Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Walter Patten Papers #4013, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. J. Kempton (Eunice Patten) Jones in 1977 (Acc. 77019) and from Doug Eyre in November 2006 (Acc. 100544).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff and Amy Johnson, September 2007

Encoded by: Amy Johnson, September 2007

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Church history.
• Clergy--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Louisburg College--History.
• Methodist Church--Missions--History--20th century.
• Methodist Church--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• North Carolina--Religion--20th century.
• Patten family.
• Patten, Walter, 1880-1947.
• Sermons, American--North Carolina.
• University United Methodist Church (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Walter Patten was born in Bridgeville, Del., on 15 September 1880. He graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1907 and earned a doctorate in Divinity there in 1928. He also received a master's degree from the University of North Carolina in 1916. On 20 October 1908, Patten married Sarah K. Cady, a graduate of Brown University. Together they had five children.

A Methodist minister, Patten was pastor of the Methodist Church (now University United Methodist Church) in Chapel Hill, N.C., 1913-1917 and 1921-1927; pastor in Greenville, N.C., 1917-1921; pastor of other churches; secretary of the North Carolina Board of Missions, 1921-1927, and president of the Board, 1931-1947; and president of Louisburg College, 1939-1947. He oversaw major renovations to the Chapel Hill church building and was instrumental in creating the University of North Carolina School of Religion, which later led to the establishment of the Department of Religion.

Walter Patten died after suffering a heart attack on 8 March 1947 and was buried in Chapel Hill.

Papers include topical files Methodist minister Walter Patten maintained of personal and professional correspondence, sermons he gave, and clippings and other material he collected. There are also notebooks of congregational data; much of this material relates to the Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. There is also material on other churches Patten served; on Methodist missions; on the foundation of the Department of Religion at the University of North Carolina; on Louisburg College; and on members of Patten's family.

One topical file on the foundation of the University of North Carolina School of Religion was added to the collection in September 2007 (folder 235a).