Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 Nicholasville, Kentucky:1850—1893
- Chapter 2 Cincinnati, Ohio, and Nicholasville: 1893—1902
- Chapter 3 A Period of Indecision:1902-1904
- Chapter 4 On the Road Again:1904-1908
- Chapter 5 A Pivotal Year:1908
- Chapter 6 The Return to A.&M.
- Chapter 7 The Big Change:1908—1910
- Chapter 8 The Buchanan Years:1910-1920
- Chapter 9 New Presidents and a Reshaped Identity: the 1920s
- Chapter 10 The Omnipresent Professor: 1930—1941
- Chapter 11 The War and Post-WarYears: 1941—1951
- Chapter 12 Coming Full Circle
- Appendix 1 James H. Wilson Journal: January 1—June 30, 1908
- Appendix 2 James H. Wilson Band and Tour Booklet
- Appendix 3 Known Compositions and Arrangements by James H. Wilson
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- A Brief Recommended Reading List
- Locations and Acknowledgments for Illustratiions
- Index
Chapter 9 - New Presidents and a Reshaped Identity: the 1920s
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 Nicholasville, Kentucky:1850—1893
- Chapter 2 Cincinnati, Ohio, and Nicholasville: 1893—1902
- Chapter 3 A Period of Indecision:1902-1904
- Chapter 4 On the Road Again:1904-1908
- Chapter 5 A Pivotal Year:1908
- Chapter 6 The Return to A.&M.
- Chapter 7 The Big Change:1908—1910
- Chapter 8 The Buchanan Years:1910-1920
- Chapter 9 New Presidents and a Reshaped Identity: the 1920s
- Chapter 10 The Omnipresent Professor: 1930—1941
- Chapter 11 The War and Post-WarYears: 1941—1951
- Chapter 12 Coming Full Circle
- Appendix 1 James H. Wilson Journal: January 1—June 30, 1908
- Appendix 2 James H. Wilson Band and Tour Booklet
- Appendix 3 Known Compositions and Arrangements by James H. Wilson
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- A Brief Recommended Reading List
- Locations and Acknowledgments for Illustratiions
- Index
Summary
James was not upset to learn that Theophilus R. Parker had been chosen by the State Board of Commissioners to replace Walter Buchanan after the Board accepted Buchanan's resignation in 1920, for Professor Parker, now Acting President Parker, had served for one year as Dean of the Alabama A. & M. Institute. Wilson knew the man well, for his office was adjacent to both President Buchanan's and the Dean's. During his first year at A. & M., Parker had proven his merit as both an administrator and a teacher.
Parker's appointment was viewed by James’ colleagues as a vote of confidence in the faculty's ability to keep the institution operating successfully into the future. The reduction in grade to junior college was, they hoped, a temporary setback, just another obstacle to those used to frequent roadblocks placed in their way. Most but not all of the faculty laid the blame for the Institute's problems at the feet of their former president, who, in their opinion, was unable to live up to the standard of their revered founder, William Hooper Councill. A former student, now a professor of history and civics, Thomas M. Elmore, recounted the experience five years later:
Parker shouldered the burden in 1921 and after a short period of two years the debt of $40,000.00 or more was liquidated.
Wilson, like many of his colleagues, was comforted by the state's choice of one of their own to lead the enterprise, and he was prepared to work diligently at Parker's side to help the man succeed.
On a personal level for Wilson, the fact that Parker had served as a missionary to Liberia for seven years before coming to Normal fit well into James’ own plans for Christian missionary work among the students of A. & M. Up to this time Wilson had primarily been “preaching to the choir,” that is, most of his endeavors had been offered to the convinced, the converted, and the committed— those who regularly, willingly, and without complaint presented themselves in church, Sunday school, Y. M. C. A. meetings, or Sunday School Teacher Training class. In 1922, James was ready to test unexplored waters by immersing himself into a new realm of outreach—publication.
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- With Trumpet and BibleThe Illustrated Life of James Hembray Wilson, pp. 167 - 194Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015