A Mystery Solved

Duke Divinity School Archives

In 1942, these 45 young men prepared for summer placements in rural Methodist churches with support from The Duke Endowment.

In the Spring 2005 issue of Divinity magazine, inside cover, there is a photo of The Duke Endowment group from the summer of '42, which includes my father, the late Delbert Byrum, Class of ’54.

One of the names, fifth person from the left in the fifth row, is listed as “unknown.”

My mother, Evelyn R. Byrum, has an album where my father had written the names of everyone in that photo on the back of his copy. The “unknown” person is/was Howard Patterson. I hope this information will be added to your archives.

My father, who died in 2003, was always interested in history and would have been very pleased to help you out.

A Reader’s Gift

Jon Gardiner / Duke University Photography

Left to right: L. Edward Phillips, Randy Maddox and Paul Chilcote in The Baker Methodist Research Center, Duke Divinity School Library.

In response to “Remembering & Renewal: Three Wesleyan Scholars Join Faculty Ranks” (Fall 2005, Divinity), the Rev. Edgar W. Hammersla of Annapolis, Md., has donated two Wesley artifacts to Duke Divinity School.

The items—a manuscript letter dated Aug. 20, 1768 from John Wesley to Mr. Abraham Andrews, and Wesley’s Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 2nd ed., London, 1759—will be housed in Duke’s Rare Books, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library, which is equipped for their safe storage and use by researchers.

The article highlighted the scholarship of three new faculty members: Paul Chilcote, author of Recapturing the Wesleys’ Vision (InterVarsity Press, 2004); Randy Maddox, one of the lead editors (with general editor Richard Heitzenrater of Duke) of the Wesley Works Editorial Project; and L. Edward Phillips, whose research emphasizes the importance of Eucharist in the Wesley tradition.

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