with Battery in 1916." Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette.
Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette. Side 1 is entitled "A description of Hampton Creek about 1900, and my story until 1898." Side 2 is entitled "My year in the Shipyard, 1914-1915."
Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette. Side 1 is entitled "My military career from June, 1916, until we left Camp de Meucon, France in October, 1918." Side 2 is entitled "Our last days in France, our return to the U.S.A., and all that happened from then until we arrived at Anvik, Alaska in 1921."
Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette. Entitled "Anvik, 1921-1925; "Charlotte Hall School, 1925-1926"; and "my appointment with Dr. Goodwin about going to Williamsburg."
Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette.
Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette. Side 1 is entitled "Consecration in Denver, September 29, 1931." Side 2 is entitled "Voyage of PELICAN IV, 1932," and "Revival of The Alaskan Churchman."
Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette.
"Years at the office in New York, 1948-1964." Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette.
Physical Location: Manuscript artifact file. Acc. No. 1988.16 Audio cassette.
Scope and Contents Physical Location: Acc. No. 1994.90 1 item. Series 7: Addition 1994.90 Interviews were aired during 1989 as part of the "Virginia Voices" series on WHRO-FM public radio. Both were interviewed by Tempy Cornelius-Fisk.