Eva Jean Wrather collection.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Materials housed in the Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Unprocessed collection. Closed to research until processing complete.

Summary: One box contains records of Belle Meade Hardware. Other boxes contain historical information on Nashville collected by Eva Jean Wrather.

Disciples of Christ Historical Society;,Transfer;,2002.,Acc. 2002.003.

Associated collections concerning Eva Jean Wrather are at Vanderbilt University; Lipscomb University; and the Disciples of Christ Historical Society.

Miss Eva Jean Wrather (1908-2001) was a native of Nashville, Tennessee, born to parents Robert I. Wrather and Aubrey Lee Hayes Wrather. As an only child, her parents encouraged her interest in history and writing. Her father, Robert J. Wrather, was a postal supervisor and president of the Belle Meade Hardware Company in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1932, Miss Wrather graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, and she devoted seventy years to writing a comprehensive biography of Alexander Campbell, the Scots-born founder of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the only Protestant denomination to originate in the United States. Eva Jean Wrather was one of the most widely recognized authorities on the life of Alexander Campbell.

Wrather served on the original committee that established the Disciples of Christ Historical Society in Nashville in 1941 and was a life member of its board until her death. She was a member of the American Society of Church History, the Tennessee Historical Society and the Association for Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities.

On the home front during WWII, mother and daughter worked at the Vine Street Church's canteen dispensing free stationery, magazines, games, suppers, and hospitality to servicemen and women. Eva Jean was a senior hostess at the Y.M.C.A.-U.S.O. and was a volunteer at the Army and Navy U.S.O.

Among her civic ventures was with the Nashville Community Playhouse, where she was stage manager. As a neighbor and lifelong family friend of Congressman Percy Priest, Miss Wrather was active in his campaigns and wrote several speeches in his behalf.

In the early 1990s, historian and author Dr. D. Duane Cummins was asked by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society to assist Miss Wrather in revising her manuscript biography of Alexander Campbell. These chapters comprise Volume One of "Alexander Campbell: Adventurer in Freedom, A Literary Biography" published in 2005 by Texas Christian University Press, in a multi-volume project.

Eva Jean Wrather, at age 92, passed away at her Nashville home on September 13, 2001, surrounded by friends and family. Her memorial service was held at Vine Street Christian Church, Nashville, on September 19. Miss Wrather had been a member of the congregation since 1934.

Transferred from Disciples of Christ Historical Society to the Special Collections Division, 2002.